Can you hear me now?

Back in the "old" days, when people lost an electronic signal they would follow a simplistic ritual to retrieve it. One might wiggle around the 'rabbit ears' that sat on top of the television. If that didn't work, then a swift smack against the side of the machine was sure to restore order. Compact radios were waved around in the air and then you would have to "freeze" when you caught that signal lest you lose it again. Drivers would carefully inch forward while waiting at red lights if the radio signal cut out. Today, we have a man wearing a business suit who meanders all over the country saying, "Can you hear me now?" so the cell phone company can enhance the signal. We keep an eye on how many "bars" we have and we complain to the company when the signal goes haywire.

Do you do that with prayer? How many times do we blame God or complain to Him when we think He hasn't answered our prayers? We accuse Him of not listening, of not hearing us and even of abandoning us. Let's get one thing straight: it isn't God's fault. You lost your signal. Is that possible? Let's turn to Scripture.

1 Peter 3:7 suggests that the prayers of a husband can be hindered. "Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers." Two definitions of "hinder" are as follows: 1. to cause delay, interruption, or difficulty in; hamper; impede: The storm hindered our progress. 2. to prevent from doing, acting, or happening; stop: to hinder a man from committing a crime. You can look at those definitions at dictionary.com by clicking here. Basically, if a husband does not treat his wife with respect, his prayers at best will be delayed. God cares about how you treat people. Check out 1 Peter 3:8-12. You can even read part of that in Psalm 34: 12-16. Verse 12 says, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Perhaps there is something in your life that you need to straighten out. Righteousness will strengthen your signal. Get right with God.