Acid Test Series 4 of 8 - Ingredients of Prevailing Prayer — Al Whittinghill

Prayers in my life and in your life should be the very most common thing in our life. In fact, unanswered prayers should be a great exception. And our lives should be a continual testimony of answered prayer.

And when we are getting answers to our prayer, we should take serious inventory as to what the problem is. We'll always find the problem is not with him. The problem is with us. What does it mean to be the friend of God?

You see, because we become the friend of God, we have all things in Christ. Unanswered prayer should be the greatest press into a true situation to find out what's wrong with my life. Unanswered prayers should be the most pressing reason a believer has for self-examination by the Holy Spirit.

Is answered prayer the characteristic of your life? Is it? Because if it's not, he wants us to take an inventory this morning. We're going to talk about why my prayers aren't answered. I want to pray with you.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask you this morning to receive praise and glory from our time together and most of all, affect change in people's hearts, my heart, these people's hearts, other people's hearts, that when we hear the word of God, we may be a doer of the word and that the end might be a life full of prayer and meaning before God.

Bless this time and just give the devil a beating around the head and shoulders and show who the Lord is. And may that one who might feel condemnation realize the difference between the sweet voice of a redeeming God and the accusing voice of a nagging devil.

May we see the difference of that. And may we run to our Savior knowing that you break, then you heal. We thank you in Jesus' name, amen. When we are right with God, answered prayer comes very easily, very easily.

How God Answers Prayer

In fact, God always answered prayer, always answers prayer. There's some things I just want to list about how God answers prayer. Number one is that he often answers very quickly. He often answers very quickly.

And our scripture for that is Isaiah chapter 65, verse 24. Before they call, I will answer. While they're yet speaking, he'll be moving and answering our prayers. Often God answers very quickly. But you know, there's a big difference between quickly and in a hurry.

God's never in a hurry. But when he moves, he moves quickly. Oh, I love to go through the scriptures and look at how many times it says, and suddenly and suddenly, because when he moves as quickly, but he's not in a hurry.

But when he answers prayer, quite often it's quickly. Number two is that he usually says yes. He usually says yes. In fact, in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 20, it says every promise of God is yes and amen in Christ Jesus.

His delight is to give his children the things that delight their heart and to bring us into an understanding of what he would desire to give us. And thirdly, he usually answers big, big. And our scripture for that is Ephesians 3, 20.

Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask. We've talked about asking or think he's able to do not just more, but exceedingly abundantly above all you ask or think that ought to encourage your heart.

He's not poor. God's not poor. He's not stingy. He is not capricious. He's not reluctant. The fourth characteristic about how God answers prayer is that sometimes he says no. Sometimes he says no. And as he did in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 8 and 9, when Paul had his infirmity in the flesh, the Greek is very clear.

You can't deny it says flesh, a stake in his flesh. Three times he asked the Lord to take away this physical infirmity, but the Lord knew what was best for Paul because that way he had a tendency to pride in his heart.

And so he let this physical infirmity stay to keep him from a more horrible liability, which is pride because pride lasts for eternity and physical bodies are going to be replaced with a new bodysuit one day soon.

The Lord is very willing to let us suffer a temporary liability in the flesh in order that he might accomplish an eternal glory in the spirit. And so sometimes he says no. He operates at a level beyond our feeble capacity to understand.

And so he's the all wise God. That's what we need to remember. He's the all wise God. And that life is like a giant checkerboard. You see, when he hears your prayers, he's not just considering you. He's considering the whole sphere around you.

And you could see like a giant checkerboard with all these men, and you're just in one square. And every single move of each piece affects every other square and every other piece. And he may want to answer your prayer, but he's affecting someone else here and he has to wait.

So sometimes the answer is even no. But fifthly, then sometimes the answer is not yet, not yet. But delays with God are not denials. Delays are not denials. That's a key thing to remember. You see, God often takes time to bring our heart into a position to where the great things of God are greatly desired, to where we appreciate the finest gifts of God because we've agonized and waited for them.

Instead of just having a bunch of spoiled kids, he lets us come into a position of appreciation. And then lastly, he usually answers in a way we don't expect. He usually answers in an unexpected way or through an unexpected channel and another source.

