8 Types of fear we need to deal with Types of fear we need to deal with As a general approach we can specify at least 8 distinct types of fear that are affecting believers today. The list of 8 types of fear is by no means exhaustive and you may think of others (this approach is modified from that of the late Roger Price). The point of this list is for you to identify which if any of these fears is/are still active in your life or the lives of your loved ones. Please make a note of those affecting you as we go through the 8 distinct types of fear. 1. Inherited (familial) fear and 2. Learned fear The inherited type of fear is often produced in the children of nervous mother who are constant worriers. It is thought that babies can even be affected by this in the nervous mother's womb for 9 months. Sometimes the inherited fear after a major accident with trauma can pass to the baby in the womb. One bible teacher suggests it would be helpful to pray over the babies whilst still in the mother's womb during the pregnancy. Learned fear can be when a child sees her mother overreacting to a mouse/spider, and it is as though the fear transfers from the mother to the child. Sometimes an over protected child learns to be fearful in life from his overprotective mothers sensing that he/she ought to be afraid of everything Fears of both these types may require prayer and counselling to remove them. The counselling can employ 2 Corinthians 5:17 with a view to helping the subject get a clear revelation of their fear belonging to the old life and no longer give place to it. Prayer using the blood of Jesus can also be used to cut off these types of fear. 3. Identity related fear Believers often have a faulty self-image (think of the magic mirrors at a fun fair that distort your appearance). Here are three biblical examples of people who had a faulty self-image that produced fear when the Lord called them into service. In Exodus Chapter 4 we find Moses refusing the call of God because he was a poor speaker. God then appointed his brother Aaron to be Moses' speaker. It is interesting to note that there is nowhere in the bible that records Aaron giving any speeches. Moses' self-image was faulty and held him back from serving God. What in your self-image is faulty and stopped you taking up the call of God in your life? Jeremiah was another man with a faulty self-image and argued with God that he was but a child. Who do you think knew best Moses/Jeremiah or the Lord? Gideon was another man of God who argued with the Lord about his calling, he was from the smallest tribe and the least influential part of the family. Yet God saw him as a mighty man of valour. Both introverts and extroverts can be prone to faulty self-images. We need to have a clear picture of our own spiritual identity and walk true to your own identity. Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. We need to come to an accurate self-knowledge of ourselves, not too high but not too low. 4. Residual Community Fear Certain communities may carry a residual fear resulting from their horrific treatment in the past such as with the Jews and the holocaust. Other communities may have been conditioned to expect the worst in life which produces fear which often leads to terrible things both expected and happening in their lives. Others are afraid of losing control in their lives. Residual community fear often responds well to prayer by applying the blood of Jesus to the fear and this can set the subjects free. More scripture Antidotes to Fear Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? And when the disciples were caught in a tempest at sea Matthew 8:25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith Jesus was asleep in the boat; he rebukes the winds and waves. Have faith that Jesus is in your boat with you today. Amen Prayer

Where did fear come from? There are two main kinds of fear found in the bible; 1] The right kind of fear-which is the fear of the Lord. We are made to fear God but nothing else. Fear God but nought else! God wants to have first place in every part of our lives, but our wrong fear can occupy a place that needs emptied before God can fill it. Perfect love casts out all fear. Amen What is the fear of the Lord? This expression occurs many times in the Hebrew scriptures and once in the New Testament. There are various pictures we can give from scripture. The expression ‘Fear of the Lord’ appears 15 times in the book of Proverbs, whose main theme as you know is wisdom. So, there is a link between the fear of the Lord and wisdom. Here are some examples, Proverbs 1:7 the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 8:13 the fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the forward (perverse) mouth, do I hate. Proverbs 22:4 By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life. There seems to be three components to the fear of the Lord a) awe and reverence b) hatred of evil c) obedience to God’s word. Let us cultivate them daily! 