God will hear our prayers, the prayers of the righteous. When a million righteous people are praying, God’s ears are open and so He hears a million voices. Now the other unrighteous people can make all the noise they like, or have all the tarries they want, but His ears are not open to them.
What does it mean to be righteous?
Now there are people who will say that you are righteous just because you are saved by the blood. The Bible tells you how to be righteous. It says, you keep your mouth from telling lies, among other things. So you don’t habitually tell lies from morning till night like a hobby and then say “God’s ears are open to my prayers because I am washed by the blood.” This is not from the Old Testament. It’s the book of 1st Peter. Peter is not speaking from ignorance in 1 Peter 3:10-12. He was moved by the Holy Spirit to say those words and he tells you how you qualify for your prayers to be heard.
1 Peter 3:10-12
[10]For, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. [11] “He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it. [12] “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
This is why we must constantly walk in righteousness. We must be righteous people. We must walk in the fear of God constantly and when we do that, God will be able to hear us and we can bring change wherever we go. We can transform our society. There must be no deceit in our mouths.
2 Corinthians 13:11
[11] Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Romans 12:17-20, 21 — [17] Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. [18] If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. [19] Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. [21] Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
You were called so that you may inherit a blessing by repaying evil with blessings.
You don’t say, “I can never help those people. What have they ever done for me?”
Repay them with a blessing. This is not just in saying, “God bless you,” but you should bless them by actually doing them good.
What do you want? Do you love life? Do you want to see good days? Then you must keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech. Please do not disqualify yourself from getting God’s promise. And do not ever change anything that God has said. Whatever new knowledge you have, whatever growth you undergo, whatever gifting begins to manifest, don’t forget the basics. You want to see life and enjoy good days? Your tongue must avoid evil. Don’t speak evil. Speaking evil is not only about telling lies. When you speak carelessly, you may adopt words that you shouldn’t utter. You may even pick up these words from what you listen to. Why should you listen to bad music or watch filthy things? Those things rub off on you. Now there are people who may be ‘filth-proof’ because they have proofed themselves with so many layers of armour [by staying away from evil music, always staying in an atmosphere of worship, listening to edifying songs that give glory to God, and being washed by the words of God actively by reading the Bible]. Those who are barely coming out of a love for bad music which they were used to are to stay away from such things.
Peter told us who the righteous people are, and he didn’t say that they are those who have been washed by the blood. Neither did John, in 1 John 3 verse 7 [7]Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.].
The Bible says that we cannot be those who speak evil with our tongues. You must not be neutral, you must do good. You must seek peace, you can’t like trouble. Yes, the hand of God is toppling and changing things but peace must be your default nature; have peace with all men.
You don’t stir up wrath and anger in your heart against your neighbour. You don’t stir other people to anger. You don’t say, “Why? What did she say? She insulted you? Did you give her an answer? You just kept quiet? You did not insult back? Why?!”
That attitude can never please God.
You want God to hear your prayers? You must seek peace. So when someone brings a complaint about another person before you, you listen as they speak and you sympathize with them [where they are not at fault and don’t deserve a rebuke]. You say, “Oh dear. Is that so? Then we need to pray for her. She actually said that to you? I hope you didn’t answer her?”
You are not the person to spur them to quarrel and fight. Don’t say, “You are always too quiet…” If you do that, then you don’t seek peace. You are acting contrary to the Scriptures. And then you’ll be praying fervently and expecting answers, after you have disregarded God’s words. You can’t ignore God’s words and be okay. You must be obedient to the word of God. A lot of people everywhere want to just pray. To them, the solution for everything is prayer. But that’s not true. The body of Christ must know that prayer is not everything. We saw 1 Peter Chapter 3 tell us that the ears of the Lord are open to the prayers of the righteous, His eyes are on them. It says that His ears are attentive to their prayers and it tells you how to be righteous: don’t tell lies, don’t speak evil, etc.
We need to be people whose prayers God is hearing. That’s all that matters. We have to be people who dial God’s line and He picks up. So that when you pray, He listens and then responds and tells you what to do so that you can get ready. He tells you what to do. All you need is to be led by the Lord.
The difference between any true child of God and other people is that they have the Lord with them. That’s the difference between us and others; the reason you’re not like others. It’s God with You! That’s what God said; that the difference between His people and other people is that He is with them. It is not the things that’s happening in the country. Sure, things will happen, but He is faithful. I have seen Him faithful. Remember the word He gave us at the beginning? He said, “In everything, say hallelujah. Give praise to God.”
Do not allow yourself to be carried away by “life”. Do not sin against God with your mouth. Pursue peace with everyone. Ask the Father to forgive you if you are not living in peace with people as you should. Some people find it easy to tell a lie — if they have a challenge or when they are afraid or trying to escape responsibility. Some tell lies even about things that are not of any consequence. Your lips must be cleansed from deceit. If you are a child of God, you are not permitted to walk in deceit of any sort. You cannot lie. Ask God to cleanse your lips and rid it of falsehood of any sort; anything that will tamper with your ability to speak to heaven and be heard, anything that silences your effectiveness in the realm of the spirit.
You must give thanks. I Thessalonians 5:18 — [18] In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Thank God for the things that you have suffered and for the comforts that you have enjoyed. Be willing to comfort other people in the way that you have been comforted.
II Corinthians 1:3-4 — [3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, [4] who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
And you must learn to endure suffering as a soldier of Christ.
II Timothy 2:3 — You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 3:10-12 — [10] Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, [11] persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! [12] Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
Hebrews 10:32-36 — Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
— Pastor Ita Udoh
10th June, 2020
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