The Hindrances to a Productive Prayer Life
Prayer • Sermon • Submitted • 1:01:07
0 ratings
· 200 viewsThe Hindrances to a Productive Prayer Life
Files
Notes
Transcript
The Bible teaches that there are many hindrances to a productive prayer life.
We tend to underestimate ten in particular as hindrances.
We tolerate these ten hindrances too often.
Having one or more as part of our lifestyle can severely hinder our prayers.
For that reason, we should be on guard against allowing such sins to hinder our prayer life.
A chief hindrance to prayer is unconfessed sin.
If you have not realized already, failure to confess sin could make or break your spiritual life.
As a result, we must always be aware of our sins and humbly confess them, especially before entering into prayer.
Psalm 66:18 If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear. (NASB95)
Not only could unconfessed sin hinder our prayers, but it could also place us under divine discipline.
David, for instance, was under divine discipline for failure to confess his sin of adultery with Bathsheba, and his sin of having her husband, Uriah, killed on the battlefield (Psalm 32:1-7).
Often, a believer’s prayers are hindered because he loves the world, i.e. the cosmic system of Satan (1 Jn. 2:15-17).
The cosmic system is a vast system and arrangement of human affairs, earthly goods, godless governments, conflicts, riches, pleasures, culture, education, world religions, the cults, and the occult, all of which is dominated and negatively affected by Satan, god of the cosmos.
Satan promotes the cosmic system, and it conforms to his ideals, aims, methods, and character, and stands perpetually in opposition to God.
Satan’s world system seduces men away from God and away from the person of Christ.
It is anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Bible, and very anti-humanity, though it often appears humanitarian, as part of Satan’s angel of light masquerade.
Therefore, any believer who remotely conforms to the standards of the cosmic system will fail at having a productive prayer life.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. (NASB95)
We also hinder our prayers when we quit on God or are impatient with God (Ps. 27:14; Ps. 37:7; Luke 18:1).
Who are we to demand a timely answer from God?
He will answer us in His own perfect timing, not ours, so we must not be anxious for a response.
Perhaps the reason we are not receiving an answer to our prayers is a result of our eagerness.
Ultimately, failure to trust in God’s all powerful, all knowing character and nature will hinder our prayers.
Psalm 27:14 Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD. (NASB95)
Psalm 37:7 Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. (NASB95)
The Father will grant us our requests when we persevere in our prayers, since perseverance in prayer is a manifestation of our faith and absolute trust and confidence in the Father to grant our requests.
Persistence, as we have already noted, is critical.
The parable in Luke 18:1-8 illustrates this principle perfectly.
A proud and self-righteous person will always hinder his own prayers.
The Scriptures teach that the Father will not hear the prayers of the proud but will answer the humble (Luke 18:9-14; Job 35:12-13).
The most obvious reason why we do not receive certain things we desire in life is that we fail to pray or ask the Father for these things (Jam 4:2).
If we do not ask, we may not receive.
A less obvious hindrance, but just as detrimental to our prayers, is our motivation.
Often, the Father does not answer our requests because we ask with false motives (Jam 4:3).
In everything we do, we must always be conscious of our motives.
We will receive our prayer requests if we pray according to the Father’s will.
However, if we do not pray according to His will, we will not receive our requests from the Father (1 John 5:14-15).
Not praying according to the will of God is a most serious hindrance.
Disobedience will always hinder our prayers (1 Jo 3:21-24).
As we noted, if we obey God’s Word, then we will approach Him with requests according to His will.
Obedience to the Word of God, therefore, prevents us from asking for answers against the will of God.
If we are pretentious in our prayers, we risk hindering our prayers (Matt. 6:5-6).
This goes back to our motivation.
If our motivation is to be acknowledged by men, then we pray with the wrong motives, and our prayers will not be heard.
Failure to pray properly, according to the protocol God designed for prayer, will most certainly hinder our prayers.
As noted, we are required to pray to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus in the power of the Spirit (Matt. 6:7-9; Jude 20; John 14:13-14).
Praying in any other order is a hindrance to our prayer life.
Another subtler hindrance that believers must quickly learn to avoid is lack of forgiveness (1 Pet. 3:7; Mark 11:25-26; Matt. 6:14-15; Col. 3:12-13).
Not only will failure to forgive result in broken relationships with people, but it will result in a loss of fellowship with God.
Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (NASB95)
The Scriptures teach that bitterness towards our spouse will hinder our prayers.
This principle directly relates to the proud and self-righteous.
Anyone who refuses to forgive another evidently considers himself perfect.
Thus, his prayers will be hindered, without a doubt (1 Peter 3:7).
Finally, lack of compassion is another reason why prayers are so often hindered (Pro 21:13).
A failure to demonstrate compassion towards others will ultimately result in God not showing compassion towards you.