If we are living in some sort of sin that we haven’t judged and confessed, the Lord will not help us at that time. We see David expressing this truth in Psalm 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” If we are living in sin, our prayers will not reach heaven and the Throne of Grace. God’s ear is only open to believers who are living a “righteous life.” David brought out this truth in Psalm 34:17, “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.”

If we are conscious that we are regarding sin in our hearts, we need to CONFESS IT immediately and then God our Father will immediately forgive us and restore us to fellowship with Himself, which would include hearing and answering our prayers. We read in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Our Father waits for His failing children to come to Him to acknowledge their sins (whatever they may be!) and the moment we do come with a clear and simple confession of our sin He grants us what we may call “Paternal Forgiveness” (the “forgiveness of a FATHER to his CHILD”). He then cleanses us from all “unrighteousness” and then we can live a “righteous” life before Him, which means we can “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and FIND GRACE TO HELP IN TIME OF NEED” (Hebrews 4:16). The Lord WILL HELP YOU by answering your prayers according to His “good and acceptable and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). Another wonderful passage which assures us of God hearing and answering our prayers is 1 John 5:16, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, HE HEARS US. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

It has been said that the believer should “keep short accounts with God” when it comes to sin. Once you are aware of a sin in your life, don’t wait to come to God to confess it. The longer we procrastinate, the harder it will be to acknowledge our sin, for we will have a “bad conscience”, and our guilt will keep us from prayer. If we keep shorts accounts with God by confessing sins the moment we are made aware of them, we will have a “good conscience.” Paul spoke of the danger of not having a good conscience in 1 Timothy 1:19, “Having faith and a GOOD CONSCIENCE, which some having rejected, concerning faith have suffered shipwreck.” The lesson here is clear; if we reject the voice of our conscience when we sin, we “lose a good conscience” and are in  danger of making shipwreck of faith. Conversely, if we maintain a good conscience (see Acts 23:1 and 24:16), we will gladly come into God’s presence with confidence and a holy boldness born of faith! I will close by quoting 1 John 3:20-21, “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, IF OUR HEART DOES NOT CONDEMN US, WE HAVE CONFIDENCE TOWARD GOD.”  (DO)  (704.1)