His thoughts are not ours. His ways are higher than ours. When there is no answer to your prayer, then it's time to take a serious inventory and examine why. It's not just a passing affair. You need to really get serious about it and take a serious inventory.

Seizing Present Opportunities for God

You see, God's not only going to judge you for what you have done, but he's going to judge you for what you haven't done. To whom much is given, much is required. That's what a great man of God once said.

He said, it's not so much the scriptures that I don't understand that I'm worried about. It's the ones that I do understand that aren't in my life. Those are the things that press my heart and concern me.

You see, we miss so much in our day-to-day life by letting opportunities slip. You know, there's a wonderful example in the scripture of this. Remember Mary, that precious woman who was always at Jesus' feet in the scriptures?

And she came and she took a pound of spikenard and she anointed the feet of Jesus before his agony, and he said, she's done this for my burial. She's anointing me. Spikenard was a burial ointment, and it was one pound.

And he says of her, wherever the Gospels preach, this will be a testimony to her and the Gospel wherever the Gospels preach, because she's done this in remembrance of me. Contrast, Nicodemus, after the death of Jesus, the time has slipped.

Jesus has died, his body is a dead Christ, Nicodemus takes it, and he doesn't use one pound, he uses a hundred pounds of spikenard and aloes and other things like that. And you don't hear anything else about it.

He anoints the body of Jesus. You see, the opportune moment is while you're in a living relationship. When he brings you by a situation, one pound in time is worth a hundred pounds too late. That's the lesson of that.

I heard about a rich Texan that gave, he was buried in a gold coffin, and he gave a hundred million dollars to a Christian foundation. And everyone says, how wonderful, he'll get a great reward. No, he won't get a thing.

Because the scriptures say, God loveth a cheerful giver. You know, it says, do your giving while you're living, then you're knowing where it's going. You see, there's no sacrifice, you've got to leave it anyway, big deal.

You see, the opportune moment to be a participant in the living sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. You see, prayer is like that. We have a privilege to pray, but we've got to trust God by faith. One of the ladies last night said, well, I'm just going to have to live by faith.

I said, praise God, you know, how does God want you to live? You know, somebody was in trouble in a situation, they said, well, I guess we'll just have to trust the Lord. You know, well, what else is there to do?

Yeah, you should have been trusting him all along. You see, one day soon, we're going to see him as he is, and we're going to be like him. We're going to have perfect faculties. You won't be able to walk by faith anymore.

You won't be able to win a soul anymore. You won't be able to sacrifice anymore. And then you'll look back and say, oh, if only I had, I believe that's the tears that you'll see in heaven. He'll wipe away all tears.

When people look back, there'll be no martyrs that said they didn't like the guillotines and all the rest. They won't be any sorry martyrs there in that day. In fact, oh, Joe, you died in the hospital bed.

I'm so sorry to hear that. You should have stood up there like William Tyndall and said, God save the queen, the king of England as the flames engulfed him. That's the way to burn out for God. You know, you can imagine in those days what it's going to be like as we stand together.

Adore him now, because in the coming day, there'll be no opportunity to grow in that type of thing. You see, one hour of right praying now will be worth thousands of hours in eternity of endless praise.

I really believe that. It's like Spikenard now when he's when you're in that relationship, it'll mean so much more in faith. Now, whom having not seen you love, blessed are they who having not seen yet believe that when we all can see so perfectly and it's we're falling down before the throne, do it now in prayer.

Spiritual Inventory and Unconfessed Sin

Don't let unanswered prayers phase you. Don't let them put you in depression, but find out why the key today is that God wants me to pray and the devil does not want me to pray. In fact, he just about just assumed me to do anything and pray.

One of his main objectives is to get you discouraged about what you're hearing here about prayer to get you looking at yourself, to get you realizing that you have no hope and you begin to doubt God. Of course, you close it under doubting yourself, but it's really doubting his ability.

And instead of doing that, you need to take a spiritual inventory of the situation, get down to brass tacks and really see why your prayers aren't answered. And I want to take a list of things. The reason that our prayers are unanswered first and primary above all things else is unconfessed sin, unconfessed sin.

And we've seen this scripture, but I want to say it again, Psalm 66, 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. If I look on with favor at that in my heart, which God has not sanctioned, that which is not faith is sin.

If I regard that and let it stay, then I shut myself out effectively from a powerful prayer life. But also Isaiah chapter 59, verse one and two, concerning the prayer for the salvation of our loved ones and all the rest, it says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save.

His ear is not heavy that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hidden his face from you and he will not hear. That's the same principle as John 15, seven, that we have to have clean prayer.

We have to abide in him and let his words abide in us. Back in Isaiah chapter one, verse 15, it talks about when the Israelites made prayer to the Lord and they came before him and the Lord said in all the religious activity, he says, When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.

Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear because your hands are full of blood. Yea, wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes and cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow.

He's saying, Listen, prayer is more than motions, prayer is more than words, prayer is a life. And that's what he wants us to have with him. Now, as you begin to let God search you out, unconfessed sin, rest assured that as light comes, light attracts bugs too, remember, as you're outside at night, remember that and there's going to be condemnation.

I heard that some of you were under condemnation for what you had confessed the first night in prayer. Somebody said, Oh, what do they think of me today? Well, you see, there's a big difference between condemnation and conviction.

I don't think you're under condemnation. I think your pride was just starting to come back up, some of you, as to what you had said. Let me give you some help to see the difference between condemnation and conviction, because it'll really help you.

Number one is that condemnation is primarily self-conscious. Oh me, oh my, and you're looking at yourself, whereas conviction is primarily God conscious. You become aware that God is there. And I'll tell you what, they both aren't very much fun.

They both often feel alike at first, and you have to pray to see which this is. What is this uneasiness in my spirit? Is it condemnation or is it conviction? And God will certainly show you, you see, because condemnation is very general.

Lord, show me why I'm feeling like this. Show me what's wrong with me. Well, condemnation is very general. You can't ever put your finger on anything. You come to God and you never really find what it is that's destroying you.

It's just always like a little mouse just a little bit ahead of you, and you're always, oh poor me, and you step on your lower lip. And whereas conviction, when you ask, I like to say it's disgustingly specific.

God will put his finger right there on it, and you'll say, I wasn't talking, I mean it'll be so clear that you'll wish you hadn't asked probably at first. It's very, very specific. And condemnation is destructive.

Oh, it just leaves you without any hope. You just seem to be without hope and you feel cast down, whereas conviction is always restorative. The Lord comes and he says, listen, that is exceedingly evil what you're in, but forsake it and I will be with you.

There's hope there. You see, it's always glorious hope set before us. And so with that, that should help us as we come before him with our sin and these things don't. Our problem is the devil always confuses us and has us calling things we should be under conviction about condemnation and we ignore God or things that were under sincere condemnation from the devil about, then we won't believe God that he's really put away our sin.

We need to get right with him so that we can walk in faith. So unconfessed sin will put a damper on your spirit, but just dare to believe if you come before him and he doesn't tell you anything that's wrong, say, hallelujah, I'm clean.

And then get out your sword and begin to hack away the tentacles of ungodliness all around you. Secondly, pride or vanity, pride being that self-centeredness, vanity being that type of attitude that loves to look in the mirror.

Perhaps you spend more time looking in the mirror than you do in your Bible. God would convict you this morning that you need to repent. Job chapter 35, verse 12 and 13 are very good scriptures concerning this.

Let me just read them to you. There they cry, but no one will answer because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not hear vanity and neither will the almighty regard it. Pride or vanity. You see, we often hear in America, for example, we need a revival of national pride or stand up America.

That's not what we need. We need a revival of national humility. We need to say, fall on your face, America. That's the way to being heard in prayer. You see, God's not interested. Well, I can't say that.

I just won't say that. That's not in good taste. We need a revival or we'll have a revolution. One or the other. We've got to have revival or we'll have a revolution. And all our prayers will not help unless they're the right kind of prayers.

God promises revival, but he never promises revival in answer to prayer. Prayer will do us no good. You know what kind of, what I mean? If my people, which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray.

You can pray till you're blue in the face, but if you don't humble yourself, God won't hear it. You see, because it can be pride praying, Oh God, thank you for our country. You need us. We're a missionary country.

God bless America. You can't do without us. It makes God want to vomit. It really makes me want to vomit too, because if we look around and see our crime rate and all the rest, I'll tell you, we need to fall on our face like it says in Joel and get down.

You see, the Pharisee stood and prayed with himself and he said, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like other men. Lord, we thank you that we're not like other countries. This is a Christian nation. And over here is a little public and beating his breath saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner that Pharisee just prayed with himself.

