Prayer Barriers

GET TO 15 Minutes

One’s way of life will never rise above the practice of one’s prayer life.

For each unanswered prayer, it’s important to consider three possible hindrances. The request may be inappropriate, the timing may be off, and lastly the focus of our teaching tonight: there may be a problem in the life of the person who is praying.

It’s unlikely that all your requests are inappropriate. Likewise it’s unlikely that your timing is always off, even though sometimes you may get ahead of God’s preferred pace. Sometimes the most likely reason why you’re not getting the answer you want is that your prayers are being blocked. Not by God, mind you, but by you.

When prayers go unanswered, most people want to know what’s wrong with God. After all it’s a lot easier to blame God than to look in the mirror and say, “Oh, maybe I’m the problem.”

There are six particular obstacles that we are going to briefly consider tonight. We won’t linger too long on any one obstacle, but will be sure to verify this potential obstacle as an idea that is presented clearly in God’s word.

PRAYERLESSNESS

The most common cause of unanswered prayer is prayerlessness. We decide to pray about something, add it to our prayer list, we tell our friends to pray about it, we even read books about praying, and then we never truly commit it to prayer. We talk a good game, but fail to get down on our knees and petition the king of the universe.

People go to doctors, counselors, read self-help books, take medication, claim biblical promises, practice self-discipline, confide in Christian friends, and think positively towards our situation, yet our needs are not being met. But before you tell others that God is not answering your prayer, be ready to answer the following questions.

Are you waking up every morning before everyone else to cry out against the powers and principalities and spiritual darkness in high places, are you daily and consistently on your knees or face before God, have you fasted multiple times over the matter and then begged and pleaded with God to give you the answer, asking him even to answer if it means the answer is the opposite of what you want the answer to be? In the original language in which James 5:16 was written we would see that the verse was supposed to be read with the understanding that the righteous one who prays, prays as though they are praying like one who works with great energy the result will be one of a strong and powerful result. Does that understanding of the verse describe your current prayer life, or would your prayer life be more correctly described by the motto, “When all else fails, pray.” Why pray when I can worry? Why pray when I can work myself to death trying to get what I need without help? Why pray when I can go without? Let’s stop lying to ourselves, and get in touch with the reality, that it is He who has made us and not we ourselves, and that our lives will be best lived when we take it to the Lord in Prayer.

Transition: We just referenced James 5:16 from the angle of what our prayers can accomplish, and we look at the verse again to consider our second obstacle to seeing the prayers of our heart answered. James 5:16 says, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Here we focus on the word RIGHTEOUS. Our second obstacle that exist in our prayer life is…

UNCONFESSED SIN

Filters keep out contaminants EXPOUND, A/C, Cars, Motorcycles, loss of power and efficiency. Personal reflection and examination of our spirits allows us to filter the sin that would clog the pipeline of prayer.

One might think that God will hear a prayer that they pray when they have sin in their life, some would even say they have seen it happen, and I want to take a moment to share what the scripture say regarding such a prayer.

Psalm 106:6-8 We have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly. 7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders;

They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. 8 Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name that He might make His power known. This passage tells us that God will still do what brings glory to His name if He chooses to do so, but this is not for us to take license in believing that He is going to continually make an exception to this fact.

Presumptuous and arrogant would be the words for one who would think that God would hear their prayer with a sinful and contaminated lifestyle. When dealing with an unanswered prayer, ask God to help you be real with yourself and with him about what sinful habits or unconsidered areas of your lives might need to be confessed and re-assessed in order to open up the channels of prayer between you and God almighty. If you are tolerating sin in your life, don’t waste your breath praying unless it’s a prayer of confession. I’m not asking you as a Christian today to just consider a mean word, or lustful thought that you had. I’m calling all of us today to reconsider the standards that we have set in our personal lives at some point in the past and taking them to a higher level. I was highly moved last month when I came upon 1 Corinthians 11:1 in my devotional time. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ… Wait Paul, do you know what you are saying. You are that confident in your walk that you are willing to take on that incredible responsibility? Then I realized we are to strive for that as well. Could you tell others to imitate you as you imitate Christ? If not? Why Not? And when are you going to change? Repent of your sin, turn away from it, receive the Lord’s forgiveness, and then He will listen when you pour your heart out to Him.

