Hindrances to prayer

Prayer is a way through which God’s will is done on the earth. His will on earth is not automatically done unless it is prayed. It is crucial we understand the purpose of prayer, so we don’t abuse it or underrate it. God gave us prayer to answer us. God gave us prayer out of love not out of religiosity. The more you understand this, the better your prayer life will be. Prayer is not for show. Jesus forbade us from making it a show or a reason to boast of spirituality. After you read this tract, you will understand that the amount of time you spend in prayer doesn’t equal an acceptable prayer before God. Remember I said the purpose of prayer is for answers and God’s glory. If you make prayer a reputation, your prayer is of no use even though your emotions are high.   

I believe God answers prayers in fact, I think it is tragic that we must tell ourselves this as if God were reluctant in the first place. God is faithful. He wouldn’t have given us prayers if He was reluctant to answer. Prayer is a gift from God and a privilege. So why does it seem like He doesn’t answer prayers? Except for the reason of patience (waiting on Him), it is either something we need to straighten out in our lives, or we are not praying according to His will. We fail to realize our problem most times and so in ignorance, we say, “we have prayed enough and now, it’s time to work”. Jesus told us we ought always to pray and not get tired (Luke 18:1). It can be frustrating praying with perseverance and not getting what you are asking for but there are certain things that hinder our prayers and unless we repent and straighten up, we won’t see God’s will done in our lives, family and nation. We will be at a loss, not God. I will explain a few of these hindrances but all things cannot be said here. You need to pray and study for the Lord to reveal many other things to you. 

OBSTACLES TO PRAYER  

1. REFUSAL TO REPENT

The sin of disobedience is the major cause of problems in the life of a believer. Disobedience doesn’t lead to blessing. It always leads to curses. God told the Israelites if they will not hearken to His voice, curses will be upon them. Nothing hinders prayers like sin. Satan can’t hinder prayers. Nobody in your village can hinder your prayers or progress. No human or spirit has that ability. That is too much power for a creature only God yields that kind of power. You also yield that power in your own life depending on your choice of life and death i.e., to go your own way or go God’s way as it is dictated in the scriptures. You are responsible for your life. There is what the Bible calls the cords of sin and until you let go of sin in your life, the promises and answered prayers will not come to fulfilment at least not in your life. When the truth of God’s word has come to you through a minister, friend, spouse, parent or even a child, please obey it. If it’s hard to accept, take it to prayer but don’t be disobedient. Do not lean on your own understanding. Disobedience pushes God away from us. His hand is not short that He cannot deliver, but it is sin that limits Him in our lives. Straighten your ways. A family walking in sin cannot be delivered by the prayer of a prophet or the giving of seed. Only repentance towards God can deliver such a family. 

2. UNFORGIVENESS AND BITTERNESS

Having grown older and conversed with believers, this is the most subtle trap believers fall into because unless this is dealt with, you have no part with God. Jesus clearly told us in Matthew 18:21-35 what God does to people who don’t forgive when offended. No matter the offence. When people harbor unforgiveness in their hearts, bitterness is born. This repels the blessings of God from a man or woman. That is why people pray and fast, but God doesn’t move. Simply because they are bitter with someone, the nation, a tribe, a clan or an ethnic group. Sometimes the offender is even dead. Believer, do you want to walk with God? Do you want God to hear your prayers? Do you want to be a partaker of His promises? God demands that you forgive. Forgiveness is a crucial requirement for prayer (Matthew 6:14-15). Hebrews warned us to be careful of bitterness which can defile us (Hebrews 12:15). Christians ought to be wise and able to discern the times we are in. Be careful of bitterness. Avoid sources (people or media) that make you feel bitter, murmur, or grumble. Every grumble is against God no matter how small or valid it seems. 

