Prayer Precedes WK-6

Prayer Precedes — Week Five

When the Hindrance Is Me

Main Idea

Prayer flourishes in a heart that is surrendered through obedience and emptied through humility.

1. Welcome and Introduction

Good morning, and welcome to Living Faith Church! I am so excited to worship Jesus Christ with you on this amazing Sunday.

If we have never met before, my name is Aaron. My wife, Stella, and I are honored to serve on the pastoral team here at LFC.

Today, we are in week five of our series, Prayer Precedes.

Opening Story: Disobedience Causes Pain

Tell a brief, humorous childhood story about a time when:

A parent warned you not to touch, climb, jump, or go somewhere.

You ignored the instruction because you thought you knew better.

Your disobedience produced immediate and painful consequences.

You then went to the same parent for comfort.

Possible transition:

It is interesting how quickly disobedience can turn into prayer.

Before I disobeyed, I did not believe I needed their instruction. After I disobeyed, I desperately needed their help.

The pain was not evidence that my parents had stopped loving me. The pain was the consequence of believing I knew better than the people who had warned me.

Sometimes we treat God in the same way. We ignore His instruction, resist His authority, and continue in our own direction. Then we wonder why prayer no longer feels open, confident, or alive.

Review the Series

Over the last several weeks, we have been examining five hindrances to prayer.

It is important to distinguish a hindrance from resistance.

Resistance comes against us from the outside. It is opposition that attempts to prevent us from praying or persevering in prayer.

A hindrance develops within us. It is an attitude, appetite, wound, or act of rebellion that makes our own heart resistant to God.

Last week, we discussed worldly distractions and compromises. Today, we will conclude with the final two hindrances:

Disobedience to God’s previous command.

Pride within the heart.

Sermon Proposition

Sometimes the greatest hindrance to prayer is not the devil fighting against us. Sometimes it is our own heart refusing to come into agreement with God.

Hindrance One: Disobedience

Hindrance # 4. Disobedience to God’s Previous Command

Primary Text: Jonah 1–2

God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah arose and fled toward Tarshish.

Jonah was not confused about what God wanted. He was not waiting for further guidance. He had received a clear command and deliberately moved in the opposite direction.

A. Disobedience Is Movement Away from God

Jonah’s physical journey reveals his spiritual condition.

God said, “Go to Nineveh.”

Jonah went toward Tarshish.

Jonah went down to Joppa.

He went down into the ship.

He went down into the sea.

He eventually went down into the fish.

Every step of disobedience took Jonah farther from the place God had called him to be.

Disobedience always promises freedom, but it continually takes us downward.

B. Disobedience Creates Unnecessary Storms

Jonah’s decision affected more than Jonah.

The sailors were afraid. The ship was in danger. Cargo had to be thrown into the sea. Everyone on board became caught in the storm created by one man’s disobedience.

Not every storm is caused by sin. Jesus and His disciples encountered storms while obeying God.

But some storms are avoidable. They arise because we continue resisting something God has already told us to do.

We sometimes ask God to calm a storm while refusing to obey the instruction that would lead us out of it.

C. Disobedience Makes Prayer Difficult

While the sailors cried out to their gods, Jonah was below deck sleeping. The captain had to awaken him and tell him to call upon his God.

Scripture records no prayer from Jonah aboard the ship. His first recorded prayer comes from inside the fish, after the direction of his life had completely collapsed.

Jonah 2:7 NASB95

7 “While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple.

“While I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple.”

God had not become unwilling to hear Jonah. Jonah had become unwilling to agree with God.

Prayer cannot flourish while we are actively defending the very thing God has told us to surrender.

Diagnostic Question

What has God already told me to do that I am still refusing, postponing, or negotiating?

Perhaps God has told you to:

Forgive someone.

End a sinful relationship.

Confess something you have hidden.

Make restitution.

Begin serving.

Give generously.

Apologize.

Stop returning to a destructive habit.

We often ask God for another word because we do not want to obey the last one.

Key Statement

If God has already spoken, the next step is not more information. The next step is obedience.