2] The wrong kind of fear All of us experience the wrong kind of fear at some time in our lives. N.B. Fear should be a dissimilar experience for believers and unbelievers. The wrong fear is debilitating and even paralysing and is opposite to faith. What effects of fear have you noticed in your own or in your loved ones? Did you know that faith and fear are mutually exclusive? Choose where you are going to live today, in the house of faith or in the house of fear? It is important to realise that our fear of the Lord can be the antidote/answer to the wrong type of fear. The right fear overcomes the bad fear. Again, we get to choose which type of fear is going to be active in our lives. Choose well, choose life, choose the fear of the Lord! If we live by our feelings, they can drag us down into the pit of fear. But we need to see our situations in life through the lens of faith and through the lens of the bible not through the lens of doubt and fear. Could it be that because modern society is so steeped in fear it has collectively lost the fear of a holy God? Yet many people fear death, sickness, poverty, helplessness, loneliness, future, commitment, failure, etc. So, what is the answer? Before we look at ow to deal with the wrong fear in our lives let us remind ourselves where and when fear first attacked humankind. The first mention of fear in the bible is when Adam told God that he was afraid. Genesis 3:10 KJV "And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself." Fear entered Adam and Eve for the first time at the fall. Fear was first manifested when the Lord had been disobeyed by the couple. However if the fall brought fear into humankind, then surely the new creation through Jesus Christ must be able to remove it and bring us into God’s peace. Two things to remember about fear: 1. God himself has never been afraid and never will be for his plans always succeed. 2. Man made in image of God was not designed/meant to cope with fear, worry, or anxiety. Powerful antidote to fear in a believer's life 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things have become new. We need to enforce the new life in Christ and make sure things like fear are supressed as part of your old life. The revelation of this scripture helps many believers to overcome fear in their lives. Amen Personal Prayer

By making scriptural prayers as in Philippians 4:6-7 We have looked at various ways as to how we might avoid making prayers that appear to go unanswered. A good place to start our prayers is by making them that line up with scripture such as the one in: Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication (petition), with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Here is a good scriptural approach to making scriptural prayers that God is pleased to answer. v6 God does not want you anxious or worrying , in fact worry is a sin because it doubts Gods ability to bring a timely answer. Furthermore and importantly we ought to pray with concomitant thanking of the Lord. Here is what this looks like in practice... Father God, in the name of Jesus Christ, I thank you that you have heard this prayer , and that you care about the situation and will respond at the appropriate time and manner. Amen Here is what we can hope to happen next; v7  the peace of God comes upon you This peace given by the Lord is beyond our ability to understand it but we can be aware that such peace guards our minds from all doubt , fear and unbelief. We can rest in the Lord once we have prayed correctly according to scripture. This in turn boosts our faith because we have reassured ourselves that God has heard our prayer and the outcome is in his hands and that the Lord cares. Amen Personal Prayer

A worked example: Water Baptism Sometimes it is difficult to understand the many disagreements between people who claim to be true Christian believers. Christians do indeed disagree on a wide range of issues. Christians disagree about the right way to baptize someone – adult versus infant; about the way we interpret the Bible and what we mean when we say it is divinely inspired. Christians disagree about whether women can be clergy, on human sexuality issues pertaining to the life of the Church, and who is allowed to receive communion in their church. We disagree on such issues as capital punishment, divorce, abortion, immigration, and racism. We will now take a look at one of the major areas of disagreement to see if we can find a way to understand the different approaches to Christian baptism. The sacrament of Baptism A sacrament is a ceremony through which Christians believe they receive God’s grace or are brought closer to God. Therefore, a sacrament is something that people can engage in with their senses but realizing that