Why Are My Prayers Unanswered?

Because you haven’t looked after the soil of your heart.

If you need breakthrough in your life in a specific area such as finances, health or relationships, you should consider the soil of your heart. Many people are not good receivers of what God wants to give them, and it has to do with the heart.

I want to share some kingdom secrets and mysteries which will help you discern what is happening in your life and allow you to walk in the fullness of what God has for you.

Matthew 13:3-11 NLT
³He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one:
“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. ⁴As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. ⁵Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. ⁷Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. ⁸Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! ⁹Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”
¹⁰His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”
¹¹He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not.

There are a number of truths in the short passage. Firstly, Jesus was talking in parables so that the truth would be hidden from the crowds of people who would later crucify Him. He only shared the truth with His disciples, and in verse eleven He says that only they are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, every parable contains secrets of the Kingdom, and these secrets are available to us through the Word of God. So it’s very important to always be meditating on a Bible verse throughout the day, quoting scriptures and memorizing them. As you are diligent with the Word of God, the Holy Spirit will reveal to you all the mysteries to where you won’t have any more questions.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 AMPC
⁹But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed].
¹⁰Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny].

1 Corinthians 2:9 is quoted all the time, and I’ve heard it said that “God works in mysterious ways”, then people laugh. The problem with that is when you read verse ten. The Spirit of God searches even the profound and bottomless things of God – divine counsels and things hidden. He reveals all of these things to us, but we have to be in relationship with Him to receive that counsel. So as a believer, nothing should surprise you because the Holy Spirit is your mentor and counsellor, and He reveals the future.

In the parable of the sower, which should be called “The parable of the soils,” because the sower is mentioned once and the focus of the parable is on the soils, there are four types of soil: footpath, rocky soil, thorny soil and fertile soil. Only one soil produced a harvest, and three produced nothing. The exact same seed is sown on all soils, and the same sower is throwing the seed. Therefore there is nothing wrong with the seed or sower; The difference in result is all due to the soil.

Matthew 13:19-23 NLT
¹⁹The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. ²⁰The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. ²¹But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. ²²The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. ²³The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

Luke 8:11-15 NLT
¹¹“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. ¹²The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. ¹³The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. ¹⁴The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. ¹⁵And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.

In Jesus’ explanation, it’s very important to note what made the soil infertile: either hard, rocky, or thorny. The first thing to deal with is not understanding the Word of God which is the seed. This is probably the biggest one which is why Jesus mentioned it first. If you think about the whole world population and how many people are believers in Jesus Christ, it’s a very small percentage currently. What I have seen over and over is people hear the word of God, they try to understand it in their mind, and when they can’t, they walk away. In essence, the devil just stole that Word from them. In this day and age with all the technology we have, it’s really impossible for someone to not hear the gospel at least once in their lifetime. What I’ve encountered is that most people who aren’t believers, people I’ve spoken to, have already heard the gospel many times but because of where their heart is, they don’t accept it.

To combat the lack of understanding, you can pray for wisdom and understanding. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal every truth in the Word to you, as it is written in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10. If you ever read something in the Bible and think it is too good to be true, or it isn’t relevant today, you have to remember that the word “Gospel” can be translated as “Too good to be true”, and Jesus is the centre of the Gospel. You have to accept that miracles are for today and are needed now more than ever. Prosperity is for today. Healing is available to you. Find the scriptures that you don’t believe in, and pray over them asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of them to you. Don’t let the devil rob you of your miracle because you don’t understand the Word.

The second thing to be wary of is rocky soil which is where the Word doesn’t go deep enough in your heart. You take the Word at surface level and accept it mentally, but you haven’t meditated on it and memorized it and quoted it. When you face persecution, you give up on the Word because the circumstances don’t reflect the promise you have. I have seen people who believe in healing go back on their beliefs, because they got sick. However, just because sickness came doesn’t mean God’s word isn’t true.

You need to be ready to face the attacks of the devil when you get a Word from God, because He will come as a thief to steal everything away, using the methods Jesus explains here. When God gives you a Word for healing, you may feel sicker for the first day, week, or month. But that is the devil working overtime to get you to doubt. If He can’t get you to forget the Word of God, he will work on getting you into fear and doubt and unbelief. That is his mode, and Jesus is spilling the beans on all of this. This is why Jesus said it was a Kingdom secret. I get excited just thinking about that.

