Psalms 145:18 - The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

Well, we all desire God to hear our prayers. And after praying we ardently wait for Him to answer soon, isn’t it? Ofcourse, there is nothing wrong with that. Prayer is a powerful weapon given to His children.

But there will also be times when our prayers won’t be answered. Why then doesn’t God answer? There are mainly 12 reasons for unanswered prayers.

These are days when we need to be praying more; like never before - for ourselves and others. God desires that our prayers should be earnest prayers. Those who call upon God in truth/sincerely, He is close to them.

At a basic level, to pray earnestly a cleansing is required- in our spirit, soul and body(that is, right motives, right thoughts, right words and right deeds). The Cleansed are called Righteous. And, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16,17.

HOW DO WE PRAY MORE EARNESTLY:

1. Praying in the Holy Ghost - an important part of making an earnest prayer.

2. While we are being cleansed, God imparts His Righteousness to us. But when we grieve the Holy Spirit(who helps us to pray) our prayers ceases to be sincere - Ephesians 4:30

3. Mouths out of which proceed corrupt communications cannot make earnest prayers. Such a prayer will not render grace to the hearers - Ephesians 4:29

4. If we keep bitterness, anger, wrath, clamour and evil speaking in our hearts and pray, that won’t be a sincere prayer - Ephesians 4:31.

5. By grieving the Spirit of God, the desire to pray is quenched. God wants us to pray like Jesus. Therefore let’s not quench the Spirit.

(....to be continued)