the sacrament has a deeper meaning too. For Protestants, baptism, and the Eucharist (or communion) are sacraments. All four gospels mention Jesus conducting both of these acts. Many Christians believe that baptism is important because Jesus himself was baptised, and after his resurrection he told his disciples that they should be baptised too. John 3:5 No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. John the Baptist was the first Israelite to use baptism to symbolise the forgiveness of sins. John baptised Jesus. Many Christians believe that baptising cleanses people from original sin[1]. Baptism is practised by all Christian denominations as it is seen as a command from God and a way of following Jesus’ example. However, the various denominations practise baptism in different ways. Infant baptism Some Christians believe baptism makes a Christian a member of God’s family. In many denominations babies are baptised, and this is known as infant baptism. For Orthodox Christians, infant baptism involves total immersion. However, other denominations make the sign of the cross on the baby’s head using oil or sprinkle holy water on the forehead. Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 28:19 were to "baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit", so these words are often said during a baptism. There are other elements to a baptism service in various denominations and might include promises made by godparents on behalf to the child to provide a Christian education and upbringing. Believers’ baptism Baptists and Pentecostals believe baptism should only occur once usually in adult life, as it is then that the individual can accept Christianity for themselves. This type of baptism is called believers’ baptism. It is performed using total immersion, where the person being baptised walks down into a pool/body of water and is fully submerged three times (or just once) before walking out into their new life. Some Christians prefer believers’ baptism because Jesus was baptised as an adult and because, as an adult, you are able to make decisions for yourself. The person being baptized is brought up out of the water, which is a picture of their soul being raised from the dead to eternal life. Being brought up out of the water is also a forward-looking picture. It reminds us of God's promise to one day resurrect our physical bodies from the grave just like he did for Jesus. Oneness Pentecostal and a few other churches baptize only in the name of Jesus Christ[2], citing Peter's preaching baptism in the name of Jesus as their authority. Reasons for different approaches to water baptism [3] In the last centuries of the Old Testament era, the Greek word “baptizo” did mean to “immerse.” By the time the New Testament was written that word described the application of water that included immersing, washing, and pouring. This illustrates how the etymology and initial usage of a word is one thing, but current usage is another matter. (Consider how the same thing is true regarding English words.) It is clear from passages like Mark 7:3-4 and Luke 11:38 that the Greek word “baptizo” could mean the application of water in different ways. The context in which the word occurs will drive the meaning and interpretation. In the Bible, God does not specify how to apply the water in Baptism. Baptism is the application of water in connection with God’s word (see Matthew 28:18-19 and Ephesians 5:25-26). Where Christians disagree (in any area) we should remember one of John Wesley’s most famous quotes which gives us an approach to discussing the issue: “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things charity.” [4] He is saying that in Christianity there is a core set of beliefs we can all agree on. These are the ‘pillars of the faith’ such as the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, and the physical resurrection of Jesus. These are the essentials and indeed usually produce unity between Christians. The mode of baptism, however, may be considered as non-essential. Some things we will not agree on but let them be the nonessentials. And in both, let us love one another. Footnotes [1] Original sin is an Augustinian Christian doctrine that says that everyone is born sinful. This means that they are born with a built-in urge to do bad things and to disobey God. See link below. https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/beliefs/originalsin_1.shtml#:~:text=What%20is%20original%20sin%3F,within%20the%20Roman%20Catholic%20Church. [2] Wikipedia reference; Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc". Archived from the original on 2013-01-17. Retrieved 2013-01-09. [3] For reference see Greek word for “baptize” – WELS [4] An aphorism variously attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430), John Wesley (1703 – 1791), and to a number of theologians in between them.

