`Guilty Conscience Hinders Prayers```
_Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful Heb 10:22-23NIV_
I welcome you again to another day of general fasting and prayers for the PNUR family all over the world. Don’t forget that prayer is the opportunity that God has given to you to say something about all the arguments going on in the spirit and physical concerning your life and destiny. To fail to pray at this time is to surrender yourself to the decisions of your enemies. It is suicide and I pray that you will not be guilty of such serious sin.
We will discuss today from a popular bible story but I trust God to guide us through another dimension.
_Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . ." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God Luke 5:18-25NIV_
It is important that you observe that it was not the faith of the sick man that the Lord saw but the faith of those who carried him to the venue of the healing service. In this we can learn that we can support the failing faith of our loved ones. We can support the faith of our spouse if it is failing; we can support the faith of our children or our parents. Let me add that we can support the faith of our religious leaders. One time even the Lord Jesus Christ asked for this kind of support from His disciples but they could not offer it but resorted to falling asleep.Matt26:38.
The next thing we can see here is that we may be very sincere in our efforts to assist someone but our efforts will not bear fruit unless we discover the root of the problem. The men that brought in the sick man had worked tirelessly carrying their friend from place to place in their search for healing; of course this involved time and money. We can see that even though they had faith but until the root of the problem was discovered, the faith was fruitless. If you asked them before then, they will tell you that the problem was that their friend was paralyzed. All efforts were directed on how to make their friend walk again. I have seen this kind of thing many times and we cannot overemphasize the need that we should be able to hear from the Holy Spirit in our time of intense prayers. Many pray intensely but for the wrong thing or faced in the wrong direction.
Thirdly, the Lord Jesus Christ was able to get the man healed because he could identify the man’s real problem. The man’s problem was guilty conscience/. He had gotten into some kind of sin and I believe that he was sorry about this sin and have even prayed for forgiveness of this sin but his conscience kept condemning him. That state of mind was the obstacle to his healing. Whereas people gave medicine for paralysis, he was sick of a different ailment called guilty conscience. Whereas people prayed for healing of his body he wished his soul could be healed first.
I want to believe that none among his friends could have thought of guilty conscience as a serious problem that could keep a godly man paralyzed for so long but I can boldly say out of years of experience in the deliverance ministry, that God fearing people are the actual victims of this problem.
_Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water Heb 10:22NIV_
Take note that the person with sincere heart is the one asked to apply the blood of Jesus Christ for cleansing of his conscience. Take note also that the same scripture tells us to draw near to God in full assurance of faith while still applying the blood of Jesus Christ on our guilty consciences.
There are many who are still paralyzed and stagnated not because they did something wrong or that demons are holding them, but because the devil convinced them that they have done wrong and deserve to suffer for their sin. In this state he or she is busy with asking for forgiveness instead of standing up to claim his kingdom inheritance. There are some whose sin have long been forgiven but the guilty conscience and the devil have taken a harmful grip on their soul to insist that God has not forgiven. The challenge however is that their faith will still need to pass through the same channel to take hold of God’s promises. Since guilty conscience blocks the access, they are not able to have the required faith that can gain them the desired miracle. It is not that God has refused to heal them but rather that they are not able to receive the healing. It is not that God has refused to answer their prayers but rather that even at the source of the desired miracles, they are not able to appropriate the miracles to themselves.
*What is guilty conscience?*
*A sense of having done wrong - Judas*
_When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility." So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself Matt 27:3-5NIV_
Guilty conscience can be defined as a conscious awareness in one’s mind of having done wrong. This is a situation where your conscience analyzes your actions and establish that you are in the wrong by your action. Take note that what your conscience said is one thing but your actions depends on you. We see that in Peter’s case.
*Sense of not having performed up to expectation - Peter*
_After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away." Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, "I don't know the man!" Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly Matt 26:73-75NIV_
An awareness that your performance was below expectation. That was the way Apostle Peter felt after he denied the Lord Jesus Christ thrice but he decided to pray about.
*Consciousness of sin - Mary Magdalene*
To find oneself in a state of being conscious that you are not up to expected moral standard with the society.
*Conscious awareness of unworthiness or the feeling of being polluted. - Woman caught in adultery. John 8:1-*
*Effect on the victim of guilty conscience.*
1.Depression
2. Lack or loss of confidence
3. Lack of concentration or confusion of mind.
4. Inability to step up again; 5. Feeling insecure.
6. Feeling of self-rejection
7. Urge for suicide.
8. Inability to pray or to stand in a holy place.
9. Inability to connect to the anointed presence.
*Ways out of guilty conscience*
i. Take your attention from yourself and look onto Jesus Christ who knew about your weaknesses and died for your sins Heb12:2
ii.Accept that you are human and forgive yourself Rom3:23-24
iii. Forgive others who would have sinned against you for the same reason that they are human Col.3:13
iv. Accept God’s forgiveness. Rom5:8
v. Accept God’s word concerning the issue 1John1:9
vi. Understand that God did not appoint the devil to judge you. So, silence the accuser of your soul with God’s word.
vii. In some cases you may need to seek counseling
viii. The activities of accusing spirits must not be ruled out. If it persists, go for deliverance.
You can now understand why the Lord Jesus Christ turned His attention to the man’s soul instead of the area everyone else was focused. We can see how this offends religious people. The spirit of religion is the principal beneficiary of the services of guilty conscience. In fact, religious people suffer more from guilty conscience. See how they immediately questioned His right to forgive the sinner. Note also that they did not say this out. They complained and grumbled at the same location that guilty conscience grips them.
We can only thank God that the Lord can hear our hearts and consciences. The same way he could hear the conscience of the sick man, he could hear the accusation of his silent accusers. The Pharisees were as much prisoners to guilty conscience as the sick man but they never saw their guilty consciences as a problem, so the Lord left them with their diseases. The man who saw it as a problem was healed. Who knows the many ailments and challenges that could have been healed if only they called it a problem?
Today, I invite you to accept the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ over your soul as we pray on. Just understand that satan is the accuser of the brethren and will continue to bring charges against every child of God. Whether you once committed the sin or not is not the issue. The Lord Jesus Christ knew that you won’t be able to pay for your sin, and that was why He laid down his life on the Cross of Calvary for your redemption. Once you confess that sin, believe God’s word for your forgiveness.
_If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9-10NIV_
_He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Prov 28:13NIV_
According to the word of God, once you sincerely confess a sin, God forgives and you find mercy. You don’t have to give satan any grounds again by listening to him. Prepare your mind for encounter today as you join in this prayers.
Make sure you encourage others to join the prayer.
Choose a special location and time for your prayer.
Remember, when you pray, believe your prayers.
We will post the Prayer collections later. If this is your first time of joining us, send me a private message requesting for the Prayer collections.
You know that I am praying for you.
Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com
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