Mike Owens
Why Doesn't God Hear Me?Have you ever felt that, when you pray, your prayers only reach the ceiling? Have you ever felt there may be something wrong with you, and that's why God doesn't hear you? Perhaps God doesn't like you as much as Brother Spiritual, or Sister Goodlove, because their prayers always seem to get answered? Have you ever felt "what's the use, God won't answer me anyway". Perhaps this article may help you. It's based on a book written by Liberty Savard, called Shattering Your Strongholds, published by Bridge-Logos Publishers. This book has totally changed my prayer life, and I think it can do the same for you.
A Wrong Mind-set
Basically, our prayers are not answered because we have a wrong mind-set, a wrong way of looking at the truth. Most Christians believe (in their heads) God loves me, God forgives me, God wants to bless me, God answers my prayers. Most Christians also believe (in their hearts) I am unlovable, God could never forgive me for that, I don't deserve God's blessings, God answers me, but sometimes the answer is Yes, sometimes the answer is No, and sometimes the answer is Maybe or Wait a while. This is because we all build strongholds to protect us. We are hurt deeply by something or someone, so we withdraw and build a wall of protection because we don't like pain. A new hurt comes, so we built the wall taller and stronger. Soon we have a huge tower to hide within. Sometimes that tower may even turn into a fortress. A fortress is a group of towers connected by strong and forboding walls. There may be only one gate to enter that fortress, and it is usually kept closed when we feel threatened. A stronghold also effects our righteousness, or our right standing with God. By protecting our wrong attitudes, wrong thoughts and wrong feelings, these towers prevent us from having a free and open communications system with God.
In the gospel of John, Jesus tells us:
"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ...The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Jn 10:1- 10This verse talks about our salvation, but I believe it also holds a good word picture of our wrong mind-sets. We have built our walls to protect us from pain, but they only serve to imprison the pain itself so we can't get rid of it and move on. These very walls also serve to keep God out, so He can't bless us or answer our prayers or help us to mature in Christ. The enemy will come in through any crack or crevasse or opening he can find. Then he'll use the pain behind those walls to bring us more pain, causing us to strengthen our walls to keep the pain out. But, in truth, we are keeping the pain in and God out.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:20God will always come through the front door to our hearts, He will always approach us face on. But He will not enter until we open the door. The enemy doesn't care about our safety, he'll enter any way possible, then destroy us.
What Is A Wrong Mind-set?
A wrong mind-set is something set up by us when something really terrible happens to us. All truth which we receive is then filtered through this wrong mind-set and comes out distorted. It's like a mold. The mold doesn't care what is placed inside it: wax, clay, plastic, gold, silver, whatever. All the mold does is reproduce what it was made for, and everything will come out looking the same, no matter what. If you pour pure water through a dirty filter, it will come out polluted. Likewise, if you pour truth into a bad mold, it will come out a lie.
Little Sally has not had an easy childhood. Her father is seldom there for her, and when he is there, he's usually too tired to pay any attention to her, or he's had a bad day and answers sharply and hurtfully. Maybe he's even abusive. Her mother is busy tending the house, running errands, working elsewhere and only seems to pay attention when Sally does something wrong. One day, as Sally walks down the street, a dog comes across her path. The dog seems friendly. His tail is wagging. Perhaps Sally has found a friend. She reaches out to pet the dog and the dog bites her. She feels the pain of the teeth on her hand, but she also feels the pain of rejection. She thinks to herself: "The dog acted like he liked me, but then he bit me. I must not know what love or friendship is because I must not be likable or lovable. The dog could sense this in me, that's why he bit me. If he can sense it, others can too". So Sally shies away from this dog and every other dog she encounters, no dog will ever bite her again, she won't let them. Sally will now live in constant fear of dogs.What just happened here? First, Sally was bitten by a dog she thought was friendly. This is a fact, the dog bites her, and facts can not be changed. Do we know why the dog bit her? No. Is it important why the dog bit her? Not really. We can learn to accept the fact, we can strive to properly understand the fact, we can learn not to let the fact influence our life, but we can not get rid of the fact. With any pain, there is always an initiating fact.
For many reasons, the fact began a wrong attitude in Sally. The dog acted like he liked me, but then he bit me. I must not know what love or friendship is. Attitude is an instinctive mental reaction causing behaviors that reveals our relationship to persons expressing our thoughts, our feelings and our opinions. Use a dirty filter, get polluted thoughts.
This wrong attitude produced a wrong pattern of thinking the dog didn't like me because I must not be likable. Sally poured the substance of the fact into her already developed mold and it filtered her perception of the truth as she saw it. Because Sally is convinced she is not and can not be loved, she will be effected in all areas of her life, not just with dogs.
Wrong patterns of thinking produce wrong ideas, desires and beliefs. Your ideas are the representation of your thoughts on a given subject. There is no word for ideas in the Bible. The closest thing we have is logismos, which is the reckoning or computation of information, a reasoning that is most often hostile to the Christian faith, a judgment or decision based on conscious. thought. We see it used in the following verses:
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
IICo 10:4-5There is Truth, and there is our perceived truth. Truth is always true, no matter what the circumstances may be. Our perception of the truth is based on our mind-set, and is usually in error.
