How to get your prayers answered [2]

Memory Verse: Isaiah 58: 6 – “No, the kind of fast I want is that you stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what they earn.”

The Word for Today devotional by United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) says

ALSO READ: How to get your prayers answered [1]

2) Are you self-sabotaging your prayers? God told the Israelites the reason they were not getting answers to their prayers was because they were engaged in finger-pointing and criticism (see vv. 9-10 NIV 2011 Edition).

Have you been guilty of that? It is just as important to glorify God through the words you speak when you are not praying, as when you are.

The Bible says there is a direct link between having a critical, careless tongue, and not getting your prayers answered. How you treat others will determine how God treats you (see Ephesians 6:7-8).

God lays it squarely on the line: ‘Stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly … share your food with the hungry and … those who are helpless, poor, and destitute … If you do these things, God will shed his own glorious light upon you.

He will heal you; your godliness will lead you forward, goodness will be a shield before you, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

Then, when you call, the Lord will answer … All you need to do is to stop oppressing the weak and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumours! Feed the hungry! Help those in trouble!

Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you shall be as bright as day. And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy you with all good things, and keep you healthy too’ (Isaiah 58:6-11 TLB).

That means the answer to your prayers is contingent upon two things: your attitudes and actions towards others.