THE LITTLE FOXES THAT SPOIL THE VINE (PART 1)

Why Prayers Are Not Answered and Sacrifices Not Honoured Truly, the bible says, “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). However, we all know that this is not usually the case with most of us. Many are the times we have fervently asked, sought, and knocked for one thing or the other from God and man without being granted our heart’s desire. This write-up is an attempt to explain some of the reasons why some of our prayers and services to God are neither answered nor rewarded. Meanwhile, it is important that we note that the reasons proffered below are not totally exhaustive. There may well be some other reasons why we do not get answers to our prayers. But the ones below are those the LORD unveiled to me in the course of time after I asked Him the reason for this phenomenon some months ago. Let us now consider them: IGNORANCE The first reason why some of our prayers are not answered is because of our ignorance. The LORD says in Hosea 4:6a that ‘My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge’. While most of us know this scripture very well and even quote it often in discourse, we still nonetheless fall victim to its veracity. It is amazing to see the way we go all out to seek something and still truncate our own efforts or chances of getting such thing by our actions or inactions, done in ignorance. Let us look at two ways ignorance robs us of rewards and answered prayers. Self-sabotage: Oftentimes, we are diligent in our supplications to God about an issue and even do all we could to ensure that we get our heart’s desire. But little carelessness in a seemingly unrelated or unimportant matter may be the spoiler that will foil our chances of getting that for which we have for so long been seeking the face of God. A wrong thought, a wrong statement, a wrong action, or a wrong indulgence carelessly entertained when it does not seem to matter may just be the spoiler that will prevent our much sought-after blessing from being delivered to us. We all know that the earth we live in is spherical in shape. However, most of us do not realise that life itself is circular in nature. What this means is that even as the earth orbits or goes round the sun, so do our thoughts, words and actions revolve around the ultimate entity that is our lives. There is nothing like “it does not matter”, “it does not affect…”, “it does not relate to…” or “it is not important to…” in the cycle of life.