Does Sin Hinder our Prayers?
Ever heard this one: “God is holy. If you have unconfessed sin in your life, he will not hear your prayers.”
It’s. Not. True.
If sin made God deaf, no sinner could be saved. They would pray the sinner’s prayer, but God wouldn’t hear them.
Pray all you like, but I’m not listening. Lalalala. I’ve got fingers in my ears.
Imagine if you had to confess all your sins before God would listen. Most people would die of old age before they were done! And there would be no guarantee you got them all.
Sorry, kiddo. You forgot a sin from the summer of ’82. You’re toast.
“Confess your sins so that God will hear you.” What a stupid theology. Forgive me for getting agitated, but this sort of nonsense leaves people crippled with guilt and condemnation. It causes them to hide from their Father in fear.
No, sin does not hinder our prayers. Your sin will never cause God to turn a deaf ear.
Imagine if Jesus had not listened to sinners.
“Sorry, woman-with-a-hemorrhage, I can’t heal you because there’s unconfessed sin in your life.”
“Sorry, woman-caught-in-the-wrong-bed, I can’t stop these men from stoning you.”
“Peter, James, John, I can’t hear a word you’re saying. What’s that, Judas? I see your lips moving but I can’t hear you.”
Jesus is the exact representation of God the Father. If the Son listened to sinners, it’s because the Father listens to sinners. He hears our prayers. Every single one.
God hears us because he loves us
But didn’t David say, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Ps. 66:18)? Keep reading:
Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications! Answer me in your faithfulness, in your righteousness! And do not enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no one living is righteous. (Psalm 143:1-2)
David, knowing that he was not righteous, asked God to hear him on account of his righteousness, and God did. Your heavenly Father hears your prayers not because you are good but because he is good and he loves you.
But what about that verse that says, “God does not hear sinners” (John 9:31)? The Jews believed that, but Jesus didn’t. He said things like “When you pray” as if we are to pray all the time, and he told stories to encourage us to pray (Matt. 6:7, Luke 18:1, 10-14).
The Bible never discourages prayer. Instead it says things like “devote yourselves to prayer” (Col. 4:2), and “pray continually” (1 Th. 5:17). Only one person is looking for excuses to get you not to pray, and it’s not the Lord.
Okay, what about John. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Keep reading:
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for his name’s sake. (1 John 2:12)
In the new covenant you are not forgiven because you confess; you are forgiven on account of Jesus’ name.
This idea that we have to confess or cleanse ourselves before God will hear us, forgive us, or receive us comes straight out of the old covenant. See the cross. Your sins are there, every last one of them, including all the sins you confessed and all the sins you didn’t.
What really hinders prayer
Jesus said, “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matt. 21:22).
The number one hindrance to prayer is not sin but unbelief, and notice that unbelief is not a hindrance to God hearing us but us receiving from him.
We need to pray with faith. We need to pray believing that God hears our prayers no matter who we are or what we’ve done because of who Jesus is and what he has done.
When John says confess he means “agree with God.” Agree that Jesus has dealt with all your sins once and for all. Agree that God is good and he longs to be good to you. Agree that your Father loves you and cares for you and he hears your prayers.
You may say, “But I don’t know how to pray. I’m afraid I will pray wrong.” Here’s Brennan Manning writing in The Ragamuffin Gospel:
There is no such thing as bad prayer…. A little child cannot do a bad coloring; nor can a child of God do bad prayer.
Your heavenly Father loves it when you talk to him. Whatever is on your mind, you can tell him all about it.
Talk to him about your hurts and worries, your hopes and dreams.
Tell him about your secret fears and struggles.
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from him. (1 John 5:14-15)
The key word in that passage is confidence. You can be confident of your Father’s goodness, and you can be confident when you pray.
Whatever your need today, ask your heavenly Father for help. Ask with the confidence that he hears your prayers and rides across the heavens to help you (Deu. 33:26).
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Escape to Reality 
So many great points here. We can do our theology a lot of good by looking at whether our beliefs about God fit the character and nature of Jesus. We can do our belief a lot of good by believing in His goodness rather than our own.
Thanks LJP. You are spot on – it all begins with God’s goodness.
Hello there I am a member of Patron but I cannot open the various titles or writings. Please let me know why.Thank you amd blessings Neil
Hi Neil, I can’t see ypur name or email on Patreon. If you have an account with another name or email address, log in first, then you will be able to read the articles. If that doesn’t work, send me a message via Patreon. Thanks.
I love this post, Paul. All the points are great, but I lit up with delight when I read “the Jews believed that, but Jesus didn’t”. That’s how we have to approach the bible – mining for what Jesus believes. “I believe this, but what does Jesus believe?” “My pastor believes this, but what does Jesus believe?” “The disciples believed this, but what does Jesus believe?” So much of our commonly taught crooked theological understanding is tied to bible passages that contain what someone believed and wrote from their point of view, but it may or may not be revelatory of truth from God’s perspective. This is tough for modern Christians to grasp because we’ve spent so much energy defending the authority and inerrancy of the bible that we’ve inadvertently put it on a pedestal more or less as a replacement for the Holy Spirit as our teacher. If bible knowledge equated to ideal Christianity then the Pharisees would be our roll models. As the post says, it’s recognizing our identification with Jesus and our participation in his sonship that sets us free from the prison of identifying ourselves according to our sin that causes us to run and hide from our Father who adores us. Indeed, “God hears us because he loves us”. Anything to the contrary is the devil’s con game. All we have to do is go to the cross to see the lengths that Jesus will go to, and the abuse he is willing to suffer at our hands, to get us to see and believe we are loved and cherished.
