In this sermon, Basilia Schlink addresses the common question of why God seems silent and unresponsive to our prayers. She shares her own experience of realizing that there was a sin in her life, specifically judging and bitterness, that was hindering her prayers from being answered. She references Isaiah 59:1-2, which states that our iniquities create a separation between us and God, causing Him not to hear our prayers. Schlink emphasizes the importance of identifying and confessing our sins as prayer obstacles, such as unforgiveness, anger, quarreling, sensuality, occultism, and disobedience. However, she also offers comfort by reminding listeners that our entire sinful nature does not prevent God from answering our prayers. Instead, if we come to Jesus at the cross and confess our guilt, God can be gracious to us and answer our prayers. Schlink shares an example from her own sisterhood where a broken printing press was miraculously fixed after the sisters prayed and reconciled with each other. She encourages believers to persevere in prayer as reconciled sinners, trusting that God will hear and answer their prayers in His own timing and way.

God lives and works today, but haven't we all asked ourselves at times, doesn't God hear my prayers? God seems to keep silent and we see no way out of our problems. Listen to the helpful answer in today's meditation by Basilia Schlink. God to bear burst open island portals, to pray with faith his strength to all, and change his pagan toadish call to flowers in love's garden. Perhaps you've been bringing God a personal prayer concern for a long time, or you've asked him to solve the problems of someone you love, but God really doesn't seem to answer. Why? One day God answered my, why don't you hear me? He had a question for me, and I couldn't evade his question, for he asked, isn't there some obstacle in your prayer life? Then he showed me that there was a sin which I hadn't been aware of, which was standing in the way. In this case it was judging and bitterness, and that's why the Lord had not been able to answer my prayer. For through the prophet Isaiah, chapter 59, verses 1 and 2, he tells us, his ear is not dull that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, so that he does not hear. So first of all we must be brave enough to accept a clear diagnosis. Are there prayer obstacles in our lives, and if so, which ones? The Bible shows us that such obstacles to prayer are sins like not wanting to forgive, anger, quarreling, irreconciliation, all sensuality and gratification of our passions, occultism, and disobedience. But there's one thing that's a real comfort and important to remember. Our whole sinful nature doesn't constitute an obstacle to prayer. If that were the case, God could never answer any prayers. But if we come to Jesus at the cross and confess our guilt, then God can be gracious to us again and answer our prayers. We have experienced this time and again in our sisterhood. For example, once in our print shop, for no explainable reason, one of the presses suddenly broke down. And after the print shop sisters prayed about it and were reconciled with each other, God's ears were opened again, and the printing press began to function once more, just as mysteriously as it had stopped working. If we persevere in our prayers, humbly as reconciled sinners, then we may know that there are actually no unanswered prayers. God will hear them all. We just have to leave it up to Him to decide how and when He will answer them. He alone knows what is best for us and our loved ones. This program by Basilea Schlenk has come to you from the Little Land of Canaan. If you would like a free leaflet by the same author, please write to GodLivesandWorksToday98.org. 9849 North 40th Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85028-4099. That's God Lives and Works Today, 9849 North 40th Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85028-4099. God bless you.