The third fruitless seed is the thorny soil. The Word is crowded out by worries of this life and the lure of wealth. Some translations say ‘the deceitfulness of riches’. This one is a big one for most Christians. When you have the Word of God, and you believe it but don’t live in it, it gets drowned out by everything else that is going on in your life. There are so many ‘cares of life’ that want your attention, the biggest one getting a flat-out mention – money. I think a lot of people who are poor think about how to get rich and what they would do with all that money if they got it. The problem with that is that your focus has shifted away from the Father.

If your focus gets shifted, it’s only a matter of time until the direction that you’re walking in also changes to where you’re looking. Jesus said to seek first the kingdom and His righteousness, then all these other things will be added to you. It’s a matter of priority. What is your priority if you only can choose to do one or two things. Does the Bible always get read every day by you? Do you always pray, even if you don’t have time to do anything else?

It’s important to not get into works over this, which is working really hard but not flowing in the fruit of the Spirit. If you write a list of things you want to do but keep failing to do them, don’t push harder to do it in your own strength. Let go of it and lean on the Lord to help you. Ask Him to help you. Remember that you are to seek first the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. That means that when you’re in the Spirit and walking with the Lord, you will have peace and joy. Righteousness is also translated as “justice”, meaning anything wrong is made right again. If something is out of alignment in your life, it must come back to the correct intent that God has.

The good soil is hearing and understanding God’s word, and then producing a harvest. In other words, you have taken what you received and put it into action which produced a harvest. You didn’t fall for any of the devils attacks and distractions that cause soil to be unfruitful. You are faithful, patient and fruitful. It’s obvious that God is at work in your life because you have a harvest that is many times the seed that was sown.

When you put all of this together, what it means is that for any problem you are facing in your life, be it lack of provision, lack of health, bad relationships, depression, or whatever it is, what you need to do is go to the Bible and find at least two verses that are promises for what you are needing. Then you take those verses and use them as a sword in the Spirit, waging warfare by declaring them, meditating on them, and praying them into your life. When you do that you are intentionally taking seed and planting it in your heart for it to grow. It takes time for it to grow though, so remember to be patient and stay in there. God will bring a mighty victory to you and you will have a testimony for the rest of your life on what He has done.

One thing that God showed me was praying before going to sleep. He wanted me to do that as part of my routine, however after a week or so I started to skip nights. I thought about this parable of the sower, and the Word of God came to me. He said “Remember that the only soil that produced fruit was the one that never gave up”. His words convicted me and helped me to keep going. So when you wage warfare, it’s a good idea to also have this parable at the forefront of your mind, to remind yourself that you will receive your harvest if you are patient and endure.

Ask, Seek, Knock

Ask the Father to do a deep work in you; Not for the sake of boasting, but so you may live a more empowered life!

A couple of years ago, I started praying to our Father for encounters, dreams, and visions. I wanted to experience these things so I could have a greater understanding of what God was doing in and around me. I wasn’t entirely convinced that it could – or would – happen. However, I have now come to realise that it’s a good thing to want more than the status quo.

Our Father wants us to get curious and ask him about things! Ask him for guidance and deliverance. Ask him to open your eyes to his way of seeing things. Paul prayed in this way for the Ephesians, with the intent of them having a greater understanding of who God is, and how his power is working in us who believe!

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, ¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, ¹⁸having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
Ephesians 1:16-19 ESV

The intent of these prayers is to lead you toward a place of greater understanding of God, and ultimately, living a life of more power and glory. If you seek dreams, visions and encounters for the sake of boasting, you will not handle them well. That attitude of pride could lead to causing other believers to stumble. We are to bring others unto Christ, not unto ourselves. This topic is looked at in 2 Corinthians 5. Here is part of it in verses 19 and 20:

that is, in Christ God was reconciling^[c] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
2 Corinthians 5:19-20 ESV

Having said this about pride, I don’t want you to think you shouldn’t desire or ask for greater revelations of God as Father Son and Spirit. It is highly beneficial to see the greatness and power of God.

You will not be able to live in the fullness God has for you if you resist him and his gifts. Peter refused Jesus washing his feet, likely because he felt uncomfortable with it. However, Jesus spoke sternly to him to assure him it must be so:

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ⁷Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” ⁸Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”
John 13:3-8 ESV

There is a place for these revelations, and having a heart that is humble and hungry is a perfect recipe for God to open your eyes to these things. After all, Jesus was recorded as saying:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7 ESV

I want to encourage you to make this a topic of prayer until you see God start to open your eyes and expand your vision. Encounters with him are open and accessible to everyone!