Thanks Jason.
Great points, though scripture are for us in both the authority and inerrancy, as Paul wrote them by revelation of Holy Spirit who taught him, Galatians 1:11,12. As we would have no identification with Jesus without ‘his’ Gospel (Romans 16:25), for what Paul was taught was what Jesus believed. Sure, Jesus told the Pharisees “search the scripture, for in them you think you have eternal life : and they are they which testify of me.” But their problem was not bible knowledge, rather unbelief; and such would only be overcome by ”the word abiding” in them, John 5:38,39.. as it was in the head, not the heart (Psalm 119:11).
Right, “God hears us because he loves us”, but without the word we would know nothing of such lengths of love that he has once (Hebrews 9:26 and 1 Peter 3:18) gone through, and never again.
Thanks ,
Hi Thomas. What a well-developed response you put together. Thanks for taking a minute to write it. To further expand these thoughts, consider the problem of “unbelief”. For sure, humanity is suffering and destroying itself under the consequences of our own unbelief. And Jesus is the cure.
But what we call unbelief is really “wrong belief”, is it not? Everybody believes something. The Pharisees believed in A god – just one that happens to be the polar opposite of Jesus’ Father. Surely it is our wrongheadedness about God that keeps us trapped behind such thoughts as “Unconfessed sin hinders my prayers”. I think this distinction is helpful because we often try to fix our unbelief by flexing our faith muscles, gritting our teeth, and believing really really really hard – turning faith and belief into a work, by bringing them into the plain of achievement where they don’t belong. But Jesus’ solution to our unbelief is to unveil to us who his Father truly is and always has been so that our wrong belief can be replaces with what Jesus believes and has always known to be true about his Father. I think the story of the centurion at the beginning of Mathew 8 and Jesus’ response to him and the crowd puts on display the significance of recognizing the authority and inerrancy of Jesus. The centurion “got it”, but the Pharisees did not. The Pharisees were looking for hoops to jump through and the centurion recognized the light shinning in the darkness.
I love this.
This topic has frequently agitated me also. The verse in 1 John 1:9 should be better understood as confessing our sinfulness or prior unbelief when we come to Christ for salvation, not an ongoing need for staying saved. It is referring to those in denial of their need for a savior. This also does not mean that it is okay for believers to continue in sinful behavior. There are still natural consequences, but God ignoring us is not one of them.
Thanks Brandon. I agree that 1 John 1 was originally written for unbelievers. As you say, we need to agree with God’s assessment of us and our need for his righteousness.
Brandon, There was no inference to woks that don’t save in my comment regards, choosing to sin after we’re saved. Neither was it made to give cause for you or others to see 1 Jn 1:9 being used by me as a crutch of sorts for staying saved. That would not be a spiritual-work that fits the one good-news. It does though help us to know humility before GOD, as we go to him in prayer, confessing sins after salvation. And gratefully thanking him for having cleansed right there on that confession.
Ok, thanks for the clarification.
Good theology leads to Good living, my loving Father is Good. Thanks Paul for the good word, and a good job in clarity.
Thank you, Roy. I’m a big fan of clarity.
Good point about 1 John 1 being written for unbelievers. Just another fallacy of conventional theology.
Thanks, Paul. Your articles are always enlightening and blessing me.
Thanks for all the uplifting messages. Lawrence
Have you considered making posts like this one shareable on FB, Twitter, etc.?
Hi William. You will find social media sharing buttons at the bottom of every article (at the top of the comments thread).
Fantastic, Paul! I love this article and will be sharing it with everyone I know. 🙂 Thank you!
What do you think about the Lord’s prayer – “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”?
Hi Darren, I have written extensively on the subject of forgiveness and also on the Lord’s Prayer. You can find the relevant articles by searching in the Archives > Scripture Index. Thanks.
2-fold issue_ our sins are forgiven once at the time of Jesus’ blood-shed on a rotten tree branch. That being separate and wholly different from being cleansed by God, from our unrighteous acts – when we confess [Jesus does not teach, we ask forgiveness] the sin we sinned 1Jn 1:9. If, we’re truly born-again.
Telling God your heartily sorry – by naming the sin and thank Him for having cleansed you from that sin – I suggest humility is what relationships in-part are about.
Stephen, I agree there is merit in showing humility and owning up to mistakes made. It just isn’t an issue of needing to “make it right” for the sake of our eternal security or for God to hear us.
Brandon Petrowski – My comment was intended to show the difference between our sins forgiven at the Cross and the sins we will commit after our new birth; having been adopted into Jesus Kingdom.
Ergo: Born-again [true Jesus Followers] Saints are not making mistakes when we sin. That’s why we’re commanded by Jesus to confess [name] the sin. If we do not, we’re not cleansed from that unrighteous choice 1 Jn 1:9.
