A note on the Scripture in this study: every verse is printed WHOLE. The words set in ordinary type are the ones this lesson leans on and emphasizes . . . the words in italics are the rest of the verse, printed so that nothing is ever handed to you as a fragment with the remainder missing.
Part Seven ended on James and the words ye ask amiss. This part picks up right there, because James is not the only place the Bible tells us why a prayer does not get through – and the list is longer and plainer than most of us are comfortable with.
And I want to say at the front – what this lesson is not . . . this is not about a man losing his salvation . . . nothing in here can un-save anybody . . . a child who has made his father angry is still his father's child . . . but he is going to have a hard time getting anything out of him until they have talked.
That is what we are dealing with . . . not the relationship . . . but the line… the fellowship…
THE VERSE THAT NAMES IT
Psalm 66:18 — “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:”
Regard. That is the word the whole verse turns on – and it is not the same as commit… So we are not being told – if we COMMIT iniquity – God will not hear me… Notice
“To regard” something – is to look at it and to keep it… To have it in our view… To hold onto it – and to defend it… The idea here is to make room for it in our lives... David is not talking about a man who fell into something and hates himself for it… He is talking about a man who has a sin he intends to keep.
And notice where it is... In my heart… Not in my hands where anybody could see it… The point here is – that this can be a sin that nobody in this church knows about – except the man himself – and God.
Isaiah says the same thing – and puts it in the plainest terms we will find in the Bible…
Isaiah 59:1 — “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:”
Isaiah 59:2 — “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”
Read verse 1 again . . . because it is the mercy in the passage. His hand is not shortened. His ear is not heavy. There is nothing wrong on God's end . . . the power is not less than it was – and the hearing is not worse than it was.
So if nothing came through – the trouble is not up there.
THE FAUCET AND THE HOSE
Every one of us has done this . . . you go out to water something in July and nothing comes out the end of the hose . . . and the first thing a man thinks - is that somebody turned the water off.
So – you walk back to the house and check – and the faucet is wide open . . . the water is on, and it has been on the whole time . . . you walk back out following that hose and somewhere in the middle of the yard – it is doubled over on itself (kinked) . . . and you are standing on it.
That is this lesson… The pressure never dropped… The line got kinked . . . and the fix is not to go argue with the water company… the fix is to straighten out the hose…
Simple truth: God did not turn the water off . . . something in the yard has that hose doubled over . . . and a man can go find it… unless that man is trying to guard that kink… (iniquity)
NOW WHAT THE BIBLE ACTUALLY NAMES
The Bible does not leave us guessing about what kinks the line . . . it names them . . . six of them, and I am going to give them to you – the way Scripture gives them.
One — cherished sin
That is Psalm 66:18, and we have already had it… A sin which a man is holding onto on purpose.
Two — praying while I will not hear God
Proverbs 28:9 — “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”
That is a hard sentence . . . not his prayer shall be weak – his prayer shall be an abomination… A man who will not listen to God has no business expecting God to listen to him – and God says so.
And it is fair – when you turn it around . . . we would not put up with it from a child who would not hear a word we said – and then came in wanting fifty dollars.
Three — a life that contradicts the asking
Proverbs 15:8 — “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.”
Both halves of that verse are worth having . . . the first half warns… The second half is one of the kindest things in the Bible – the prayer of the upright is his DELIGHT... God is not putting up with our praying... He likes it.
Four — asking for the wrong reason
James 4:3 — “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
We took this one up in Part Seven . . . a man can ask for a right thing for a wrong reason and God will not answer that prayer...
Five — how a man treats his wife
Now here is the one that is rarely preached, and I am going to preach it anyway because Peter put it in there on purpose…
1 Peter 3:7 — “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.”
That your prayers be not hindered… Peter runs a straight line from the way a man treats his wife – to whether his praying gets anywhere…
And notice what he does NOT say. He does not say she is worth less – he says heirs together of the grace of life… Equal before God – and given to the man to honor.
So – a man can be right on his doctrine – and faithful in his attendance – but if he is hard on his wife at home – then Peter says his prayers are hindered . . . that is not my opinion . . . that is straight out of THE BIBLE…
Six — an unforgiving heart
The Lord Himself hung this one on the model prayer back in Part Five – and then He went back and explained it – when He explained nothing else:
Matthew 6:15 — “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
A man cannot draw on a mercy he refuses to pass along to others... Or he can try, and find the kinked hose of iniquity – that he is protecting...