God does not want us to be hard-hearted The heart is mentioned 779 times in the bible. When scripture talks about the heart it is nearly always talking about the seat of our very being, rather than the pump which moves the blood in our circulatory system. The bible tells us in Proverbs 4:23 Above all things guard your heart. The heart is the heart of the problem Mark 7:20-23 it is from out of the human heart that evil proceeds. ‘I am bound to the doctrine of the depravity of the human heart because I find myself depraved in heart and have daily proofs that in my flesh there dwells no good thing’. Charles Spurgeon God himself is Chasidic- his heart is soft and full of loving-kindness and mercy. What kind of heart does God want you to have, a hard heart or a soft heart? Can God change the human heart? It is interesting that scripture talks about the Lord hardening Pharaoh’s heart. What do you think this means? The best explanation I have heard so far is that God simply took what was in Pharaoh’s heart and brought it to fullness. Psalm 25:6 Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies, and thy loving kindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Many scriptures reflect God’s tender heart and mercy. Good King Josiah had a tender heart and was humble before God and openly showed it, then God heard his prayer. God will hear your soft and tender hearted prayer. 2 Kings 22:19 Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. Medical atherosclerosis versus spiritual atherosclerosis We are going to compare what can cause us medically speaking to have hardening of the arteries to see if there is spiritual equivalent that can affect our heart, the seat of our very being. Medical atherosclerosis Medically speaking, hardening of the arteries is known as atherosclerosis. Fatty plaques usually made of the ‘bad ‘cholesterol stick to the arterial walls. This causes the arteries (particularly the coronary artery) to lose their elasticity and become hardened and stiff. The flow of blood is restricted through the arteries and in the case of the coronary arteries can lead to a blockage which we call a heart attack. Symptoms of atherosclerosis can vary with sometimes nothing obvious, or chest pain angina, breathlessness, high blood pressure etc. Statins are drugs that not only stop cholesterol binding to the arterial walls but also can to some extent remove the fatty plaques where they already exist. This to put it crudely, is like having your drainpipes cleared out! Spiritual atherosclerosis There is something about day to day living that toughens us and can make us hardened. Especially in our relationships, we can become desensitized, cynical and make us hard hearted. We often hurt the people whom we love most who as the song goes- the one, we should not hurt all. It is not just in our human relationships that can become hard hearted but also in our relationship with God. Here are the possible symptoms are hardening of heart spiritually speaking. 1)      Numbness: You stop feeling the things you should feel. a) Love for God b) Conviction over sin c) Anger over injustice.  d) Compassion for those who are hurting. 2) Dizziness: You lose spiritual equilibrium and balance in life. You become proud of yourself. You become extremely tolerant or intolerant. You become overconfident or less confident. 3) Shortness of Breath When your heart is attacked, you lose your stamina You lose your strength to fight You start things well, but you finish poorly. It is accepted practice for most health care professionals, that they keep a certain distance from their patients. However, as children of God we ought to be committed to true koinonia fellowship [1] with our fellow believers, by which we ought to lead caring and sharing lives. Thus, keeping our distance from each other is not the norm or acceptable practice. Hard heartedness will produce unforgiveness, bitterness and lack of compassion, mercy, and reasonable tolerance of people. Sometimes the hardening process is so gradual we do not notice it. Ask a biologist how to boil a frog? The answer of course is one degree at a time and that is usually how Satan hardens our hearts i.e.  one step a time. If we progressively allow things that we know are not right and compromise our beliefs, then eventually our conscience will become seared, and we may cease to care for and share with our fellow human beings. Romans 5:5 The Holy Spirit pours the love of God/Christ into our heart’s day by day. But that flow can be restricted by various things we allow such as sin, bad attitudes, unforgiveness, and lack of reverence for God etc. We need to keep our hearts wide open (2 Cor 6:11-13) so that the flow of God’s love will keep your heart soft and tender before God. Hebrews 3:15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." Three times in the book of Hebrews the writer tells God’s people ‘do not harden your hearts for it leads to rebellion, which in turn causes us to miss out on his blessings. Amen Personal Prayer [1] See Acts 2:42 the Greek word koinonia is translated to the English as fellowship In Part 2 we investigate why King Solomon asked God for a hearing heart.