And what does “not being cleansed from that unrighteous choice” mean? Exactly what are the sins forgiven at the cross? Are you saying the cross is only strong enough to cleanse sin prior to salvation, and we have to cleanse ourselves after embracing the cross? If so, that doesn’t even make sense and isn’t Biblical. We don’t and can’t cleans ourselves. If that isn’t what you’re saying, then what are the consequences of sins committed after the new birth of salvation? You seem to be talking in circles and are pretty vague about consequences and cleansing or lack thereof. Nobody is saying that a believer is not capable of sin or that mistakes made are not also acts of sin sometimes. 1 John 1:9 is referring to the experience of salvation, not an ongoing debt on our part. There is still value in confession. It may cleanse our conscience and bring us back into agreement with God about how we should live our lives. It might help us to shed any guilt or shame imposed by the enemy or our own minds. When the prodigal son gave his speech of confession to his father, the father didn’t even acknowledge or respond to his son’s words of confession. He welcomed him into his loving embrace.
Hello Paul, I have noticed that one of the more frequent arguments used against the Gospel of Grace is found in 2 Timothy 4 where Paul talks about people not wanting to hear sound doctrine and wanting only to hear what their “itchy ears” want to hear. Many have claimed that this is a referring to the Gospel of Grace because the news is always good and exactly what people’s ears wanted or needed to hear. I was just wondering if you have ever come across this argument before. Many claim that the Gospel must be hard to avoid the “itchy ear” syndrome and therefore live a life of mixture. I was wondering if you have ever commented about this?
Hi Ely, yes I have written something on this passage. For future reference, you can search for everything I have written by scripture in the Archives > Scripture Index.
Again, 1 John 1:9 refers to the salvation experience, not an ongoing tightrope act of righteousness and unrighteousness based on our behavior. The only thing that makes us righteous or unrighteous is belief or unbelief. The Bible clearly tells us we have been made holy or sanctified by Christ’s work of the cross. When we are told to be holy or righteous, it is telling us to act like our identity. The Holy Spirit convicts the believer, not of their sin, but of their righteousness. He says, this is who you ARE, so behave that way out of gratitude for what was accomplished for you. There are certainly consequences for behaving in a sinful unrighteous manner, but becoming unrighteous is not one of them. Yes, we can subject ourselves to the Law, but that happens when we become works-minded, not by commiting an act of sin. This is the whole point of Galatians 4.
From my perspective, the itching ears is referring to teaching that excuses or even justifies sinful behavior. The good news of the Gospel doesn’t encourage sin. There are still natural consequences to engaging in sin. God wants us to avoid those consequences, just like a parent doesn’t want their kid to play in a busy street. The Gospel says, if you screw up, God still loves you and is there with open arms to comfort and teach you. He doesn’t say, “Talk to the hand until you make it right.”
Confession doesn’t cleanse us though. Jesus shed blood and the work of the cross is what cleanses us. Confession is still good, agreeing with God that we still need His help in overcoming the flesh. It is indeed an expression of humility, but not for the sake of reconciliation, but jumping into Daddy’s waiting protective arms, just as the prodigal did.
With great respect for those who like me can get caught up in false-teachings. But by the mercy of GOD come to realize that false-Gospels are not uncommon. I hear a thread of danger in some of the comments here. I call this specific danger – the Love Gospel.
When we sin and we know when we have, when we walk and or live in the Spirit – as true Jesus Followers born-again Believers in and on Jesus’ exiting yesterday, today and forever_ we’re not making mistakes or screwing up when we sin. As though that’s somehow ok with GOD. He does not just look on past our behaviour in this way. He commands us to humble ourselves and own the choice to act, name/confess the sin [1Jn 1:9] and be cleansed from any consequential outflow resulting from having sinned. Yet, when we choose to walk or live by our flesh – the fallen-Angels which influences our sin-nature has us thinking and believing the opposite is true – that we can sin and call that making mistakes and or screwing up.
You don’t exactly define a difference between mistakes and sin. How is the “Love Gospel” a danger? The very definition of the Gospel is love. Respectfully, you are not handling 1 John 1:9 correctly, but nobody is saying that God ignores our behavior. He disciplines those He loves, but that doesn’t mean spankings, it means training. His correction doesn’t shame us for our sinful behavior. The Bible is explicitly clear about that. His correction says, “That isn’t who you are, THIS is who you are.” He reminds us of our identity in Christ and says, “You have been made holy, so act like it.” Jesus didn’t ignore the sinful behavior of the woman at the well, but He also didn’t rub her nose in it or punish her. He loved her and told her to go and sin no more. He didn’t add an “or else”. His admonition was one of love for her well being, not a threat.
Hi Steve. Can I ask a question about your comment? What is it exactly, that you would say, is the thing that gets a person from the Jesus Follower category to the “TRUE” Jesus Follower category? And when a person accomplishes this category jump, how does it effect the way God relates to them?
jason b – Thank-you for your kindly inquiring. There’s no difference. Please, help me to see where I may have [to you] inferred that after being born from water and Spirit and having been in the process of being Saved in this Age – that there are 2 types of Followers. I was answering the posted question by saying that the commands of GOD are not always something we abide by. Thus: GOD is faithful.