3. CARELESSNESS OF SPEECH

Sometimes by our careless speech, we scatter our own prayers. Many Christians think God only hears them when they kneel, close their eyes, put their palms together and talk to Him. They don’t know that He is a silent listener to every conversation.” Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His name” –Malachi 3:16. Some peoples’ prayers and daily conversations are total opposites. That’s why their prayers don’t get answered because they are double-tongued. They don’t believe what they are asking for because if they do, their prayers and conversations will be alike. So, when their prayers are unanswered, they say ‘we have prayed enough, it’s time to work’. Make up your mind Christian! Don’t you know that a fountain cannot give clean and dirty water simultaneously? (James 3). One of the signs of the faith of a Christian is his/her conversations. It is one of the ways God test people to know if they really mean what they are saying in prayer. He tested Hezekiah that way (2 Chronicles 32:31). Many Christians fail in this area but thank God for His mercies. You don’t have to fail again. Our conversations are also prayers, and they are very potent. The Christian conversation should be word-based not problem-based or ‘reality-based’. We sing ‘power belongs to God’ but our conversations imply a different thing altogether. Brethren, this ought not to be so. Let’s repent.  

4. THE LUST OF COMPETITION 

This is also known as the pride of life. This dwells in the subconscious and it is easy to identify when one examines himself. Unfortunately, this is the motivation behind some prayers. If this pride of competition is the motive, the answer will be choked even if the prayer is according to God’s will.” When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” – James 4:3. You see purity of motive is very important in the place of prayer. Christians must understand that this hinders the answers to prayer. A good example is the story of Hannah, the mother of Samuel. As long as she wanted a son to compete with Peninnah, she wasn’t going to get anything even though God wanted to give her a son. When she purified her heart and sought God’s purpose, she got what she asked for. Our motives must be pure before God. Even if He made a promise, your motives must be pure to receive that promise. To cleanse yourself from this, you must examine yourself, confess it to God in prayer and then walk contrary to this spirit. It takes practice.  

5. LACK OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL

This is the root of praying amiss. Even with pure motives, if prayers are not made according to God’s will, they will not be answered. You must know the will of God to pray according to His will. Knowledge is very important in prayer. When one knows God not just by name but by the revelation of His person, and His nature, there are things he will and will not pray about. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” - 1 John 5:14. The knowledge of God and His will is very crucial in prayer because God doesn’t answer prayers that compromise His standards. Lack of study is the primary cause of this. If you don’t study God’s word to understand Him, you can’t know His will. If you don’t know His will, you will pray amiss. Therefore, we must study to know His will and the way He thinks in every area of life so that we can pray effectively concerning that area. Whether it is marriage, parenting, career, ministering, giving etc. We must know His will.  

6. THE UNRENEWED MIND

This is like a lack of knowledge. For born-again, Spirit-filled and tongue-speaking Christians, the un-renewed mind is one of the major causes of their problems. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). As Christians, our minds are supposed to be renewed with God’s word. As we renew our minds, we are transformed. One of the signs of a transforming Christian is that his/her prayer points change. God doesn’t answer prayers born from an unrenewed mind. God wants us to constantly renew our minds so that we can offer prayers that are meaningful. It is not just knowing God’s will; it is that God’s will i.e. His word has become your common sense. It has become your basis for reasoning in your everyday life, not just on Sundays. A Christian with an unrenewed mind is an unprepared person.  “The eye is the lamp of the body; so, then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light” (Matthew 6:22). Jesus wasn’t talking about the physical eyes here. He was talking about the eyes of your understanding (your mind). He was talking about our perception. How we interpret the events of life. For example, an unrenewed Christian praying for a job is thinking ‘where will I make money’ or ‘which of these companies will promote me faster’. But when his or her mind is transformed (when the person’s eyes receive light from God’s word), the motive behind the prayer becomes ‘Lord, which place have you chosen for me to serve and be a blessing’. Can you see the issue? The unrenewed mind is self-centered. God doesn’t answer self-centered prayers. This is very crucial. God is faithful to His promises and truthful in all that He says (Isaiah 45:19). The problem is the darkness in our minds which pollutes our prayers. Only the light of the word of God can expel the darkness in our minds so that we can offer prayers that please God. The traditions of our villages and the philosophies of the world are dark. Only the word of God is light.  

We have looked at quite a few things that obstruct answers to prayers, however, these are not all. All can’t be said. I trust that the Lord will reveal others to you through fellowship by His Spirit. The Lord is faithful. He answers prayers. The problem is not with Him, it’s with us. We must change. We must sit up. We have to renounce the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. If we do so, we will behold and marvel at the works that God will do in us, through us and around us.