More reasons for unanswered prayer In Part 1 we saw that were at least 4 possible reasons as to why your prayers may seem to go unanswered. The possible reasons for unanswered prayer we considered included the first two of the four reasons 1) being out of fellowship with the Lord 2) your prayer was not in the will of God. Today we look at two more possible reasons for seemingly unanswered prayer which are. 3) a lack of unity in those praying together 4) Delay in the answer from the Lord arriving. Reason 3. Lack of unity 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. Wow, we better take on board the fact that a husband and wife’s prayers can be hindered by disunity. Mathew 18:19 Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. The so-called prayer of agreement requires two people to be fully agreed i.e. in unity. 4. Delay in the answer Daniel 10 Daniel prayed and fasted for Israel for three weeks, then a holy angel turned up and told him, that God sent the answer on the first day that Daniel had prayed, but a fallen angelic being called the Prince of Persia, had battled with the holy angel to delay Gods answer from coming to Daniel. Romans 1:9-10 Paul wanted to find a way to come and see the church in Rome, but Paul’s prayer appears unanswered? God had plans, and had Paul imprisoned so that he could write his epistles to the church. God can be doing something bigger than we can see. Delayed prayer can eventually increase your faith. 1 Kings 18:42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, 43 And said to his servant, go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, there is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. 44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there arises a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, go up, say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not. Elijah and the rain, the servant eventually saw the prayer answered. “Sometimes the blessing is in the prayer not being answered.” ― Andrena Sawyer. What about you, can you attribute any of the 4 above reasons given so far for your unanswered prayer? Amen

Why do some prayers seem to be unanswered? Recently we covered a three-day mini-series called ‘Teach us to pray’. We covered a few practical aspects of prayer including, who do we pray to, and in what position etc. We also looked briefly at the 5 types of prayer, which include 1) confession of sins, 2) praise 3) thanksgiving 4) intercession and 5) petition. One aspect that we did not cover was the subject of unanswered prayer which we will now consider, is apparently unanswered prayer. We often do not talk about the prayers that appear to be unanswered. Here are the first two of four potential reasons our prayers might be unanswered. Reason 1. Being out of fellowship prevents God from answering prayer. When we enter salvation through Jesus Christ, we form a life-long family relationship which is very robust. However, our day-to-day communion with the Lord is fragile and can be easily broken through our sin. Ps 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: 1 John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. Reason 2. God has said no because your prayer was not in the will of God. My grown-up children sometimes say that as a grandparent we let the grandkids away with much more than we did when they were kids. This is true because we have different roles as grandparents. But God is not a kindly old uncle or grandad but a zealous loving heavenly father. God has no grandkids only kids. Each generation must directly connect with him. 1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. The implication here is that if we ask anything that is not his will then there is no reason to suppose we should be successful in our petition. James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. God promises to meet our need not our greed! Jesus, when in the Garden of Gethsemane said, Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done. The Father said ‘no’. We must allow for God to say ‘no’ as He surely knows what is best in any given situation. We need to remember that the Kingdom of God is in a warzone, there is a huge battle raging between God and his army, and Satan and his troops. Sometimes the Lord needs us to step up to the plate. Also, we need to remember that God’s silence is not his absence… Amen Closing Prayer

How to avoid your prayers being unanswered In Parts 1 and 2 we discussed four possible reasons that some of our prayers might appear to go unanswered. The possible reasons were 1) being out of fellowship with the Lord 2) God has said no because your prayer was not his will 3) Lack of unity between persons and 4) A delay in the answer to your prayer. We are now going to consider, based on our four possible reasons, how we can avoid getting into the position where our prayers might be unanswered. 1) Keep in fellowship with the Lord, this includes keeping short accounts with God in terms of sin. 