GOD in 1Jn 1:9 reminds us that even as sinners saved by grace through faith – we don’t always live by the Spirit; and so, we choose to sin at times. He’s processing that sin, assuring us he cleanses us from the consequence – when we confers the sin.
So Steve, are you saying that we are always already cleansed as a believer, but the confession part is just a reminder for us that we have been cleansed? That might make more sense, but it isn’t clear if that’s what you mean?
It was just your use of the term “true Jesus Followers” that got my attention. I often wonder what people mean when they say that. Thanks for answering. You’ve got some interesting thoughts you are putting out in your comments. Some seem to conflict with one another though, in my opinion. If you don’t mind, let me ask you another question from the answer you gave. Specifically, about “the commands of GOD are not something we always abide by”. My question is: Do you think that Jesus lives in harmony with the Father by abiding by his commands? Or, do you think that Jesus lives in harmony with his Father by abiding in his love? And I guess I’d go on to further ask, what difference should it make to us how Jesus manages to go about living in harmony with our Father?
Our sining can hamper our prayer, not by stopping them necessarily but by the residual outflow resulting from the influences that come when choosing to live or walk in our flesh – rather than choosing the same in the Spirit.
I can see what you mean here in that sinful behavior may hinder us from praying, but it doesn’t hinder our prayers being heard. If we continue in unrepentant sin, it can cause a numbness and distance from God, but that is our own making, not His. He is like the father of the prodigal, waiting expectantly and with joy when we reach out to Him.
That’s good stuff, Brandon. Is the prodigal son not the best story every portraying the Father-heart of God! What a genius Jesus is to plop that little tale in the lap of the Pharisees. I’ve recently been blown away to see that REPENTANCE for the prodigal son DID NOT happen when he came to his senses and wanted to go home. At that point he was just hoping and planning to go home and work the religious program to get back in the good graces of Dad to get some food and a warm bed. We may look at that and say that when he left the hog pin is when he turned from sin and repented. Oh no. Not yet. He basically just lined up with his brother’s thinking at that point. Repentance (rethinking what we think we know) happened when his father came running to him, threw his arms around his filthy body, called for a celebration, and put the family ring on his finger – repentance for the prodigal son happened in the moment of that embrace, when he discovered he was dead wrong about his father. At it’s foundation sin is much deeper than stuff we do. Those are just fruits of the darkness we live in that keeps us from seeing who our Father really is (and by extension, who we really are) – that’s SIN. Thankfully, Jesus came to take away the sin of the world.
Amen, exactly, and well said. 🙂 I love the prodigal son parable. The father didn’t even acknowledge the son’s speech of confession. He didn’t question him or lecture him or make him earn his way back. He responded with joy and love at his son’s return.
Brandon – Your love for me, joy, peace, forbearing, kindness, goodness, gentle, self-control with me here is appreciated_ we, who belong and are in Messias, continually put down our flesh, ‘if’ we live by the Spirit.
No, we’re not told anywhere in the bible message that we’re always, already cleansed [as though pre-cleansed] because we believe; we’re cleansed in the moment. ‘if’ we confess the sin GOD is faithful, right and forgiving the sin; cleansing us from the act. The context is in our action; where we live/walk. We do not always live/walk in the Light. It’s imperative, we be careful not to create a pretext out of context. These fallen-Angels will always have us [believers] saying and doing things that result in sin – until this Age is taken out by Jesus’ returning_ ‘if’ we’re not careful, conceit will give us cause to live by that sinful flesh – Darkness. We are sucked back into the Law; we lie and make GOD to be a liar.
Gal 5: connects together 1 Jn 1 and tells us as believers, ‘if’ we live/say and act by the Spirit, our sinful and fallen-Angel influenced flesh is not encouraged to rise in us. This sinful flesh cannot be expunged by us or GOD. This is so that we don’t do what we want but what the Spirit intends us to do. The active issue is our response and doing – GOD cannot do this for us.
The thing is, you continue to use the word cleanse ambiguously, so it’s hard to follow your meaning. Additionally, you are basing much of your interpretation from English translation that does not always best reflect original wording and intent and context. However, the Bible is very clear that our belief is what allows us to receive cleansing. If we believe in our hearts that Jesus died and rose again, and if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, then we are saved. There are many verses that suggest we are cleansed of all our sins (past, present, and future) based on our confession of faith at salvation. We are made righteous positionally, not behaviorally. So, again, it comes back to what you mean or don’t mean by the ongoing requirement for confession. We aren’t righteous one day and unrighteous the next based on keeping commandments or commiting a sin. I don’t dispute that there are consequences for sin, but the only cleansing that takes place with ongoing confession might be our personal shame or guilt that we feel when we recognize we have sinned. Remember, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We aren’t in one day and out the next.
