ME FIRST!

I must be the one to first to search my heart and my ways;

to repent of my sins and walk in obedience;

to correct my motives and attitudes;

and to experience restoration.

Then I will be in a good place to teach, exhort, rebuke and correct others!

Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; 

According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, 

Blot out my transgressions. 

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, 

And cleanse me from my sin. 

For I acknowledge my transgressions, 

And my sin is always before me. 

Against You, You only, have I sinned, 

And done this evil in Your sight-

- That You may be found just when You speak, 

And blameless when You judge. 

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, 

And in sin my mother conceived me. 

Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, 

And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. 

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; 

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

Make me hear joy and gladness, 

That the bones You have broken may rejoice. 

Hide Your face from my sins, 

And blot out all my iniquities. 

Create in me a clean heart, O God, 

And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 

Do not cast me away from Your presence, 

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, 

And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, 

And sinners shall be converted to You. 

Psalm 51:1-13 

And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, 

but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 

  Or how can you say to your brother, 

'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; 

and look, a plank is in your own eye? 

  Hypocrite! 

First remove the plank from your own eye, 

and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. 

Matthew 7:3-5 

and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. 

2 Corinthians 10:6 

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 Why some prayers are not answered

Although we will never fully understand why certain prayers, prayed with sincerity in the name of the LORD JESUS, are not answered, the following points will help us to either correct such situations or accept GOD'S will in those instances.

1) The request is not according to GOD'S will.

 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
James 4:3

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
1 John 5:14-15

We have a carnal motive.

2) The prayer is answered, in His time. 

 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11

His timing is different to ours because He is fulfilling an eternal purpose in all things that we can't see.

3) Leak in the bucket.

 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Revelation 5:8

 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Revelation 8:1-6

Like a bucket that is leaky, the golden bowl of prayers that is leaky, will never overflow to reach Heaven. The prayers and intercession of faith and sincerity are nullified by carnal and negative words of doubt spoken by the same mouth to others!

4) Molding of the Intercessor.

GOD uses the weakness of others to mold us. He teaches us patience and changes us until the time the unruly child is changed!

After praying for and ministering for a long period to a trouble-creating brother or sister, we see no change in that individual, we shouldn't be discouraged. GOD does not expect us to change others, it is His business! We can be encouraged if we notice changes in our hearts!

 The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks On all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works.
Psalm 33:13-15

Even as I minister to another person, I am being ministered to by the LORD. His word is double-edged and works in me and through me in others. The more difficult the person, the greater the molding I receive. I become patience is stretched and I receive a characteristic of GOD which is 'L--o--n--g  Suffering! That is a manifestation of love which suffers long.

If the LORD does not put an evil person in my path, how would I learn how to turn the cheek, and overcome evil with good? How would I become Christ-like? And if only CHRIST can change such a person, the best way he could encounter CHRIST would be through me. Usually one difficult member of a family is used by the LORD to mold all others. Then, the long-awaited changes in that special individual will become evident because the selfless, unconditional love of CHRIST has been revealed to him by his family!

Therefore while we wait to see changes in others, let us observe our own actions, reactions and responses objectively. We will find great joy seeing the hand of our loving Creator molding us in the process of using us to mold others! He is the Potter and all of us are clay in His hands. The softer clay gets molded first! Diamond cuts diamond!