• When you call voice-mail you hear this, "You have x unheard messages."
• I wonder how many times if we checked God's voicemail would we hear, "You have x unheard prayers?"
• Prayer is the most powerful benefit we have in the Kingdom of God. Yet we regard it as...
• ineffective.
• waste of time
• a last resort
• We have God on speed dial, but unfortunately the only number we have for him is 911.
• I long to see us become a powerful people of prayer. But in order to do that we must better understand when God doesn't hear our prayers. If we have a hindrence to our prayer life we can pray till we are blue in the face and nothing gets done.
• If you are praying and praying and seeing nothing, then run this diagnostic. Are you being blocked by one of these circumstances we'll look at over the next few weeks.

A Sinful Life Will Close God's Ears

*This has two aspects

For the Unbeliever God Does Not Hear.

• One instance where I hear people get frustrated is in the area of answered prayers.
• Our passage tells us that sin is like a block. If you are a servant to sin, then no matter how much you pray, God will not hear. In fact, He views these prayers as an abomination. Proverbs 15:8.
• I think almost anyone knows the concept of prayer, but God is not your lifeline in that regard.
• As an unbeliever, there is only one prayer that God will hear and that is..."Lord forgive me a sinner, save me."
• God may choose to respond to something you pray, but I promise it has something to do with His will, not with your prayer.
• How do you fix this, come to know Jesus as Your Lord and Savior.

For the Believer Living in Sin God Does Not Hear.

• Because you have let sin so rule your life, God will no hear, and will not respond.
• He wants one prayer, a prayer of repentence.
• You have to come today and repents of those sins in your life which are blocking God.

Conclusion

• Some of us go to one extreme and pray verbosely with a specific language as if that's all God hears; some of us go to the other extreme and say, well, I don't even need to pray. Matthew 6:7.
• Realize that prayer is the way we communicate with God, but it is not one way, and if you are not hearing God, not seeing God work around you then you need to start with your relationship to Him.
• Do you have one? Have you walked away from that?