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. Do not think about or dwell on anything that is inherently sinful, think about things are good, and pure and honest. We should keep his commandments, there are only 4 main ones in the New Testament a) Love the Lord your God with all…, b) love your neighbour as yourself, c) love one another as I have loved you. How did Jesus love us? … unto death. d) Also love your brother who can be seen. King David, the sweet psalmist cried out to God in Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 2) Get to know the will of God better by studying your bible and by listening to good sermons and remember that when you pray, that it is a dialogue, and we should allow space and time for God to speak to you. Take good Christian counsel from your minister or other Christians that you trust. We must allow God to say no, for He knows better than us. 3) Unity: You husbands must treat your wives with honour, live together in a good and Godly atmosphere, treating her as joint heirs in the grace of life. This approach applies to all Christians as demonstrated by all the (n=46) ‘one another’ commandments such as in 1 Peter 1:22 (b) says ‘see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently’: 4) Delay in the answer, be persistent in prayer in case there is a battle in the heavens. Ask the Lord if he has a bigger purpose in mind, sometimes God uses delays to strengthen our faith. It took Elijah’s servant 7 visits to go up and watch for signs of the rain. Be patient, be obedient. The late Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth, whilst single, several times prayed that God would allow her to marry a certain man, but God said ‘no’ because he had someone better for her! Parting thought: Daniel 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve can deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Maybe if God does not seem to answer our prayer, we need to do what is right anyway! Amen Closing Prayer Reference materials. CCF tapes BBS098 Roger Price Prayers of Faith (see additional resources section on this website). Pete Greig, The Prayer Course Session 4

Four things we can do to avoid it We seldom talk about unanswered prayer in church. In this study we suggest four potential reasons for you to consider when your prayer seem to be unanswered. We then suggest four actions to consider of how we might avoid this for our own prayers. Reason 1. Being out of fellowship prevents God from answering prayer. When we enter salvation through Jesus Christ, we form a life-long family relationship which is very robust. However, our day-to-day communion/fellowship with the Lord is more fragile and can be easily broken through our sin. Ps 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: Our sin hinders our prayers. 1 John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. Our obedience helps our prayers. Reason 2. God has said no because your prayer was not in the will of God. My grown-up children sometimes say that as a grandparent we let the grandkids away with much more than we did when they were kids. This is true because we have distinct roles as grandparents. But God is not a kindly old uncle or grandad but a zealous loving heavenly father. God has no grandkids only kids. Each generation must connect with him. 1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. The implication here is that if we ask anything that is not his will then there is no reason to suppose we should be successful in our petition. James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. God promises to meet our need not our greed! Jesus, when in the Garden of Gethsemane said, Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done. The Father said ‘no.’ We must allow for God to say ‘no’ as He surely knows what is best in any given situation. We need to remember that the Kingdom of God is in a warzone, there is a huge battle raging between God and his army, and Satan and his troops. Sometimes the Lord needs us to step up to the plate. Also, we need to remember that God’s silence is not his absence… Reason 3. Lack of unity 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. Wow, we better take on board the fact that a husband and wife’s prayers can be hindered by disunity. Mathew 18:19 Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. The so-called prayer of agreement requires two people to be fully agreed i.e. in unity. Reason 4. Delay in the answer Daniel 10 Daniel prayed and fasted for Israel for three weeks, then a holy angel turned up and told him, that God sent the answer on the first day that Daniel had prayed, but a fallen angelic being called the Prince of Persia, had battled with the holy angel to delay Gods answer from coming to Daniel. Romans 1:9-10 Paul wanted to find a way to see the church in Rome, but Paul’s prayer appears unanswered? God had plans, and had Paul imprisoned so that he could write his marvellous epistles to the church. God can be doing something bigger than we can see. Delayed prayer can eventually increase your faith. 1 Kings 18:42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, 43 And said to his servant, go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, there is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. 44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there arises a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, go up, say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not. Elijah and the rain, the servant eventually saw the prayer answered. “Sometimes the blessing is in the prayer not being answered.” ― Andrena Sawyer. What about you, can you attribute any of the four reasons given so far for your own unanswered prayer? Now we are going to consider, based on our four above reasons, how we can avoid getting into the position where our prayers are unanswered. Action 1) Keep in fellowship with the Lord, this includes keeping short accounts with God in terms of sin. 