The Secrets to Answered Prayers.

 Pastor Daniel Sermon on 10 Nov 2023.

Text: Isaiah 59:1-4.

In Isaiah 59, the Bible says the Lord's hand is not shorten that he cannot save neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear us.God's hand is not short like mine. My hand is not long compared to God's own. The Lord's ear is not blocked that he cannot hear when we cry and we pray during agony. In verse 2 the Bible says "your iniquity has separated between you from God and your sin has hide His face from you  that he will not hear" for your heart has been defiled with grudge and your finger with iniquity.

 Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversation.People think that God cannot hear. People think that God cannot see. People think that God's mouth is closed. God said He's the one that created the mouth. If He can't speak why did I create it. I'm the one that created the ear. His hand is not too short that when you have problem that He cannot save you. 

The hand of God is long and mighty and when that hand is stretched towards anywhere, no man, no demon can disanual it. No power can disanual it. Nobody can hold the hand of God and put it down. Who can pull the hand of God? Nobody. Anybody, any man, any woman that wants to pull down the hand of God,  will be crushed. Do you know how to crush something? it's like carrying a big stone to pond on something.

The hand of God is mighty to deliver us but what is stopping us is iniquity. Iniquity is a sin that drives God away from us when we come before Him. Why does God hate iniquity? Iniquity is synonymous to Satan. Sin can stand in the position of Satan. So, when Satan appears, God cannot be there. He said I can't fellowship with Satan because Satan has been condemned, Satan has been cast down, Satan has been brought to chain. What is left is to put him to the bottomless pit where he will be tormented by fire day and night. Satan's matter is settled. All that he's waiting for is the day the bottomless pit will be opened and he will be bundled there together with the people following him.

In this book I have, we taught you different types of prayer; cooperate prayer, individual prayer, prayer of supplication, intercession and all forms of prayers that are taught for the disciples. When you come to this church, you will be given this book called the manual. This book will help you to digest the whole Bible. it will help you to understand how God operates. You must get this book the discipleship manual from the church. When you get this book you will learn many things. For instance in chapter one, we talked about the mission and vision of this church and it tells you to start your new life with Christ. Chapter two is talking about the Holy Spirit. Jesus said I will not leave you comfortless, I will send you the comforter  who will show you all things, who will protect you, who will direct your affair and that is the holy Ghost.

The word of God is documented in the Bible. if you see the Bible you've seen the word of God. God says "I honour my word more than my name". So, you must honour the word of God. So many ways of knowing the word of God is documented in chapter two. Chapter four is talking about effective prayer. For your prayer to be effective, for your prayer to be answered, you must run away from iniquity. If you don't run away from iniquity your prayer cannot be answered because the Bible said  behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot save us neither is his ears  heavy  that he cannot hear us but your iniquity has separated between you and your God and your sin has hide his face from you that he will not hear you.

When you read the Bible you'll see what happened in the life of Adam and Eve,God said he'll come to fellowship with Adam but when two of them sinned by disobeying the word of God they found themselves naked before God. Have you dreamt and you see yourself naked? It's an indication that you're falling up in sin and the sin is knocking at the door of your life,and that is the word Satan will use to destroy you. Satan is the owner of sin and it's also a trap of Satan.Sin is a trap. If we can understand this everything will be easy in life. Many who are Fishermen sets a trap inorder to catch fish, you set a trap, you have a hooke and you put a worm on the hooke and drop it in the river. The worm will be roaming in the river. Anywhere there's fish, they will see the worm  and try to eat it but the hooke will trap them. This is a trap. Sin is a trap to catch you. Satan cannot trap you if you can run away from sin. The Bible says if I obey the commandment and the word of the Lord, I am wiser than my enemy (Psalm 119 vs 98). So, if you can run away from that trap,sin won't be your master, it won't have dominion over you and you will be more than a conqueror. 

This is how to overcome satan and this is how your prayer can be answered. When you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and personal  saviour and you stay away from sin, God said "lo and behold, my hand is not shortened that it cannot save neither my ear is heavy that I cannot hear but your iniquity,your sin has separated between you and your God and your sin has hide his face. God runs away from sin. God cannot stay where there's sin.

When you commit sin, you fall away from the ladder of God. You have demoted yourself. You are no longer in that dominioncy position God has placed you. Before sin came, men see God and God see men.God always come  to fellowship with Adam and Eve and they fellowship with God. But after they committed sin by disobeying the word of God and His instructions, the Bible said they now saw themselves to be naked and hid.God was looking for them and called "Adam Adam where are you". He called because He can't see them like before because the ladder of God is now far away from them. God heard their voice crying I have committed sin I am no longer in your ladder. I don't see you and you don't see me and God said, who told you that you're naked and Adam said the wife you gave to me made me to be naked before my enemy. if you can stay away from sin and iniquity, from the fear of Satan the devil you will be free from every sorrow,from death, from defeat, from agony and whatsoever in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen 

Genesis 3:1 says "so the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God has made and he said unto the woman, yes has God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" and the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the tree of the garden  but the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, thou shall not eat, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. Satan replied, but God does know that for the day which you eat thereof then your eye shall be open and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

God created man and woman in His image and likeness. Is God not aware  that man needs to see between good and evil? Is God not aware? So why God told them not to eat the fruit is because it is  the fruit of  the knowledge of good and evil. Good is Jesus Christ while  evil is Satan. Satan wants to convert them so he sets a trap for them with the fruit. so, when they went there to pick up the fruit that is snare and the spirit of Satan entered into man. God cannot stay with that spirit of Satan  that has entered to pollute man . That is why God said I can no longer keep you, you have to die, that's the punishment. Every man must die. Why? because of sin. The Bible said to the sons of the soil, they are all men the soul that sinneth shall die. Some of us when you come to church you say the pastor is always talking about sin. Sin is the only trap that can make you to be naked. It is the only thing that can make you to fail. if a man goes to school and he's failing, he is commiting sin. if a woman fails in marriage and she can't stay in that marriage, she's commiting sin. if a man cannot come to church he's comitting Sin. The flesh loves sin, if we convert this church to a beer parlour now, in the next week, everywhere will be filled up.if alcohol is placed here everywhere will be filled up.  what does alcohol do? it defiles your body. What of drugs? it defiles you. How about cigarette? It defiles you too.  If we bring  cigarette here everywhere will be filled because Satan loves sin. if you can stay away from sin and iniquity you have overcome every problem of your life. Everywhere you go, you will excel. if you go to school, you will excel. if you sell something, you will excel, if you're driving buses, you will excel. if you're a pilot, you will excel. In your family, you will excel, in your community, you will excel, Why? because you obeyed the commandment of the Lord and you will be wiser every moment of your life.