It is a little clearer, but I am still not following what you think those consequences are and what we get cleansed from. I do agree there are consequences to engaging in sin. However, in 1 John 1:9 it says confession for forgiveness. What do you think that forgiveness entails? Are you saying that for a believer who is struggling with sin that when they confess and are “cleansed” that forgiveness which comes now cancels whatever natural consequences resulted from that sin? Because that does not make sense. Many times we can be repentant over sin we have struggled with, and we can acknowledge and confess that sin, but we may still experience some natural consequences for having stepped away from that walking by the Spirit. For example, a thief might be sorry and make restitution, but they may experience jail or loss of trust from someone they robbed from. My position is that 1 John 1:9 refers to the salvation experience when we come before God confessing our sinful state and need for salvation. I do still think confession is a good thing when we are convicted of sinfulness. As I said previously, we are cleansed from shame and guilt we might feel.
Brandon P. & Jason b. – I love your comments. 1 John 1:7 says the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin. In original Greek, this verse is in the present continuous tense, meaning the blood of Jesus Christ keeps cleansing us every moment 24/7 from all sin. The word “all” in the Greek is pas, meaning any & every. The blood of Jesus is ever cleansing us from any & every sin.
Exactly! Well said Karen.
Thank you Brandon! 🙂
Yes, Karen, what a wonderful thing it is to realize our sins are no more. That the issue of our sin has once and for all been radically and totally dealt with. The cross of Christ puts on eternal display for all the ages and realms to see the love God has for his creation. We were not created to perish, but to be adored and cherished… and we are. The cross is a byproduct of Jesus’ determination that we come to see his Father through his eyes as apposed to seeing him through the black veil of the quagmire of evil we’ve become entangled with. Once we see the depths Jesus went to at the cross to find us in our depraved and twisted darkness, we need to also see the relationship of overflowing communion with the Father and Spirit he brought with him – this GOOD and eternally abundant relationship has unified itself to you and me at our very wretched worst. And they aren’t going anywhere, no matter what. We stand in something altogether new. In this new relationship (with our sins removed), Jesus puts his gentle hand on our chin, lifts our head from glaring shamefully at the floor, looks deep and passionately into our eyes, and says “There you are. You were lost. I finally found you. Oh how I’ve longed to have you know who I am. Come with me. We have a celebration to attend.” Heb 12:2 speaks of this divine motivation Jesus walked in: “Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame”.
Thank you, Jason, that is so beautiful. 🙂
Ok, so what about when we sin and don’t realize we have committed a sin. Sometimes we get caught up in the heat of the moment, and in the surge of emotions, it doesn’t even register that we have sinned. Sometimes we engage in a pattern of learned behavior that we don’t realize is sinful.
In Mark 2:5, Jesus told the paralytic man that his sins were forgiven without the man having confessed. The woman at the well and the woman who was about to be stoned were both shown grace and mercy without offering a confession or even repentance. As Romans 2:4 says, God’s kindness leads to repentance. They demonstrated faith in God, AFTER they had received His goodness.
Yes, yes, yes! That’s how it works. We are all being summoned to respond to the kindness and goodness of the one who loved us into existence.
Brandon, Yes, we get caught up in the heat of a moment and sin in that moment and don’t realize we’ve sinned. GOD is just and faithful – his Spirit he leaves with us to lead us to recognizing this getting caught up. As we continually to live by his power – live by that same Spirit, we will get caught up less often. And with the fellowship [iron on iron] of those in our lives who are also being changed from glory to glory – they too, along with the leading of the Spirit help us to stay living in the Spirit.
When we fail at times [we do] and sin by the power of Influencers [fallen-Angels] who can by our sinful Flesh – still cause us to think and believe that our enemies are other people made in the same image as us. And we do get caught up in that our sinful Flesh cannot be expunged. And so, we respond to situations and people by stepping away from the Spirits power to live holy – results in our words and behaviours there to be doing the opposite – which is living by the sinful Flesh.
This is the struggle we bear in this Being Saved position. We know we cannot change without the influence of Jesus Spirit. This is so that, in order that we might not do what we want to do. Rom 7:15 is an example.
Praise Jesus m, he does not leave us alone to our sinful Flesh.
That is more clear, and I can respect that perspective. I find that mornings where I get caught up in busyness, if I don’t spend time in prayer and the Word, I am more likely to commit an act of sin that day. I don’t think it is so much about confession of sin restoring us to Spirit powered living though. I think it is more when we stay close to Him and His presence, spending time with Him, we are empowered to live “rightly”. When we do stray, conviction is being reminded of His goodness and love and agreeing with Him about our identity in Christ.
Brandon – I agree, my thinking and believing his work in me, is why staying in and on his promise to be in me and having left me his Spirit to Guide me in this life – is mine to continually live by.
As an adopted son of the Most High god, I also agree, our confessing sins only helps assure us we need not be encumbered by feelings that would keep us from staying close to GOD. Just as our confessing sins also, does nothing to restore us to Jesus Spirit.
👍🏼🙂
jason b – By your 3 yeses, as one form of saying, Alright already… I yield but for the sake of GOD’s love. What is it. Only saying this to be care-full with truth.
The good-news I am aware of – does not in any wise demonstrate that GOD’s Agape love has been or is today, calling/summoning all people to respond to his having created them. And if I mis-understood your comment here, I am sorry and apologize.
If any one is given the good-news and that can only come by the power and invitation of Jesus Spirit – then GOD the Father is not asking for a response yet, does in love, act on each response. Irrespective, whether or not the person hearing the good-news actually receives that invitation with a yes, no or ignores it; GOD acts.