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. Do not think about or dwell on anything that is inherently sinful, think about things are good, and pure and honest. We should keep his commandments, there are only 4 main ones in the New Testament a) Love the Lord your God with all…, b) love your neighbour as yourself, c) love one another as I have loved you. How did Jesus love us? … unto death. d) Also love your brother who can be seen. King David, the sweet psalmist cried out to God in Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Action 2) Get to know the will of God better by studying your bible, listening to good sermons and remember that when you pray, that it is a dialogue, and we should allow space and time for God to speak to you. Take good Christian counsel from your minister or other Christians that you trust. We must allow God to say no, for He knows better than us. Action 3) Maintain Unity: You husbands must treat your wives with honour, live together in a good and Godly atmosphere, treating her as joint heirs in the grace of life. This approach applies to all Christians as demonstrated by all the (n=46) ‘one another’ commandments such as in 1 Peter 1:22(b) says ‘see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently’: Action 4) Where there may be delay in the answer, be persistent in prayer in case there is a battle in the heavens. Ask the Lord if he has a bigger purpose in mind, sometimes God uses delays to strengthen our faith. It took Elijah’s servant 7 visits to go up and watch for signs of the rain. Be patient, be obedient. The late Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth, whilst single, several times prayed that God would allow her to marry various young men, but God said ‘no’ each time because he had someone better for her! Amen Prayer For a printable copy of this (and man more messages) please click the link below https://www.psalmonesermons.com/post/dealing-with-unanswered-prayer

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit Various verses have shown us that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world including both believer and unbeliever. So, what makes the difference between the believer and the unbeliever? The unbeliever has rejected Jesus Christ and has rejected the Holy Spirit telling them that Jesus is Lord. John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This verse sates that God’s judgment can be averted by believing in His Son. Every person is responsible for his or her decision about Christ. “He who believes in Him is not condemned [judged]. The only means of salvation is to believe in the finished work of Christ on the cross. The believer is under no sentence of condemnation (see also John 5:24; Romans 8:1). God’s judgment is a natural consequence of unbelief. The present tense of “is” (underlined above) indicates that the believer is no longer under the judgment of God. Believers are beyond the danger of eternal separation from God. To believe “in” or into Him is more than giving credence to what someone said. This expression means to have full confidence in Christ, to rely on Him alone for our salvation. We rely on His sacrifice for our sin to save us eternally. We rely on Him, not on our works, self-righteousness, or religion like Nicodemus did at first. Only the person who does not believe qualifies for the condemnation from God. The present tense here shows that unbelievers are under the continuing effects of God’s judgment right now. Faith is the means whereby one receives eternal life. The condemnation here is not that at the end of life but is current to those who know not Christ. The Greek tense for ‘is’ indicates that those who do not currently believe in Christ already stand under God’s condemnation. People who do not trust the work of Christ for their salvation stand condemned. They do not have to do anything to be condemned they are condemned from the start by their unbelief in Jesus Christ. God makes it clear that unbelievers are currently in a state of condemnation and not, in this verse, exposed to future condemnation. This should spur on all believers in our evangelism and witnessing. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit Mark 3:22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.” v28“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is subject to eternal condemnation”— 30 because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.” Blasphemy is defined as the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things, synonymous with irreverence, insulting and disrespect of God or Christ. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit means here, calling the Holy Spirit an evil spirit. This is a lie. In the same way the unbeliever do when they persist in their unbelief and are in effect calling the Holy Spirit a liar each time, he tries to tell them that Jesus Christ is Lord. This can go on throughout their life but when they die, their time to be saved has passed and they will not be forgiven for this blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees tried to attribute Jesus’ miracle of casting out demons to the power of some evil spirit rather than the Holy Spirit. John 16:8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. When the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit will show a) the sin is their unbelief in Jesus, b) that Jesus’ death is the only way to God, and c) that judgment on sinners is certain because Satan has been conquered by Jesus’ death. The Gospel message is Good News for believers with all our sins forgiven but extremely Bad News for those who reject Jesus Christ and by calling the Holy Spirit a liar each time tells them that Jesus Christ is Lord. Conclusions There is only one sin the bible says that is unforgivable. This one sin is ‘blasphemy against the Holy Spirit’ which insults him and calls him a liar when He tells a person that ‘Jesus is Lord.’ All true believers cannot commit this sin by definition. Only unbelievers can commit the unforgivable sin. The unbelievers would have every chance in life to believe what the Holy Spirit is saying that Jesus is Lord. All unbelievers stand already condemned by God that is why we must be urgent to tell them the Good News about Jesus Christ. Amen Personal Prayer Much of this study has been adapted from Roger Price BBS 008