Fighting Dragons

Dear friends, From a young age, as young as I can remember, I have been in the middle of a spiritual battle. Most of my earliest memories are nightmares of evil creatures coming to torment me in my dreams. I have already spoken of some of these horrors in previous posts, so I will not go into detail here. However, I want to revisit this topic because there has been a significant update to this story.

I have slept peacefully for many nights since dealing with those demons of the past; However, over the past months I have had multiple dreams in which Satan came to me to kill me. The first two dreams were especially intense, the first of which he was in the form of a dragon, breathing fire, flying around, and using several different tactics to attack me. In the second dream he was in the form of a man and he used smooth words to trap me. In both of those dreams I was shown that I needed to face him myself instead of relying on other people to win this battle for me. I couldn’t depend or rely on my spiritual leaders to set me free; God would give me the strength to face him myself.

In each instance I prayed into the dreams and sought God desperately because of their intensity. After prayer each time, I felt a powerful peace come over me that couldn’t be penetrated. Some time passed, at least a couple of months, before I had two more dreams in the same night.

In these next two dreams, I could see that God the Father was watching over me. I again faced a dragon that wanted to harm me. However, this time things were different. A brother stood by me and submitted his heart to God. He truly lay himself down in the presence of God. His heart was in complete worship to God. I could see that God the Father was looking at my brother and me standing there, facing the dragon. Then my brother started forcefully praying against the dragon! He started asking God to rebuke it, curse it, and smite it!

Well, it’s safe to say God wasted no time in doing the very things asked of him! He struck that dragon down right where it stood. That wretched thing couldn’t move after only three strikes! I stood there amazed. I was just given the key to win the fight against dragons!

Again, I was facing another dragon. This one was much like the first, intending to harm me. I felt fear start to creep in until I saw God appear again. He turned and looked at me. As soon as the father looked at me, I felt peace come into me. I remembered the previous dragon fight and submitted myself to my Father, right before the dragon in front of me. I truly surrendered everything, holding nothing back. Once I had entered that place of worship (I felt a change in my spirit), I started praying against the dragon. God responded promptly and struck the dragon down. It was utterly defeated!

Once I awoke, I put this prayer into practice immediately. I felt the results immediately in my spirit and I was soaring! I felt so free and so powerful. I knew I had a huge amount of authority, given to me by God.

I remembered the verse in James that says:

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7

Over the years of facing spiritual battles I have prayed James 4:7 many times, but never with the success I recently had. I believe there is a grace that God gives when he reveals something specifically to us. The verse was no less true before my dreams as it was after, yet it was only when I held the revelation of the verse for myself that it was truly effective.

When I had the revelation of James 4:7 I realised that it is far more powerful than what it seems. The verse doesn’t describe the level of humility required, how far the heart needs to go to submit to God before you are in a position to resist the devil. I also didn’t realise that I needed to pray from that place of submission and ask God to take down the devil. I thought I had to resist him in my own strength.

So as you can see, there is a big difference when you understand something in your heart. When God showed me how James 4:7 works, I no longer came to incorrect conclusions. I got the essence of the revelation, not just the idea of it. It went past my head and into my heart. I pray he will show you too.

I want to encourage you to face your dragons, whatever form they may come in. When you are faithful to keep fighting and praying, our father hears you and will give you the specific strategy to defeat the enemy.

May the God of peace richly bless you.

The Power of Prayer: A Testimony

Following on from my last post where I wrote about the power of God working through prayer, I want to share a testimony.

I felt God lead me to a remote church to help them while they started up. This church was less than six weeks old when I first visited, and at the time of this story, I had attended a handful of times. One Sunday night, after a regular service, I started talking to a young woman who was there with her partner. I found out that they used to attend church, but it was very dry and didn’t operate in the power of God. As a result, they left God and were very sceptical about connecting back into a church.

While I was talking with this young lady, my spirit inside of me felt like it would jump out of my body with excitement! I felt such a joy and connection to her. I have never felt this way before, and not since. One of my friends had organised to catch up with them after the service at a cafe, so we left the church and went to the cafe.

At the cafe, there were three friends and I talking to this young couple. As we talked about God with them, I again felt a strong connection to them. As I shared my testimony with the young man, he said he had gone through very similar life circumstances. He could easily relate to me and the struggles I went through. By this point, my spirit was just about to jump out of my body with joy and excitement for what God was doing in me! Wow! It was truly amazing.

