Hindrances to prayer
The basic meaning of the word translated ‘hindered’ is ‘to block the way’. Many indeed are the obstacles which bar the way between us and prayer. Alas, so often our experience attests the truth of William Cowper’s words,
There are five of the most common roadblocks that we encounter on the highway to the throne of grace, and suggestions for removing them:
‘I can’t afford the time’. But prayer is important; I cannot afford not to pray. I need to make the time. Daniel handled top-level affairs of State yet made the time to pray three times every day, Dan. 6:1–3, 10. Perhaps I would accomplish more if I attempted less and spent more time praying about it.
‘I don’t honestly see a need for it’. But, my self-sufficient heart, the Lord Jesus has explicitly said, ‘without me you can do nothing’, John 15:5. Do I know better than Him? And have others no needs for which I can pray? What of Christian leaders, other saints, and non-Christian contacts? Dare I ‘cease to pray’ for such?, 1 Sam. 12:23.
‘I don’t think that my prayers will accomplish much’. But our God is known as, Thou that hearest prayer, Ps. 65:2. I suspect that neither God nor the devil share the low valuation of my prayers. COWPER’S hymn opined that, ‘Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees’. Don’t underestimate prayer’s potential.
‘I prayed before and nothing happened’. But I must not confuse delays with denials. I know only too well that past ‘failures’ haunt and discourage me but I ‘ought always to pray, and not to faint’, Luke 18:1. I give in too soon. ‘Persevere’ is the word, Rom. 12:12.
‘I don’t feel like praying’. But it is just when my heart is out of tune with God that I need most to pray. Perhaps some unconfessed sin accounts for my lack of desire for God. Yet, despite all, He says to me, ‘If from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart’, Deut. 4:29.
H