He was just beating the air. A friend of mine was reading that text one day about the Pharisee and he says, Oh gross. Look at him, how prideful he is. Lord, I'm sure glad I'm not like that Pharisee. And the Lord just went, look what you've done.

You know, you're just a step higher on the pride ladder than him. You see, God knows the proud are far off, but he gives grace to the humble. And it says that this is something that God doesn't have to give you.

He says, humble yourselves, come down, come down. You can get down. The question is, are you willing to? That's the question. The question. Third thing, lack of compassion, lack of compassion will keep your prayers from being heard.

Compassion and Practical Obedience

Scripture is Proverbs chapter three, verse 27 and 28. Let me read it to you. Proverbs chapter three, verse 27 and 28. And hear this word. It says withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

Don't say to your neighbor, go and come again. And tomorrow I'll give to you when you have it by the. You see, if we are like that saying, be warm and filled when it's in our power to do something about it, then God is not able to do in our lives what he wishes.

Proverbs chapter 21, verse 13, gives light on this. Listen to this. Whosoever stop his ears at the cry of the poor, he also will cry himself, but will not be heard. Whoever stops his ear from hearing the cry of the poor, when that person cries, he will not be heard.

In fact, in Luke chapter six, verse 38, it says, with what measure you met or give, it'll be measured back to you. If you give out with a little teaspoon, that's what God will use to measure into you.

You cannot give God. You cannot give God, and we cannot ignore the needs around us and expect for God to answer our prayers as we desire to see him answer our prayers. For example, is your neighbor in trouble?

Does your heart go out to them in compassion? That's what I'm talking about here that can hinder your prayer life and why your prayers aren't being answered. Fourth, a lack of home unity. First Peter chapter three, verse seven.

Let me read it to you. First Peter chapter three, verse seven, likewise, husbands dwell with them, your wives, according to knowledge. That means understand what her needs are giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, being heirs together as of the grace of life in order that your prayers be not hindered.

That means that husbands are to dwell with knowledge with their wives, there to be one, there to be joint heirs together, and if that is not the case, then their prayers are effectively hindered. If there's not harmony in the home, prayer is hindered.

So that's something to consider, wives, even if you have an ungodly husband, it's something to consider. Husbands, you're obligated to present your wife with spots and all to the Lord, blameless by your sacrifice for her.

They may not really be spots, they may be just beams in your own eye, if you look a little closer. That's what I found in my own experience anyway. Fifthly, prayer that is not in the will of God. We talked about this last night a good bit, but prayer that's not in the will of God will not be effectual prayer because you cannot pray in faith without a word from God, and faith comes by hearing the word, and it takes faith to please God.

Prayer in the Will of God

You've got to know the will of God to have an effectual prayer life. You see, prayer secures God's will, it doesn't change it. It secures God's will, it doesn't change it, and that's what often we think we're doing.

We do not change God's will by praying, we simply lay hold of it. There's a danger of praying out of his will. In fact, in Psalm 106, verse 15, we read about the Israelites, when they had the desires of their hearts set on something that they wanted, it says that God, oh I fear this verse, he gave them the desires of their heart, but sent leanness to their soul.

Be careful what you pray when it's not in the will of God, if you're checked, because God may allow that to come in order that you would learn not to desire the things that aren't his will. I believe he'll take it off, but let me say this, he took it off Israel, but there was leanness for a time.

Check your life, and if there's leanness, see what you're involved in that's not the will of God. There's an example of this in the scripture in Hezekiah's life. Remember when he prayed, the prophet Isaiah came to him and said, prepare your house, you're ready to die, and Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and wept and said, oh Lord, I don't want to die, I don't want to die.

He was afraid of death. I think a lot of Christians are afraid of death, they've never seen it, sting is missing. And the Lord said, through Isaiah, your prayer is heard, you'll live 15 more years. I think he was one of the only men in the world that knew exactly how long he'd live.

You know something, Hezekiah would have been better off if he'd never lived those 15 years. Because in those last 15 years, he ended up bringing reproach on the Lord by many of the things he did, and he fathered an ungodly son during that time that became the worst king probably in all of the history of Israel, Manasseh.