Next, wrong ideas, desires and beliefs set up wrong behaviors and actions on her part. Everyone, no matter who they are or what they claim to believe, will always live their beliefs. This is inevitable. I may say I believe in Divine healing, then I pray, "Lord, if it is Your will....". I just covered my bet here. If God heals you, it's because I believe in Divine healing, if He doesn't heal you, it's because it's not in His will. The truth here is that I don't really believe in Divine healing, I just think I do. Based on her perceptions of the truth, Sally shies away from this dog and every other dog she encounters, perhaps the dog was hurting or sick, and the attack had nothing to do with Sally, but this doesn't matter to her.
Finally, she erects a stronghold to shield her from further attacks. Sustained faith in a wrong belief will always build a stronghold, and this will only block our receiving anything from God. Every dog who looks at her menacingly, who growls at her, who even might approach her only goes to re- enforce her wrong perceptions and strengthen her tower walls. This only perpetuates her pain because it is her pain that resides inside the tower. She can't release the pain and move on, she has it held prisoner. Not only does she keep the pain under lock and key, she also keeps God out and He is unable to help her with her pain. This is the basic pattern of tower-building. Remember, these strongholds provide access for the enemy to enter into our lives and cause us pain. These wrong attitudes, wrong ways of thinking and wrong beliefs we have learned to trust , and trust even more then the truth itself.
Strongholds
A stronghold is nothing more then a defense mechanism we establish to protect our right to believe something. It doesn't matter if what we believe is true or not, it is our right to believe it. Below are a few strongholds we erect for our pain. They come from the book mentioned above.
Suspicion: Having our trust in someone shattered, having our love thrown aside like refuse, being painfully deceived by someone close to us will usually cause us to build a stronghold around this pain to insure that no one else will be able to deceive us again. The basic premise behind love is trust, if we can't trust, then we can't really love either. Without love, there is no intimacy, with each other and with God.
If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
1Jn 4:20Distrust: When betrayal comes, along with the deep pain, distrust becomes a stronghold much as suspicion above, and for some of the same reasons. They are like sister strongholds which prevent closeness and intimacy, even with God.
Doubt: Everyone knows what doubt is, everyone has experienced doubt a few times over their lives. Our most important prayers are surrounded with many doubts. This doesn't mean we have no faith, only that we are human. Doubt is more obvious to us so it is easier to deal with, but it goes hand- in-hand with suspicion.
Independence: How many people (especially men) do you know who are independent? They own their own business, they stand tall and strong in the face of adversity, they never complain, they never ask for help. When we open ourselves to another person, we become vulnerable. When this vulnerability is betrayed, we feel rejection and pain. This rejection builds a stronghold around the pain, and this stronghold comes across as independence and self- sufficiency. This lack of vulnerability also prevents the Holy Spirit from working in our lives to heal us and to strengthen us.
Control and Manipulation: Have you ever met someone who just has to be in control? They usually have no leadership qualities or abilities, yet they push for the front every time. They manipulate people to accomplish what they want done. Some people grow up in a world filled with chaos and instability. Everything seems to be out of control, and they feel at the mercy of others. This person will build a stronghold of control and manipulation to prevent this from happening to them again.
False Security: Have you ever met someone who is just too confident? Every time you see them life is grand, "I don't worry, I know God's working it out!", but nothing has changed in the least except to get worse. Yet, the look in their eyes says, "I really don't have a clue here!". This stronghold has a facade which shows great strength, but on the inside the person is just a fragile and needy child. This facade of strength tends to keep people at arm's length, but it also keeps God at arm's length.
Confusion: This is a three pronged stronghold. When man was created, he was a triune being like his Creator: body, soul and spirit. Man's spirit ruled in harmony with the other parts of his being until sin entered the picture. Then the soul took over kingship. This is called the old nature. The stronghold of confusion is erected by the old nature
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints,
1Co 14:33
Unforgiveness: Here is another three pronged stronghold. When someone is deeply hurt or abused, and there is no forgiveness to allow for healing, a stronghold of unforgiveness arises to justify their role as a victim. Anger and bitterness will usually accompany unforgiveness, making a formidable stronghold.
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Mtt 6:14-15
Self-indulgence: This one is, perhaps, the hardest for me to write about since I am an adict. Even though I don't "use" any more, the cravings are still there, and it is only God who keeps me straight. The Bible calls self-indulgence gluttony. Gluttony is a sin. It is mentioned four times in the Bible:
They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate (glutton) and a drunkard."
De 21:20 (see also Pr 23:20-21; Mtt 11:19; Lk 7:34)
These verses speak of someone lax in morals. They speak of someone who eats and drinks to excess, then forces themselves to vomit so they can continue their pursuit. These speak of self-indulgence. Self-indulgence is a stronghold built to justify and preserve our right to indulge self to compensate for unmet needs and pain. This same stronghold would also justify our right to chemically alter our perception of reality with drugs or alcohol, which is just the extreme end of the scale.
Fear: Most can identify with this stronghold. This stronghold, unlike the other strongholds built for protection, is built around apprehension and anxiety over unresolved experiences and memories.
Denial: Denial is to the intellect what shock is to the body. When the body is severely injured, shock shuts the injured body down so the healing process can begin. But shock becomes life-threatening when the person cannot come out of it. I don't believe denial will kill you, but it does intellectually kill you, since it denies the existence of the other strongholds above, therefore preventing proper treatment.