✍️ AUTHOR'S NOTE
To be entirely honest – I can look back and see five of these six in my life that have hindered my prayers… There have been times in my life – when I have “cherished” sin – protected it – guarded a kinked hose… which leads directly into “not listening to God” because if I listened to Him – I would have to give up my pet sin and unkink the hose… which takes us to #3 and a life that is inconsistent with Godliness and contradicts the asking… the next step being asking for the wrong reason – if our heart is not right – then our motives will not be right either… and then we get to number five and the treatment of our wives… I am a lot of things – and I have actually cherished sin in my heart so that my prayers have literally been hindered – but for everyday of my married life – I have not for a single minute failed to understand/appreciate the blessing which God gave me in Summer… she has and always will be – the jewel in my life… and then there is number six – about being stingy with forgiveness – I am guilty here as well…
The point here is… To be a Christian – is to GROW – to climb the staircase – to add to our faith – to build on the foundation of faith – using gold – silver – precious stones instead of wood – hay and stubble… and to remember that a building is not built in a moment – and neither is a life… It is extremely common in a building project for a sudden rain to get the inside of the house wet – before the roof is finished… In life it is also a common thing – for a storm to blow rain through an open window and get the carpet wet and ruin the floor in a bedroom… but we should always remember – that Jesus was a carpenter – and He can fix anything… — C.T.
AND THE ONE THAT IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS
There is one more verse people put on this list, and it belongs in a different place entirely:
John 9:31 — “Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.”
That is the blind man in John 9 – and we had it back in Part One . . . this is not about a Christian with a kinked hose . . . this is about a lost man who has no hose that runs to the house at all.
And there is one prayer – that God has promised to hear from the lost man – and that is the prayer of the publican – God be merciful to me a sinner . . . that door is not shut – and I don’t intend to let anyone close it...
HOW THE KINK COMES OUT
Now for the good news – and it is very good news...
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.”
Faithful and just… Not merciful – though He is… BUT Just – because the debt was already paid and it would not be right to charge it twice...
And confess is a plain word . . . it means to say the same thing about it that God says about it… It doesn’t mean to explain it – and it doesn’t mean to compare it with somebody else's sin – and it doesn’t mean to give it a softer name – it means to agree…
That is all it takes to straighten the hose . . . and a man can do it standing where he is - without waiting for Sunday…
📖 FROM THE PULPIT
An example of me finding the kink – can be described by me first WANTING to find the kink – I finally got to the point – where I wanted to have a better relationship with God – than the relationship I was trying to protect with sin… There is pleasure in sin for a season – but what I learned is that there is PAIN attached to that pleasure (physical – emotional and spiritual)… and the long and short of it is – it simply wasn’t worth it… The high’s were not worth the valleys… So I abandoned my partnership with sin – and I moved in with humility – I became friends with UNDERSTANDING – I got to know WISDOM – and I learned to seek KNOWLEDGE of God instead of seeking pleasure… Every promise God had ever made – was trapped in the hose – and I was the one who was responsible for the kink… Repentance works every time – repentance gets the water (blessings) moving again… Taste the Lord that He is gracious – and you realize how BITTER the world is… — C.T.
NOW LET ME GUARD THIS
Do not turn this into a checklist for other people… Every one of these six things is meant for the man reading it – and not to be used as a way to judge our neighbor . . . the minute we start using this list on somebody else – whose prayer did not get answered – we have turned a mercy into a club – and that is exactly what Job's friends did…
And do not read every unanswered prayer as a hindered prayer... That is the mistake this lesson could cause if we are not careful — so let me say it as plain as I know how.
Paul had no kink in his line… Paul asked three times – and got a no – and God told him why . . . and it had nothing to do with sin.
Part Four of this study is about “that kind” of no – and Part Four is the other half of this part… We need them both or we will get this wrong… Because there are two different kinds of no – and they do not look one bit alike.
Some no's are about sin... Something is in the way — the hose is kinked and the man knows what it is – if he will stop and be honest about it.
Some no's are about wisdom… Nothing is in the way at all… God simply knows something that we do not know. . . and He is not going to hand His child a thing that would hurt him…
And a man who cannot tell those two apart – is going to go wrong – in one of two directions…
One man decides that “every no” is wisdom… So - he never looks at himself at all — he has a ready answer for everything – and he never once walks down that hose… That man can carry a kink for twenty years and call it the will of God.
The other man decides every no is sin… So he tears himself apart hunting for a fault that may not even be there . . . he buries a child and lies awake at three in the morning asking God what he did wrong… That man is being crushed under a load God never put on him.
I have sat with both – and the second one is worse… So – how does a man tell?
He goes down the list — honestly – one at a time... If God shows him something – he deals with it and quits looking… And if God does not show him anything — then he leaves it alone – and lets it be Paul's kind of no.
BEFORE YOU LEAVE
His hand is not shortened – His ear is not heavy . . . that is where this started and that is where it lands.
If the water is not coming out the end of the hose – then it is worth walking the line before we decide God has gone quiet on us… And most of the time the kink is close – and it is small – and it has a name.
And the confessing does not cost anything but honesty.
TRY IT THIS WEEK
Go down the six things which will hinder prayer – slowly – and one at a time . . . not as a list of sins – but as a walk down the hose… Look for…
Something I am holding onto… Something God has said that I will not hear . . . a life that is arguing with my asking . . . a wrong reason underneath a right request . . . my wife… or Somebody I have not forgiven.
And where you find the kink – say the same thing about it that God says . . . then go on and pray – and do not spend one more minute on it – because He is faithful and just – and the matter is closed.
NEXT — Part Nine: The Helper We Forget. Paul says we do not know what we should pray for as we ought . . . that is a hard admission . . . and God did not leave us alone with it.
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