Transtion: These next few are quick hitters, Obstacle #3 is…

UNRESOLVED RELATIONAL CONFLICT – TOTAL FORGIVENESS

Matthew 5:23-24 says, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” There is no point in trying to pray if we are engaged in ongoing conflict with a family member, a coworker, a neighbor or a friend. If you have made wholehearted attempts to reconcile someone, God will not let that broken relationship stand in the way of your prayers. But if your reconciliation attempts have been halfhearted and self-serving then try again… this time for real.

Transition: Obstacle #4

SELFISHNESS… DEAR SANTA CLAUS

We all struggle with this one do we not? It’s our party and we will cry if we want to. I just made the point Sunday if you don’t think you are self-centered, tell me who the first person is you look for in a group picture that you were in. In my house my dad liked to say, Get over yourself, everyone else already has. One pastor put it this way, How would you feel if your prayer requests were made public on a billboard or marquee? Our prayers can be selfish and we have to get over that fact if we want our prayers to be heard.

Transition: Let’s move to obstacle #5

UNCARING ATTITUDES – TIME, MONEY, RESOURCES, CHURCH, HOUSE TOO

Proverbs 21:13 says, “If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard.” No one in this room is poor. Better stated, every individual falls into one of three categories, they could work more, spend less, or budget correctly. The fact that any of us make a comment about how we could lose a few pounds places us in the category of the rich and the affluent of this world simply because we are not dying from a lack of available nutrition. So how do we remedy our concern with the poor? Well quite simply if you aren’t giving to the church, you start there since the church is your source of spiritual leadership, a storehouse for the community, and an outlet by which you can support world missions. Then you grow from there, by asking God to open your eyes to anyone who has less than you. When you see anyone who has less than you, it’s ok to give them something, even if the devil reminds you that you have credit card debt. Meet the immediate needs of others as often as God leads you to, and give back to Him because you have nothing outside of what He has allowed you to have. Do this, and remove another barrier in your prayer life.

Transition: The last barrier we will discuss this evening is that of…

INADEQUATE FAITH

Is God able to do anything? Do you own that doctrine today? If your prayers have clouds of doubt hanging over them, they won’t get past the ceiling. One of my favorite stories on prayer comes from Acts chapter 12. King Herod had just killed James and the people were so happy with him that he was going to kill Peter as well, so he threw him into prison. One night while Peter was asleep, chained between two guards an angel came and set him free and began to walk him out of the prison. The text tells us that for a while Peter just assumed he was dreaming. But the passage tells us that the church was fervently praying to God on his behalf… The church of Jesus Christ was FERVENTLY praying to the one true God on behalf of Peter in this hopeless situation. Peter gets to the house of Mary where they were praying and a servant girl answers the door to find that it’s Peter. She’s so excited she doesn’t open the door but runs to tell everyone. Their response to her was, YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR MIND. But she kept insisting until they believed her. I’m scared that many of us would act the same way if God ever “actually” answered our prayers, as if we don’t really believe he’s capable of doing so. If I would have been Peter, beaten, persecuted, thrown into a dungeon, and sat in the living room with that group of individuals as they told him how they didn’t believe him. I would have looked them straight in the eye and said, He answered your prayers, what did you expect?

Invitation: As we begin a time of invitation today I would stand before you as one believing in the power of prayer. I believe scripture has a formula laid out for prayer, not necessarily an easy one, your spirit has to be transformed, motives authentic, but if God’s not answering prayers in your life, you need to begin to ask God to help you recognize the barriers that are hindering the process, and then get serious about removing those barriers, whatever it takes. We need God’s people to pray today and we need to see him answer.

Prayerlessness – are you really praying, on your knees daily, maybe multiple times, with sincerity of heart and passionate commitment?

Unconfessed Sin – What’s it going to be? The Holy Spirit is probably dealing with you right now about something, don’t disregard, come pray about, Let’s update our standards church, we look too much like the world, and we’ve justified it.

Unresolved relational conflict – Keep holding that grudge, or having a bitter spirit towards that person, it’s no big deal; God just says He won’t hear your prayers, and He won’t forgive your sins either. Let it go, live in total forgiveness.

Selfishness – I think way more about me than I should, anyone else guilty of the same? We cannot move to help others until we get out of our own way.

Uncaring Attitudes – One day each of us is going to be gone, won’t take anything with us, and they will fight over what was left of us. Why not bless people now as God has blessed you, so that you can share in the fellowship of their joy as you draw closer to those who you have ministered to.

Inadequate Faith – If we remove these barriers, we can close with an assurance that we serve a God who loves to answer our prayers. Then we to can testify to others, “He will answer your prayers, what else would you expect?”

PRAY