A. Don't be disobedient:

DEU 1:43. So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.

DEU 1:45. And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.

DEU 3:23. And I besought the LORD at that time, saying,

DEU 3:24. O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might?

DEU 3:25. I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.

DEU 3:26. But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter.

DEU 3:27. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

NUM 20:12. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

1SA 28:5. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.

1SA 28:6. And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.

1SA 28:15. And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.

1SA 28:16. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?

1SA 28:17. And the LORD hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David:

1SA 28:18. Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day.

1SA 28:19. Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

ISA 1:15. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

MIC 3:4. Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

1SA 13:8. And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.

1SA 13:9. And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.

1SA 13:10. And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him.

1SA 13:11. And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash;

1SA 13:12. Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.

1SA 13:13. And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.

1SA 13:14. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.

1SA 14:37. And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he answered him not that day.

HOS 5:6. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds

to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn

himself from them.

B. Don't be disbelieving:

JOB 9:16. If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.

MAT 17:19. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?

MAT 17:20. And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

HEB 11:6. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

C. Don't harbour unrepented sin in your heart:

PSA 66:18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

PSA 66:19. But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.

ISA 59:1. Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

ISA 59:2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

JAM 5:16. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

D. Don't doubt & disobey the Word:

PRO 1:24. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

PRO 1:25. But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

PRO 1:26. I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

PRO 1:27. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

PRO 1:28. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

PRO 28:9. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.

ZEC 7:12. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

ZEC 7:13. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:

JAM 1:5. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

JAM 1:6. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

JAM 1:7. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

E. Don't hold resentment or oughts in your heart:

MAR 11:25. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

F. Don't have selfish motives:

JAM 4:3. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

DEU 23:4. Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

DEU 23:5. Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee.

G. Don't pray in pride but sincerely & humbly:

MAT 6:5. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

MAT 6:6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

LUK 18:10. Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

LUK 18:11. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

LUK 18:12. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

LUK 18:13. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

LUK 18:14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

H. Don't pray long repetitive prayers:

ECC 5:2. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

MAT 6:7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

MAT 6:8. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

MAT 23:14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

JOS 7:6. And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.

JOS 7:10. And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?

I. What happens when we don't pray:

JAM 4:2. Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.