Hinderances to Prayer
We have now discussed the many different types of prayer. However, there is one aspect that still needs to be discussed and that is things that hinder our prayer life. There are times in our Christian walk where it feels as if God does not hear us that we are just speaking to empty air. It is during these times that we often need prayer the most. However, there are things that can occur that will hinder us having that communication with God.
Perhaps the most common reason that hinders our prayers is unconfessed sin. We see this with psalm 66:18, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;” God is perfect and cannot abide with sin, and that includes sin in the lives of His born-again believers. This is when prayers of repentance are needed. We have already seen in our post regarding prayers of repentance that God will remove our transactions as far as the east is from the west. Jeremiah 31:34b states, ““for I will forgive their wrongdoing, and their sin I will no longer remember.”” When we confess our sins, our relationship with God is restored. This has nothing to do with salvation but rather restoration. Once saved, there is nothing that can take us from the Lord Jesus Christ. Just look at John 10:29, “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
A second trait that has been discussed in our series is disbelief. If we doubt what God says is true, doubt that He has our best interest at heart, or that He has the power to accomplish what His Word says; then it makes for a difficult time for us to pray. Why would we pray to a God who we do not believe can make the impossible happen? Why pray if we doubt that He truly wants what is good for us in our life? Or if we do not believe that He has the power to handle our everyday situations? James describes this person as a double-minded person. “6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”James 1:6-8. This person is unstable in their ways, trying to fit into both the world and God’s will but unable to do so. The only thing that doubts and disbelief creates is a challenge for us to hear God’s answer when we pray.
We might also find a hindrance to our prayers when we do not hold forgiveness in our hearts. Forgiving and being forgiven go hand in hand, “14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:14-15. Not to say that we lose our salvation if we do not forgive someone who sins against us, but the anger that we hold makes it difficult to come before God with our prayers. We instead find ourselves focusing on the situation and not praying to the one who forgives all who call to Him.
We might also see our prayer life halted if we hold idols in our heart. An idol can be anything that distracts us from God. We see God’s response regarding idols in Ezekiel 14:3, “3 “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put in front of their faces the stumbling block of their wrongdoing. Should I let Myself be consulted by them at all?” If there is anything in our life that distracts us from spending time with God and listening for His voice, this is an idol. We serve a God who will not allow worship towards anything but Him, all in idol does is inhibit our access to God.
Finally, we will see hindrances in our prayer life if we come before God with wrong motives. We cannot treat Him like our personal genie who will grant us our wishes whenever we want. If we do not come before God seeking His will, and not our will, then our prayers hold no power. “3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” James 4:3. We have discussed throughout this series that we cannot force God to conform to our will and desires, but we need to come before Him and pray that He makes His will clear to us so we can follow. Remember it is not wrong to ask God to change our desires to match His so that we can eagerly seek His desires, which in turn will be reflected by our own. However, this will never happen if we have something in our way from having that unity which God desires with us. Our prayer life needs to be alive and well, not a ritualistic utterance of wishes, desires, and half-hoped requests. We have a living God, let us have a relationship how He intended it to be. For this to happen, our prayer life needs to be accurately reflecting how it was designed to be.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex