Prayer is the way we communicate with God. But a Christian who is not living in obedience to His written word, doesn’t have any basis to be approaching Him in prayer. We are spiritually bold to approach God in prayer, because we are abiding in His word.
Jesus said:
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
John 15:7 NKJV
We have the confidence for answered prayers, if our obedience is complete. Partial obedience is not obedience before the Lord. It is an act of rebellion against God.
The Lord expects our complete and total act of obedience, before we can come before Him with uplifted hands in prayer.
The Bible told us about king Saul who thought that he had totally obeyed the Lord God, because he had fought and defeated the Amalekites, as he had been commanded to do.
But he was in fact being partially obedient to the Lord. He was instructed to completely destroy everything that they had.
Samuel had instructed him to destroy every memory of this tribe from the earth, because they never welcomed the Israelites back from Egypt with joy. Instead, the Amalekites (who were related to the Israelites) came out to fight against their relatives.
Saul had kept some of the spoils of the battle for himself. He had not killed the reigning king of the Amalekites at the time, but he had captured him as a prisoner of war.
Saul was therefore rejected as the king over God’s people for being partially obedient. He could not hear from the Lord God anymore, no matter how hard he prayed. He was separated from fellowshipping with the Lord God, even though he was the leader of God’s people.
The Lord however did not leave him in the shadow to be suffering for his disobedience. He had revealed his act of disobedience to him:
“So, Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
I Samuel 15:22-23 NKJV
As a result of his disobedience the door was opened into his life for the devil to attack him. When the presence of the Lord left him, an opportunity came for the devil to torment him and make him distressed:
“But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him.”
I Samuel 16:14 NKJV
Saul was still anointed of God, but he was unable to function very well with that anointing for prosperity. He was totally separated from the Lord because of his disobedience. He remained as the king until the fullest of time came for the judgement of the Lord on his sin.
He sought the face of the Lord without first repenting of his sin, but his prayers were never heard.
I strongly believe that if he had repented immediately, he was confronted with his sin by Samuel, the Lord would have forgiven him. But Saul allowed the pride of being the king to stand in his way, to being humbled enough in repentance.
Even while still being tormented by the evil spirit, Saul had continued vigorously in his disobedience. He consulted with a witch doctor as the Lord couldn’t answer his prayers, because of the sin of disobedience in his life. He asked the witch doctor to bring up the ghost of Samuel for him, but ended up receiving the final judgment of the Lord:
“Then Samuel said: “So why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy? Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”
I Samuel 28:16, 19 NKJV
He heard his own death sentence being declared to him by the ghost of Samuel. The absence of a quick repentance when confronted with sin led to the fall of Saul.
Put compassion and love into action!
There are many Christians today who are in the same situation as Saul. They have fallen from the position of grace to the grass, because they don’t want to acknowledge their sins before the Lord.
All that the Lord is waiting on is for them to repent of their sins. But the pride of life has blinded them from doing this. They are struggling to humble themselves and repent before the Lord.
Our God is so full of love and compassion. He is not willing that anyone should die in sin. There is a door of repentance that is always open for sinners to repent.
When they repent, the Lord will cover them with His love, and restore them back into fellowship with Himself:
“Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be restored; Renew our days as of old,”
Lamentations 5:21 NKJV
Unfortunately, there are many Christians who are living with their sins like Saul today. Some are running around different congregations and ministries, as they are trying to conceal their sins from being exposed. But there is a time coming when their cup of sins will definitely run over, just as it happened to Saul.
The devil’s lease on sin over their lives will eventually run out. And when the cup of sin is full, judgement will follow. In most cases the Lord will judge the sin of their flesh, so that their souls may come back home to be with Him.
It’s not God’s best for them, but at least they can still make it to heaven. Our God is so full of compassion. He will never allow the enemy to take away the spirit of his loved ones, even if they have sinned against Him.
As the Apostle Jude once advised us concerning such believers in Christ Jesus:
“And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”
Jude 1:22-23 NKJV
There are a lot of Christians today who are allowing the pride of life, to deprive them of the ability to be humbled before the Lord and His word. They are setting themselves up for the same thing that destroyed king Saul.
But as Jude mentioned here, we are called to extend the compassion of the Lord in our lives, to some people who can be saved. It’s our responsibility as the spiritually matured Christians to pull them away from the judgement of sin with compassion and love, even though they have defiled their physical body (flesh) with the sin.
This is how the Lord expects us to extend His love and compassion towards them, without necessarily pulling them down; but pulling them out of that fire of destruction with their sins.
We are to hate and despise the sins of the sinners, while loving the sinners with the very love that God had loved us.
It’s time to come back to the Lord.
The Lord is seeking our total and complete obedience to His voice and written word. When a child of God knows exactly what the Lord is asking him to do but refuses to do it; such a person will be in the same position as Saul was.
The presence of the Lord is absent in the life of the disobedient.
Are you living in disobedience to the Lord right now? Jesus is waiting on you to repent and come back into fellowship with Him. He loves you and doesn’t want you to keep on allowing, the pride of life to prevent you from getting His very best.
All you need to do is to be sincere within yourself and come back to Him, by saying these words out loud enough to hear yourself saying them:
“Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that I had misplaced my priorities in life. I have been disobedient to you, and I want you to forgive me now. I repent of my disobedient life. Lord Jesus, I come back to you. Take me back into the place of fellowship with you, from which I have fallen. I receive your grace now into my life by faith, to start walking in obedience to you and your ways of doing things as written in the scriptures. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for loving me and accepting me back into fellowship with you. I love you, Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Let us know what the Lord is doing in your life after saying these words. Go back and correct your past mistakes and missed opportunities to obey the Lord.
Our God is the God of a second chance. This is your season to be doing more for the Lord. The Lord is on your side. You are loved. You are blessed.