Hindrance Two: Pride

3. Pride as a Barrier to Prayer

Primary Text: Luke 18:9–14

Jesus described two men who entered the temple to pray.

The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself:

“God, I thank You that I am not like other people.”

The tax collector stood at a distance, beat his chest, and prayed:

“God, be merciful to me, the sinner!”

Jesus said the tax collector returned home justified rather than the Pharisee.

A. Pride Can Use the Language of Prayer

The Pharisee mentioned God. He stood in the temple. His words sounded spiritual.

But Jesus said he was praying “to himself.”

His prayer never truly reached toward God because it was centered upon his own goodness.

He was not seeking mercy. He was presenting his résumé.

Pride does not always stop us from speaking. Sometimes it simply turns prayer into a speech about ourselves.

B. Pride Measures Itself Against Other People

The Pharisee felt righteous because he had chosen the wrong standard.

He compared himself to thieves, adulterers, and the tax collector. By comparison, he appeared impressive.

The tax collector did not compare himself with anyone else. He saw himself in the light of God’s holiness and could only ask for mercy.

Humility is not thinking that you have no value. Humility is seeing yourself truthfully before God.

C. Pride Trusts Spiritual Status

Miriam and Aaron asked:

“Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?”

Their statement contained some truth. God had spoken through them. The problem was that they used their spiritual experience to challenge the authority God had established.

Pride convinced them that being used by God made them equal to God.

We must never confuse:

Being gifted with being mature.

Being used by God with being approved in everything.

Having spiritual experience with possessing spiritual authority.

Knowing Scripture with being surrendered to Scripture.

D. Pride Blocks the Grace We Need

James 4:6 NASB95

6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

The text does not merely say that God dislikes pride. It says He opposes it.

Why? Because pride refuses the very posture through which grace is received.

Grace cannot be earned. It must be received. But pride would rather present its accomplishments than admit its need.

Prayer begins where self-sufficiency ends.

Diagnostic Question

Where have I become too confident in myself to remain dependent upon God?

Pride may sound like:

“I already know what God wants.”

“I do not need anyone’s correction.”

“At least I am not like that person.”

“I can handle this without prayer.”

“God should answer me because of everything I have done.”

Key Statement

The humble person does not come to God with a résumé. The humble person comes with a need.

The Underlying Principle

4. Alignment Creates Confidence

Text: 1 John 3:21–22

1 John 3:21–22 NASB95

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 the things that are pleasing in His sight.

John is not teaching that obedience earns answers from God.

He is describing the confidence that grows when our hearts, actions, and prayers are coming into alignment with God.

Disobedience makes us withdraw because we know we are resisting Him.

Pride makes us approach God confidently for all the wrong reasons.

But humble obedience allows us to approach Him with genuine confidence—not because we are perfect, but because we are walking openly before Him.

Prayer’s hindrances are not merely technical failures. They reveal a heart that has moved out of alignment with God’s character and kingdom.

Response and Action Steps

5. Two Questions Before You Pray

1. What Must I Obey?

Ask:

“Lord, what have You already told me to do?”

Stop requesting new direction while ignoring previous instruction.

Take one concrete step of obedience today.

Send the message.

Make the apology.

Confess the sin.

End the compromise.

Begin the assignment.

Release the offense.

2. Where Must I Humble Myself?

Ask:

“Lord, where have I become self-sufficient, defensive, or spiritually proud?”

Stop measuring yourself against other people.

Come before God like the tax collector:

“God, be merciful to me, the sinner.”

Final Summary

Disobedience says, “I know what God said, but I want my own direction.”

Pride says, “I do not need God because I trust my own goodness.”

Prayer says:

“Lord, You are right. I need Your mercy. I will obey.”

Closing Exhortation

Perhaps prayer has felt difficult because there is something God has already addressed.

Today, do not run farther. Do not hide below deck. Do not wait until the storm becomes worse.

Return to God.

Obey what He has spoken.

Humble yourself before His grace.

The God who heard Jonah from the depths still hears those who turn back to Him.

Prayer flourishes wherever pride bows and obedience begins.

Prayer precedes. God prevails.