After some time of discussion, the cafe was closing due to it getting late. We all went outside and kept talking in the freezing cold. After ten minutes or so, one of my friend asked to pray for them. After he prayed for them, he suggested I also pray. Well, safe to say no one expected God to move so powerfully!

As soon as I opened my mouth and started praying, the power of God hit everyone forcefully! One of my friends yelled out from the shock and staggered around, while I started weeping uncontrollably! I kept praying through the tears, desperately asking God to reveal himself to this couple that they might be saved. I heard myself prophesying over them, speaking of their faith-filled future.

After the prayer, I felt so alive; I truly felt used by God in the best way possible. Speaking to the couple, they also felt something, and they were very grateful for the prayers. Although they didn’t choose to accept God as their saviour right there and then, I know without a doubt that God is working in their lives.

This story is just one where God moved in me through prayer. I have seen him move through me more since I shifted my focus to what he wanted me to be doing: praying! I know I have a call to pray with and for other people, and as I walk in that, God uses me powerfully. The best part about this is that I didn’t do anything extra special. It was all God! He worked through me and did everything. There was no special prayer beforehand, and I wasn’t fasting. God simply used me as I walked in his purpose for my life.

There are some verses I want to highlight that show how God uses us when we are willing vessels:

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
Philippians 2:13 NLT

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Ephesians 2:10 NLT

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
Matthew 5:16

As you can see from these verses, God works through us, not requiring us to produce the good works. For God planned long ago what we would do. How incredible!

Knowing these verses, do you know the call God has for your life? Are you walking in it? If you are, I would love to hear your stories of God’s power working through you. If you don’t know if you are walking in God’s call for you, I encourage you to read my last post and ensure you are in God’s will. From that place, there is no striving, no trying to make things happen. It just automatically works.

Have a blessed week, and may God be with you.

Strengthened By Prayer

If you have been following my journey for a while, you will know I wrote early last year about some of the difficulties I faced. Although the year started rough, I learned many lessons and ultimately came out better than before. I firmly believe that my growth happened because I decided to start seriously praying.

At the start, the prayer increase was partly due to not having anything else to do, and not desiring to find anything else to do with my time. I heard a sermon at the start of the year about being equipped for battle by spending time with God, and I realised that I’d rarely spent more than an hour at a time seeking God. So I made it my goal to spend longer amounts of time with God to see what would happen.

The result of increased prayer was spiritual alertness and vision I had never experienced before. As I grew spiritually throughout the year, I saw most things differently; My perspective changed dramatically in only 12 months! The most obvious change to me was that I became more aware of the spiritual health of myself and those around me. I have realised that gifts (in and out of the church) do not equal spiritual maturity. In some cases, I saw that people with gifts had become spiritually dry over time as they started to lean on their gifts rather than their relationship with God! However, those who were healthy all had one thing in common – a close relationship with God and regular prayer.

Seeing things the way I do now, I find it quite interesting that most christians I talk to do not see the need for much intentional prayer, if any at all. I agree that subconscious prayer is incredibly powerful and should be practiced by all christians, and the bible backs this up in Thessalonians:

Never stop praying.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 NLT

But, there’s more to prayer than the inner prayer. It’s the intentional prayer, when time is set aside specifically to address concerns and talk with the Father. I believe Jesus was talking about this kind of prayer in Matthew 6:

“But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
Matthew 6:6 NLT

And also in Luke 11:

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
Luke 11:9 NLT

There are many other verses on prayer, but these three already start to show what a healthy prayer life looks like. I want to encourage you to work towards this kind of prayer life. Every prayer moment is another step with Jesus, so guard your prayer life.

Since increased prayer, I noticed increased spiritual activity around me. Jesus has visited me multiple times in dreams and visions. In addition, I notice more angelic and demonic activity. Demons have specifically targeted me to bring me down and cause me to stumble, but the Father has rescued me every time. Crazy things happen now, some of which I have shared, and many which I haven’t. I am incredibly blessed, and I have had opportunities open to me that would have taken me many years to see. These are only some of the benefits of a closer relationship with God.

If you struggle with anything at all, I want to encourage you to write it down and create a list of things you want the Father to develop in your life. As Jesus said in Luke, keep asking and you will receive what you ask for. I personally focused on character development and prayers around growing spiritually and maturely, but you may want to broaden your prayers to your work life, family, friends, and other areas. In all your prayers, submit to the Father’s will so that your prayers will be answered.