If he chooses to provide his good-news to anyone’s hearing through the centuries – the god of gods (Most High) who also adopted me into his Kingdom – in my understanding, has no affection nor attraction to man; though he created us for his purposes. Today, I believe Jn 3:16 is the most mis-understood, mis-applied and mis-interpreted verse in the NT. I mentioned in an earlier comment that I am seeing GOD’s love today, much differently than in the past.
Well said Jason.
Brandon and jason b – you both kindly engaged me in this thread_
* GOD is good and hears our prayers, no matter who we are…
* Agree GOD is good and that he longs to be good to you…
* Agree your Father loves you and cares for you…
No matter who we are_ Is the Most High god the Father of all?
Is GOD’s love affectionate and attractive love to man?
GOD’s love is written in 35 verses in the bible. Whose being addressed in these verses?
He loves everyone, but not all of them will be saved. 🙂
Brandon – If God loves [all] everyone, you must know his love is not removed for them – when he does not save them all. By what type of love does God not save those many more people than he saves? And yet, he loves them even to their 2nd death.
This, in my understanding is somewhat a conundrum for some. But I am certain that God’s love is not affection nor attraction to those many more he will not save. But just as his love toward Believers is the same same loves – as you said, “God loves everyone…” – that love is Agape.
Yes, I agree.
jason b – sorry for the missing font, But that is ‘not’ what these verses are so kindly teaching us [Believers]…
I’ve enjoyed reading these comments and hearing everyone’s perspective. I’ve especially enjoyed the kind spirit of the comments even though there may not always be total agreement. Having read the comments, I’m left with a question… What is the goal? Meaning, what is God’s goal for us and what is our goal for this life as a Christian?
It sounds cliche and simple, but relationship with Him and glorifying His name, and trying to bring as many people with us as we can. 🙂
Hi Steve. My remarks in the previous comment were more of just a general comment building on the ongoing conversation, not really trying to correct what you said or call it legalism. Personally, I find your comments interesting and thought provoking.
But while we’re on the subject. Legalism, in general, is kind of our default setting we all slip back into time and time again as soon as we take our eyes off Jesus. And it is 100% why someone would think their sin hinders their prayers. Look at Peter in Galatians – he loves the Lord, but in his desire to get along, make friends, be acceptable (all of which are not bad things) he fell back into our default mode: the trap of identifying ourselves through ‘performance evaluation thinking’. Paul saw the seriousness of this situation – the compromising of the gospel – and couldn’t stand by silently. I think our dear brother Paul Ellis is motivated in the same way and that’s where all these great Escape to Reality Post’s come from. The Father’s eternal Son, Jesus, that was expressing himself through the great apostle Paul is the very same Jesus expressing himself through Paul Ellis. AND the very same Jesus coming to expression through you and me, Steve. The more we get to know Jesus, it’s hard to keep our mouth shut, even if we are not sure what we are trying to say. We simply know there is something wonderful that people are missing out on and we are trying to find words to convey it. At least that’s how it is for me. Grace to you, my brother.
Greetings LJP. I imagine you and others have an answer for your question, and if so, I’d love to hear it. In a way it is the greatest of all questions, is it not? What’s the point of all this, right? For me, the answer is simple: You and I are God’s love dream come true. The goal of the Father, Son and Spirit is to share the love and life they have always known together with us in a way that it becomes as much ours as it is theirs – to become participants in their overflowing fellowship, NOT being absorbed into their life as if to no longer be ourselves but rather contributing our individuality to this divine circle that has opened itself up to create and embrace us. They have eternally dwelled in one another in abundant union without losing their individuality and their goal is to bring us into the family. Our adoption through Jesus was predestined BEFORE Adam was created. Jesus’ coming as one of us to accomplish our adoption was not in response to Adam’s fall, but the original plan all along (the fall just meant that Jesus was going to have to go into our sin ridden hell to reach us). God created the cosmos and us in service to the greater purpose of Jesus’ adoption mission. We were literally found in Jesus BEFORE we were lost in Adam. Once this mystery is unveiled, you’ll see it lavished all over the pages of the New Testament. God’s goal for us: participation in their life. Our goal for this life as a Christian: also participation in their life. What does that look like? Loving your neighbor, playing with your dog, helping a buddy through a tough time, cooking a meal for your family, holding hands, weeping with those that weep, coaching little league, building a house, watching the sun set, and a million other things, and sometimes… reading the bible and praying and stuff like that. Thanks, LJP. I enjoyed pondering that question.
Thanks, Jason, Brandon, and Steve, I love your responses and I agree. The reason I asked the question is I think sometimes as we get into a discussion about sin we can leave the impression that the main goal is for us to be a perfect, squeaky clean specimen in regards to our behavior. That’s not a bad goal, but God is more concerned with our beliefs than our behavior. Our beliefs also happen to be what determines our behavior, but behavior is the fruit. So often, we hear teachers getting the cart before the horse by constantly focusing on sin and behavior when that approach actually adds fuel to the fire. How often did Jesus correct someone’s behavior vs talking to them about believing? I know you realize this and I know you love the Gospel, so I wanted to give you a chance to say it. The simplest answer I could give to the question is God’s goal is to serve us with His life and our goal as a Christian is to allow Him to serve us with His life (again our beliefs allow this) in every area and every circumstance. Or as Jesus would say, “abide in the Vine”.