Background information needed for biblical answer: the law, grace and salvation This may also be called the unpardonable sin. This is a back-to-basics bible study today. Today we are going on to a discuss the unforgivable sin. As you may know many Christians at times wonder (particularly when young in the faith) if we have committed the unforgivable sin. Before we can study this question, we have got to do a fair bit of background work for as the unforgivable sin is a salvation issue. We need therefore to cover a few matters pertaining to our salvation. Acts16:31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The main message from this talk is to highlight the fact that we must believe on the Lord Jesus to be saved. We are now all informed witnesses to Jesus Christ. Keeping the Law of Moses cannot produce righteousness but faith in Jesus Christ can and does save all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why was the Law of Moses given to Israel? There are three mains because the Law was given: To show man that he was a sinner (see also James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in? one point, he is guilty of all.) The Old Testament was a shadow and a pointer to the Lord Jesus Christ (Messiah). 3.      To give a set of rules that will give peace in society. How did God provide an answer to man’s sin problem? Psalm 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit, there is no deceit. Matthew 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. In the old testament God provided a sacrificial system in which innocent animals were slaughtered so that the guilty human could have their sins covered. Matthew 7:13-14 The Lord Jesus is the bridge, or you could say, the door between man and God. Sin is no longer the barrier between man and God because Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. Now belief in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only gateway to Heaven. How narrow is the narrow gate? It is as narrow as one man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Please note that the many are on the broad road to destruction and how comparatively few will find the way to eternal life. John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. The only basis for eternal judgement is belief in Jesus Christ making it the deciding factor between salvation and condemnation. Revelation 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. The Great White Throne judgement is for the unbelievers only. What a frightening sight. This judgement is for all the unbelievers and is made only on a single basis. v15 is our key verse, no unbelievers names will be in the book of life because they did not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The unforgivable sin- what it is not. Any form of sexual sin Nor suicide Nor any besetting sin Nor calling a brother a fool It is also called the unpardonable sin meaning that God cannot forgive it or pardon it. So what is it? 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. If all of the above sins can be forgiven so what is the only sin that Jesus could not die for? Amen Personal Prayer In Part two we discover what it means to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.

King Solomon asked God for a hearing heart. I Kings 3:7 “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant an understanding heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” 10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. Suppose God appeared to you in a dream and said, ‘whatever you want I will give it to you’. What would you ask for? In v9 above it says ‘an understanding heart’ but literally in the Hebrew, Solomon has asked God for a hearing heart. Have you ever asked God to give you a hearing heart? Solomon asked for a wise and sensitive heart that could hear directly from God so that he might govern God’s people Israel wisely. We need to learn to listen to God with a hearing heart not our ears. Conclusion God wants us to keep our hearts soft and tender before him and each other. Let us purpose to be continually filled with His Spirit, with his love flowing into us and out of us and avoid anything that will harden our hearts. Ask the Lord to give you a sensitive and hearing heart. Some further thoughts on our hearts 1. What is the condition of our hearts? a. Are they "restricted", suffering from "spiritual hardening of the arteries"? 1) Where is the love of God hindered from freely flowing? 2) By the "plaques" of ignorance, selfishness, hypocrisy? b. Or are they "wide open"? 1) Where God's love flows freely 2) Nourishing not only our own lives, but the lives of those around us! -- May we all be "taught of God" to have Hearts Wide Open! What Causes Heart Attacks? Atherosclerosis is a gradual process by which plaques (collections) of cholesterol are deposited in the walls of arteries. Cholesterol plaques cause hardening of the arterial walls and narrowing of the inner channel (lumen) of the artery. Arteries that are narrowed by atherosclerosis cannot deliver enough blood to maintain normal function of the parts of the body they supply. Reasons include, family history, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and obesity. Scope for spiritual heart attacks include Psalm 25:17 “The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish.   Psalm 40:12 For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. Matthew 13:15 “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.” Ezekiel 11:19 “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. The cure for a spiritually hard heart is to remember what God has done for you. Christ has died for you to save you from your sins, even though you did not deserve it. God loves you. God cares for you. Just as hardening of the arteries will kill you physically, so will the spiritual hardening of the arteries. Do you have a hard heart today? Ask God to soften and renew your heart today. Amen Personal Prayer