Blocked Prayers

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Today's reading, titled Blocked Prayers, was written by Dave Brannan. For 14 years, the Mars rover, Opportunity, faithfully communicated with the people at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

After it landed in 2004, it traversed 28 miles of the Martian surface, took thousands of images, and analyzed many materials. But in 2018, communication between Opportunity and scientists ended when a major dust storm coated its solar panels, causing the rover to lose power. Is it possible that we can allow dust to block our communication with someone outside of our world? When it comes to prayer, communicating with God, there are certain things that can get in the way. Psalm 66 says that sin can block our relationship with God. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. Jesus instructs in Mark 11, When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Our communication with God can also be hindered by doubt and relationship problems. Opportunity's blockage of communication seems to be permanent, but our prayers don't have to be blocked. By the work of the Holy Spirit, God lovingly draws us to restored communication with Him, as we confess our sins and turn to Him. By God's grace, we experience the greatest communication the universe has ever known—one-to-one prayer between us and our holy God. Our scripture reading today is from Mark 11, verses 20 through 25.

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, look, the fig tree you cursed has withered. Have faith in God, Jesus answered. Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, Go, throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins. Let's pray. Father in Heaven, sometimes our prayer life falls short or gets completely forgotten. We allow ourselves to get distracted with the activities of daily life. We are blocked because of unrepentant sin or we think You've abandoned us in an extremely difficult situation.

Please guide us to discover whatever might be limiting our communication with You. Thank You, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.