I love it! Yes. The ‘I am’ of the universe, the creator and sustainer of all, has placed himself in service to humanity. Not in service to our whims, but to our growth and maturity in Him. How long will it take us to come to our senses and get it? I don’t know, evidently a very long time, but I think God’s got time on his side, and he can wait us out. It may take another 2,000 years, but eventually we’ll get our fill of living in the hog pin and start longing for home where we belong.
Well said, totally agree.
I don’t exactly see it as God’s service to man is out of a type of love. Rather, it is God simply being God that gives definition to the word “love”. In other words, it is God that describes love, not love that describes God. Even using “Agape” falls short in trying to communicate the beauty and scope of the abundant passion that flows between the Father and Son in the Spirit – the very source of our true origins and identity.
“Does that mean that all people are the object of this love?” Absolutely! There is no human race other than the human race bound up in the creating and sustaining work of Christ, which are both, in themselves, expressions of grace and love. We cannot escape the Grace that encompasses us. Does that equal salvation for all? Absolutely not! Our salvation is a RELATIONAL matter, not a legal or positional matter. People can stubbornly refuse Grace and demand that Jesus repent (change his mind and admit he is wrong) and comply with their self-referential reality forever if they want to. And God will not force anyone to relate to him in any way other than the way that they want to relate to him. The New Testament seems to offer hope that ALL could somehow come around (the gates of the New City of Jerusalem are never shut) but it certainly does not give that as a definite conclusion. It’s kind of open ended, as far as I can tell. We can only speculate about the afterlife, really. But there is no question that God’s love is not a love that skips over anyone for any reason – it’s unconditional.
I basically agree with Jason. I don’t think we can dissect God’s love into certain categories and pick apart what it is or isn’t. I agree this does not mean all will be saved. Salvation is based on faith and relationship, God is perfectly capable of loving people and respecting their choice to reject Him.
Amen, Brandon. “God is perfectly capable of loving people and respecting their choice to reject Him.” Well put. Until we come to see that God is absolutely unflinching in his love towards us, religion will always have a crack to weasel its way into our minds and convince us that it is up to us to trip God’s love wire and keep it tripped.
Hello Steve, you have mentioned God’s type of love a few times, but I don’t think you have fully explained it or I haven’t understood what you mean and how you feel it relates to the discussion. But I believe to describe God’s type of love is to describe the nature of our relationship with God. His type of love is partially described in 1 Cor 13:4-7. His type of love is demonstrated at the cross where He died for us when we were at our worst and never knew Him. The cross also shows His type of love doesn’t waiver as a result of our behavior. While I have often used the term unconditional to describe this aspect of God’s love, there is in a sense a condition. God did not demonstrate this type of love for the animals, since He became a man and died for human beings. So you could say there is a condition which is the extreme value and beauty that He sees in us. In Genesis 1:22 where it says, “and God blessed them”, that word blessed means to kneel, to adore, to praise. I see a picture of a man, overwhelmed with love, proposing to dedicate his life to the one he can’t live without. Seeing this type of love that God has for us causes our heart to trust Him, it moves us to love Him, and it opens the door for us to receive His life.
LJP, beautifully said..
LJP, jason b – To both of you, thanks for investing the time here. Sin hindering our prayers; God tells us what type of love He is – in any number of accounts in the bible. Both in the Older Covenants and Newer Covenant and Testament.
God’s love in that desert experience, during the Exodus – that love saw Him utilizing a punitive measure; even as He tarried for a time when the people would not stop grumbling at Him, over the food-stuffs He so generously provided, daily. That love was Agape and in this instance was actionable. God’s type of love is actionable love. And so, in order that so that God punitively killed 000s, who were grumbling. His love to their response to Him.
I’m struck by the number of times God tells us what we’re to be hearing and listening to and we go right on thinking and believing that He’s always listening to us. He’s hearing but not always listening_ Zac 7:13 just as I called out but they would not obey me, so they too will call out and I will not listen, the Master of Spiritual armies says. And Jn 9:31 – Gid does not listen to sinners but those devotees who also do His will, He listens.
The problem here is translation and how we understand certain words and understanding who the speaker is. God always listens to us. He may not grant our requests for various reasons. He isn’t some genie lamp responding to our whims if we are “worshippers of God who do his will”. The speaker in John 9:31 is offering his opinion or theology based on what he thinks he knows from the Old Testament after receiving a healing from Jesus and is attempting to explain how Jesus’s miracle could not be from Satan. Neither John or Jesus offer any commentary supporting the man’s theology. Many many many people in the Bible received miracles from God without first offering repentance. Jesus listened to many sinners and even hung out with them. The prodigal son’s father ran to greet him with open arms before he could make amends.
Much thanks to brother Ellis for allowing us to venture off into this discussion. I’ve so enjoyed it.
