By Muoka Lazarus

PSALMS 24:3-5: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

*Pastor LAZARUS MUOKA

Beloved, it is not all men created by God that have the requisite qualification and privilege to receive immediate favour from God or have answers to their prayers and supplication. This rare privilege of receiving ans-wers from the Lord is reserved for the chosen people who live their lives according to the tenet of righteousness. Those chosen people who are citizens of Zion that could stand in His holy place are those that should have hope for answers to their prayers. The Scripture says before they prayed, God has answered because He knows them and they listen to His voice.

I Peter 1:15-16 states, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conver-sation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”

Without holiness our prayers cannot be heard in the heavenly place. God who gives answer to prayers demand that we conform to His nature of holiness and on that premise shall we be assured of answer to our prayers. You have no right to sit at the banquet of His communion without conform-ing to His nature. Without upright-ness of walk we are not qualified to hope to receive from God except it’s by His mercy.

Brethren, God answers prayer that is the reason why He instructs us to ask and pray. But before we receive, we must meet His con-dition cum qualification which is righteousness and holiness. Without this qualification no one should hope to receive answer to his/her prayers.

I John 5:14 says, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.”

Anybody who does not live according to the will of God should not expect answer to his prayer. But if you meet God’s condition, then be assured that your several petitions to Him shall surely be granted. And this is the believers’ confidence in all their approaches to God. If you will amend your ways today and lead a life that pleases God in your daily relationship with Him, I assure you that He will answer your prayers.

Our God is a covenant keeping God and Righteous God; He does not lie. You need to be holy in deed and heaven-minded to be able to approach Him for answers to your blessing. If you maintain holi-ness, every desire of yours shall be granted and you will see the demonstration of God’s power in your life. We should remember that those who have maintained righteousness in the past were blessed abundantly. Abraham lived righteously and was blessed by God in all things.

Genesis 24:1 states, “And Abra-ham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.”

Joseph lived righteously and refused to compromise or defile himself with his master’s – Portiphar’s wife; he maintained righteousness and at the end of his prison days, God exalted him from being a prisoner to become the prime minister in Egypt.

If we maintain righteousness, God will bless us accordingly. Remember Shedrach, Meshac and Abednego who refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s graven image and as a result were cast into the furnace which burnt the ropes they were bound with. But God came into the fire and protected them, so that not even the edges of the clothes were frayed by the flames. When Nebuchadnezzar saw the inter-vention of God for these three Hebrew children, he became amazed and swiftly ordered the servants of the Most High God to come out. Thus, he instituted that everyone in Babylon must worship the God of Shedrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Brethren, you may pass through fire and persecutions as a child of God; but if you maintain right-eousness, God will answer your prayers. Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den but God closed the mouth of all the lions and they touched him not. In the days of prophet Elijah, when the children of Israel turned away from God, he said to the king, “By my word, there shall be no rain or more for three and half years”, and God honoured his prayer promptly. If you live in righteousness and make any prayer, heaven will uphold it. If you want to receive blessing from God, you must purify your heart.

Psalm 24:3-5 says, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

Who are those qualified to receive from the Lord, they are those that have clean hands and pure heart. They are those who do not value or desire the vain things of this life, who are free from any form of corruption and have not soiled their hands in evil. They are such that make God their glory. It is not he who sings so well in the church but still lives in sin that will receive from the Lord, nor he who fasts or watches so many days, nor he who divides his own among the poor, nor he who knows all sciences and languages but is into sin. He that shall receive from the Lord is only he, who is pure within and without, and above all who is truly born of God.

I John 3:8-10 says, “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”

Beloved, a Christian is not a sinner and a sinner is not a Christian. A sinner is of the devil, and ruled by the idea of the devil. So if he is devil’s son and servant, then he is not God’s son and thus should not hope to receive from the Lord.

If you hope to receive from the Lord, you must firstly repent from known and unknown sin, including bitterness, hatred, pride, lying, anger, contention, malice, covetousness, envy, backbiting or murmuring, cursing, after which you will denounce all forms of wickedness, amend your ways and accept Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour. By meeting the above condition for righteousness, I assure you, whatever you ask from the Lord, you will receive it.