So it's an amazing thing when we pray out of the will of God. Sixthly, what will hinder my prayers? Disobedience. Now that's very akin to our first one, which is sin, but I just want to just refer you back to the scripture I read earlier, Isaiah chapter one, verse 14 and 15.

When you come to me and spread your hands and make many prayers, I will not hear because your hands are full of blood. He says, leave off the things that you're doing on your own and start doing the things that I want you to do.

Let me ask you a very personal question, and here it is, why do you obey the Lord? Why do you obey the Lord? Do you obey Him because of His promise, if you obey me, I will bless you? Do you obey Him because you expect to see blessings in return?

In that case, you have a hard time obeying Him when you don't see results. And that means the very motivation of your obedience is selfish. That means that if you don't receive a reward, if you don't receive a visual return on your obedience, then you will give up.

What do you do when you are called to obey Him in prison? If you ever go there, what do you do? You see, the Lord asked my wife and I that not long ago in a certain matter. We weren't seeing anything.

We were getting discouraged. And He just said, why are you obeying me? For your reward and pleasure or for my pleasure? Because if it's for my pleasure, you don't need to say anything. It brings me pleasure.

And you can be content to wait until glory to see the fruit of obedience. You see, that'll help you to obey the Lord. You see, He does not desire just a meek surrender, just a passive flopping in His presence.

He desires this, a willful, strong surrender. That is active and trained and disciplined. And therefore, faith that's got to be has got to be tested to be trusted. If you've never been tested, you can't be trusted.

He's not after innocence. Look, innocence is not righteousness. Innocence is innocence. Righteousness is purity that's been put to the test and come out clean. If you want righteousness and if you're seeking that first, it means you're willing to walk through whatever he sends you and remain pure by his power and truly obey him.

And when you do that, God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey him. In Acts 5 .32, it says that it's not talking about salvation. It's talking otherwise it'd be by works. It's talking about a filling and a using of by the Holy Spirit as we obey him in faith then to whom the faithful and the small things, then the true riches are committed.

You want to be rich in prayer, obey him, obey him. Seventhly. We've talked about this some, too, but selfishness, selfishness that is chronic in our lives and we must be rid of it. James chapter four, we talked about this last night, verse two, part B and three.

He says you have not because you ask not. And then he goes on and says, you ask and you have not because you ask a miss for the wrong reason that you may consume it upon your own lust. You see, our prayers must be poured in the mold of God's word.

We pour our prayer in that trough of our life. That's his word that runs and he can't pour the ocean of his love in the thimble of a heart. He just can't do it. We need to have our heart enlarged. Well, how does he enlarge our heart?

Can anybody tell me a scripture in the Old Testament in Psalm five? It says in distress, thou hast enlarged me. He enlarges our hearts in the fiery trial, in the distress. When we come forth as gold and he breaks us and overthrows the strongholds and tears up the fellow ground.

He then makes us able to hold more of himself. A plowed field takes water better. So is your main motive in your life happiness or holiness? Because if it's just happiness, you'll have a hard time obeying him.

You'll give out when it doesn't necessarily feed yourself. But if it's holiness, then you'll be content to live just for his pleasure and glory. You see, the corollary of the Lord's prayer that says, thy kingdom come is my kingdom go.

Thy will be done on earth means that my will no longer can be done on earth. So selfishness will effectively hinder my praying and your praying. Number eight, this is a biggie, an unforgiving spirit, an unforgiving spirit.

Forgiveness and Unhindered Prayer

And this is not just when you've been wronged. This is not just when someone's wronged you without a reason. This is when you have a very good reason in your mind to think bad thoughts about them. And you begrudge it and say, well, God, you need to have them make it up to me because they're just wrong.

But the Lord's prayer says, forgive us as we forgive others. In other words, Lord, you give to me the same kind of daily cleansing and forgiveness that I'm willing to shed forth to my brethren and to those around me.

In Matthew, chapter five, let me read this to you. Matthew, chapter five, in verse twenty three and verse twenty four, it says this. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and you remember that your brother has anything against you, leave there your gift before the altar.

Go your way and first be reconciled to your brother. That's the priority. And then over in Mark, chapter eleven. And when you stand praying, forgive if you have ought against any in order that your father, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses.

Here it is. If you do not forgive neither in the same way, will your father that's in heaven forgive you your trespasses? You see, we've talked to a lot of people here at Reach Out that come in for counseling.