Brilliant, LJP! “Seeing this type of love that God has for us… opens the door for us to receive His life.” Is that not the whole motivation behind the cross of Christ? That our dark illusion might be shattered, and we might be awakened from our deadening trance and discover the love that birthed and holds in its hands all of creation and us in it? His cross is the ultimate “demonstration” of this love that has always been towards us, even though we’ve struggled and fumbled for over 2000 years now to find the words to describe the magnitude and magnificence of what we have beheld at the cross.
There was never any reason for Adam (and humanity) to run and hide in the bushes, other than the lies in his head. The monster god in Adam’s mind (and ours) never truly existed. How was God to rescue his beloved creatures from being consumed and utterly destroyed by the lies they now believed of him and themselves. He would have to ‘cross’ the divide and get on their side of the relationship and show them ‘The Truth’ from their fallen point of view. That’s the purpose and point of the incarnation. God is like Jesus. He has always been like Jesus. And what Jesus is like (his glory, or true essence) has been forever defined and imprinted on cosmic history at the cross for all realms and ages to behold in wonder throughout eternity. Would God go as far as to sacrifice himself into our hands at our alter of religion to the point of his own public ridicule, torture, and death at our hands in hopes of reaching us in our lost and delusional reality? He did.
Wow…yes he did and it completely annihilates our religious notions that He is a punitive Father.
Indeed, LJP. Amen!
Thanks, Brandon and Jason, I have thoroughly enjoyed the discussion, but I don’t feel we should go any further off track from the topic of the article. Jason, to briefly respond, I think you are spot on and I believe it was death that was being dealt with at the cross more so than our bad behavior. It wasn’t so much that God was offended by our behavior as He wanted to save us from death. Blessings to all.
You nailed it again, LJP! “It was death that was being dealt with at the cross”. Amen! Our death. Jesus’ entire 33 years with us was a cross. Every day was another step deeper into our false reality built on our backs by the father of lies. But Jesus never agreed with us in our false reality, and although fully capable, he never wished it away into damnation – for doing so would destroy us, his beloved, with it. Rather, he stepped into our death to be with us in it because he accepted the situation that that is where we are, lost and blind and in need of restoration… and he has brought his personal knowing of the Father into our death, their eternal union in the Spirit has set up shop inside our false reality to expose and destroy it, and they now live and dwell in the deepest darkest corners of our shame ridden hiding spots. Indeed, the cross was about Jesus’ full identification with us in our death, by submitting himself into the hands of our false reality, in order that he could be the means by which we participate in eternal life – the abundant life and union shared between the Father, Son and Spirit now brought to us in our darkened fall and shared with us. His Kingdom absolutely will be built here, but he will not do it without us.
In my opinion our conversation is actually staying in line with the article because we are just further hammering away at the lie straight from the father of lies that Paul pointed out at the very beginning: Ever heard this one: “God is holy. If you have unconfessed sin in your life, he will not hear your prayers.” Until we get the deistic and punitive father model of God out of our minds we will keep being manipulated and influence by religion – we will keep trying to figure out how to get Jesus to go from ‘absence’ to ‘presence’… He is here, with us, experiencing the pain of our alienation with us through the Holy Spirit who is simultaneously teaching us otherwise. Of course he hears our prayers.
Brandon and Jason, Thanks for your thoughts about what is wrong with translation and transliteration. I concur with you both, there is no prophecy of Scriptures that comes from our imagination nor borne of human impulse. But rather carried along by Holy Spirit, men spoke from the mind of Elohim. There are now over 50 versions on the seller’s tables. And I am careful too – to not be listening to man teaching from human reason but for the voice of the Lamb, soon to be the coming Lion in flames of fire…
Steve et al, it’s time to wrap this up. I hate to be a party-pooper, but the discussion has wandered off topic and your comments frequently violate my keep-it-short policy. Steve, if you would like to comment on 1 Peter 3:7, you may do so under the relevant article here. But please limit any comments to a few sentences, and save the expository writing for your own blog. Thanks.
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Hey God will Forgive this Mr Paul for leading people astray with the fake Grace teachings. Sin can hinder your prayers and blessings while cos when we sin we cause the channels through which the blessings of God will flow to our life to be blocked. Hey Grace as these Grace preachers misuse is freedom from sin, ability to live above sin and strength and help that if/when we fall his grace and everlasting mercy is there to pickup us back to right standing with Him.
Brethren, without Holiness we can’t have eternal life and grow our personal relationship with God, our Loving Father hates sin. We should commit to living a holy life. The Christian race is race from imperfections to perfection, Jesus said, “be thou perfect even as my Father in heaven is perfect”. Living a perfect Holy life is attainable and that’s what God wants from us cos nothing impure will enter into heaven or have eternal life. Yes we’re saved by Grace and not by law but we need God’s commandment and principles to continue walking with Him after we’ve been saved. End time is near and false teachings are all over, I beg you all Jesus loves you and would be sad if you don’t make heaven. Live a Holy life🙏
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Don’t be decided by these false preachings of Freedom, they’ve turned it upside down to soothe uncleanliness. Yes God hates sin but is looking for ways to bring us home to Him than to keep us out that’s why he’s given Grace as strength to live above sin and live in Holiness and not as freedom to live as we like. God bless you all as you hearken to the truth.
There is no such thing as fake grace. Your perspective is astray from the Bible.