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#2.
Conditions that govern the answering of prayer.
pp. 207 - 212
At this point it may be good to realize afresh from God's Word what are the
conditions for obtaining affirmative answers to our prayers.
1. There must be an abandonment of all known sin in our lives.
The O.T. saints had to learn this lesson.
"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Psa. 66: 18),
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save: neither is His ear
heavy, that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear" (Isa. 59: 1, 2).
"Bring no more vain oblations: incense is an abomination to Me . . . . . your new
moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth . . . . . and when ye spread forth your
hands I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood" (Isa. 1: 13-15).
Both John and James, in their epistles, stress the same truth:
"Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do
those things that are pleasing in His sight" (I John 3: 22).
"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5: 16).
Members of the Body of Christ are warned against giving place to the Devil, thus
grieving the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4: 27, 30), and causing prayer to be disregarded by God.
2. There must be a practical realization of the truth of Sanctification.
The root meaning of sanctification is separation, with its twofold aspect of being
separated from the world and separated to the Lord, for the fulfillment of His will in daily
service.
When the judgment upon the cities of the plain was impending, there were two
believers who figure largely in the story. One was inside the city of Sodom, namely Lot,
and one was outside the city, namely Abraham. Although Lot was vexed every day by
the sin which surrounded him (II Pet. 2: 7) we have no record of any prayer on his part on
behalf of Sodom and finally we know that God had to drag him out that he might not be
involved in its doom. He is a type of the believer who is not only in the world, but of the
world and knows little of sanctification in practice. It was left to Abraham, the separated
one, to intercede for these wicked cities (Gen. 18: 16-33).
It is impossible for a believer who has too close a contact with a world which is under
the domination of Satan (Eph. 2: 2, 3) to pray effectively. We must, in practice, be