And I would say probably over half of the ones usually that are Christians that have great turmoil is due to the fact that they've got a secret lodging place in the back of their heart for a root of bitterness or unforgiveness.

Maybe towards someone that just didn't treat their sweet old heart the way they thought it ought to be treated just because someone didn't realize that they deserve better treatment than that. And even some who've had real legitimate reason for actually hating their parents.

We talked to a man who had practically been raped by his father and his father had turned gay and wouldn't write him or anything. And this man had a legitimate stronghold of hatred in his mind. In his heart, he was not saying he thought he was and he couldn't even say the words I'm willing.

He had such a stronghold. He got down on the ground and began to pray and twitch and shake. What a spiritual battle going on. And he formed those words. I choose in Jesus name to forgive my father. When he did, it was like just a popping of a water balloon.

I mean, it was just like just gushing out of praise. And that fellow got saved that day. You see, we only damage ourselves, ourselves by unforgiveness. It's like a cancer. In fact, it's worse than a cancer because it defiles not only yourself, but many others, it says in Hebrews 12.

So God wants us to be clean in the spirit of unforgiveness. And when you have unforgiveness in your life concerning prayer, bitterness and unforgiveness will close the door and bolt it. And until you get rid of that in your life, toward your mother, toward your brother, toward your neighbor, toward your husband, toward your wife, toward your children.

God will not be flowing in your life like you desire him to flow. You must forgive. Number nine, unbelief, unbelief, are your prayers in faith or are they a vent for despair? One lady called me about her mother who was in the hospital and she told me all these ways she'd been praying.

And as she was praying, I became strangely aware that the lady wasn't really praying. She was like going to a psychologist or something. She was pouring out her grief, which is right before God. But she wasn't praying in faith.

She was praying in hopelessness. Oh, God, there's no hope for my mother. Oh, Lord, this or that. You see, we mustn't just vent our emotions in prayer. We must pray in faith. In Hebrews chapter three, verse 19, it says that unbelief will keep you from entering into rest.

You've got to believe God when you pray. You've got to take from him his promise. Listen, in a generation that stands for nothing and falls for everything, we tend to not believe God. We won't do it because we want to see something or feel something.

But you see, when you pray, you need to have faith in God. So many make the mistake of having faith in their praying and not in God. I just can't pray. Well, you're trusting your praying. You're not trusting God.

Quit trusting your praying. Quit trusting and trust him. Throw yourself in desperate desperation before him and say, I can't pray. I can't even groan right. But, Lord, you're alive. Hallelujah. You're alive and you understand and and you're who you say you are.

You see, if we would stay on our knees and unbelief would melt from our heart, it would. You cannot tiptoe around the throne of grace without having unbelief plucked off from your heart like an old leech.

Faith is omnipotent only when it's on its knees. But when it's on its knees, it can choose that impossible. The impossible becomes him possible when you're on your knees and the eyes directed to that sweet vision of him.

Double-Mindedness and Diligent Seeking

Then to bring out a little more of what we said before, number 10, double mindedness, double mindedness. Last night, we made reference to James chapter one, verse six and seven. And the last of those verses saying a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways.

He's like a wave of the sea tossed. You know, there's one thing about a wave. It's never in the same place. It may look the same, but it's always moving and it's never really in the same place. And the question is, in your life, do you have a secret sympathy with sin?

Do you? You'd never dream of doing it outwardly, of course, but but in your heart, as you watch things on the idol and as you spend time fellowshipping with your family before the family shrine in the evenings, do you ever do you ever have a secret sympathy for the villain?

Do you? Do you ever get in your like the clever bank robber that got away with the Bonnie and Clyde heist? And you say, boy, that is really pretty sharp, you know. Let me tell you something. That's double mindedness.

And God says you can't expect anything from him. You need to hate evil. That's the fear of the Lord, to say something like that and not even desire to see it, to be able to turn that thing off and to not look at others who are suffering through the wages of sin and have sympathy because of sin, but rather have sympathy because of God's compassion.

You cannot be double minded. Number 11, prayer is often not answered because of non-diligence. We come as casual inquirers rather than diligent seekers just coming and casually inquiring. But Isaiah, chapter 45, verse 15, says, Verily, thou art a God that hideth thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior.