“If a man, therefore, purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” (2Timothy 2:21)
The great prayer warrior, E.M. Bounds said, “Prayer produces cleanliness of heart and purity of life. It can produce nothing else. Unrighteous conduct is born of prayerlessness; the two go hand-in-hand.”
He also said, “Prayer and sinning cannot keep company with each other. One or the other must of necessity stop. Get men to pray and they will quit sinning, because prayer creates a distaste for sinning.”
The Bible says that if a person is going to be effective in his praying, he must “purge himself” from known sin. Sin is a cancer that not only sickens you, but will kill you, spiritually. If you are not having your prayers answered, check and see if there is any sin in your life that has not yet been confessed.
Only after the confession of sin can you be “a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use.”