If there is one thing she has discovered about her prayer life, Mary Colbert says it’s that sin in our own lives can be a huge roadblock between us and God.
Colbert, the wife of Dr. Don Colbert and founder of Nation Builders, a popular and successful national prayer line, says it’s a scriptural principle that you cannot expect God to hear you if you try to bring the enemy into God’s presence.
“One thing that God impressed upon me as to why people’s prayers are not heard is that you cannot come into the throne room and bring Satan with you,” Colbert told Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network. “What I mean by that is that, in your heart, if you have hatred against someone, if you have shame, blame, guilt … if you have any of these spiritual blocks, [God] cannot hear you.
“It literally is a spiritual principle that you have a wall between Him and His ability to even hear your prayers. He says that when you come to the altar, if you have anything against a brother, go and make it right. If you’ve done some harm or wrong … you’ve cheated, you’ve lied, you’ve slandered or maybe had been lied against or slandered or stolen from you—make it right with your brother and then come back.
“One thing Holy Spirit showed me—and this is so powerful—one day in prayer I heard Holy Spirit say to me, ‘Mary, they’ve got this all wrong. The binding and loosing.’ I asked Him, ‘Lord, what is it we’ve got wrong? Teach me what it is.’ He says when the Scripture says, ‘Whatsoever is bound on earth is bound in heaven, and whosoever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven,’ what He is talking about is concerning you. Whatever is bound in your heart binds heaven to be able to act on your behalf. And whatever you have loosed on earth, you loose heaven to work on your behalf. If there is a situation or people or wrongs that have happened in your life, and your heart is bound with unforgiveness, you bind heaven’s ability to work on your behalf. God wants to work on your behalf in these situations that people have wrong you or cheated you or not done right by you.
“These are God’s kingdom principles. They’re not an option. This is a requirement of a kingdom principle. If you want the kingdom to work on your behalf, you’re going to have to operate according to its principles.”
For more of Mary Colbert’s thoughts on principles to guide your prayer life, listen to the entire podcast.
