Hindrances to Prayer Part 1
Sunday's Message
It
is a fact that, although all Christians pray (for prayer is indeed the
believer’s source of all that is good), yet there are many who cannot record in
actual experience a definite answer to the plea & cry of their hearts.
It
is important for us to hear, in our focus on prayer in this 40 Days, that there
may be, and often are, hindrances to prayer that would cause God to withhold
what we ask of Him. To Israel He said, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not
shortened that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear; but
your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid
His face from you, that He will not hear” (Isaiah
59:1-2). And the Psalmist plainly declares, “If I regard iniquity in my
heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm
66:18). Words like these are often forgotten? Do we not, at times
carelessly come into the God’s presence making requests of Him, only to get no
answer from heaven because we have been careless and self-absorbed instead of
absorbed by Him?
Let
me explain why these hindrances keep us from getting our prayers
answered.
1st
remember why we pray. For God’s Glory and for His will to be done. This is why
we must ask in faith, this is why prayer changes us and when our concern is for
His glory and His will He so aligns us and we receive what we ask of Him. That’s the first thing we must remember. That
was the challenge for us the last two weeks.
2nd We
must remember that God said in Romans
8:28, that we know that in all things God works for the good of those who
love Him and are called according to His purpose. Now, our definition of good and God’s
definition of good may be different. As Jesus said, No one enters the Kingdom
of Heaven unless he changes and becomes like a little child. We must so humble
ourselves before him and depend upon Him for all goodness to happen in our
lives and that He will so treat us in a way that is good for He alone is
good.
3rd Jesus
said in Luke 11:9-13, 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to
you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For
everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who
knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish,
will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will
give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts
to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him!”
So
often we may think we are asking for a fish or an egg but what if the very
thing we are asking for is really a serpent or a scorpion, something dangerous
to us. Would we as parents give such a thing to our children if we knew it
would do more harm than good? So who do you trust, yourself or your God?
This
is why Hindrances keep God from giving us
what we ask. I say this so that we may truly understand the love of God in not
answering our prayers when there are hindrances in our lives. Why?, we are
asking amiss. We are asking with cherished sin in our heart. We are asking with
the wrong motives that we may spend what we get on our own pleasure. We are
asking with a heart that is not right before God and if He gives us what we ask it may do more harm to us than good. So remember the Love God has for us in
not answering because of hindrances in our lives.
Hindrances
1.
Cherished
sin
– Psalm 66:18-20
18
If I had cherished (regard, seen, perceived, gazed upon) iniquity (Sin) in my heart, the Lord would not
have listened. 19 But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of
my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed
his steadfast love from me!
Isaiah 59:1-2
Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull,
that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you
and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not
hear.
See also Ezekiel 14:1-11
2.
Not
listening to God’s word - Proverbs 28:9 If one turns away his
ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
1 John 3:20-22 21
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22
and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do
what pleases him.
John 15:7 7
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it
will be done for you.
If
we are not willing to listen to God, why should God listen to us.
Without
submitting ourselves to Scripture, we may not even know what and how to pray.
We pray best and most effectively when we are saturated in the Word of God.
3.
Wrong
Motives - James 4:1-10
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that
your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you
murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have,
because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly,
to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the
world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world
makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the
Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell
in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near
to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you
double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he
will exalt you.
This
word wrongly here in the Greek means sickly or diseased. It’s as though James is saying you are
diseased with earthly passions and pleasures and desires instead of for God’s
pleasures and desires. You pleasure is to feed the flesh and not the spirit. It
is a self-seeking asking. Matthew 6:33 says to seek His kingdom first
4.
Doubt
– James 1:6-7
Now
you won’t catch this next one in the ESV but it ever so clear in the Greek.
1 Timothy 2:8
(ESV) 8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy
hands without anger or quarreling
1 Timothy 2:8
(KJV) 8 I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands,
without wrath and doubting. (NIV) - disputing
The
Greek word that is translated here as quarreling in ESV and doubting in KJV is
the word dialogismos and it means the thinking of a man deliberating with
himself, a thought, inward reasoning, a deliberating, questioning about what is
true, hesitation, doubting, disputing,
arguing
Spend time today in prayer asking God to search your heart and reveal hindrances to your prayers.
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