It is the Lord’s
delight to give us what we ask of him in prayer. It shows that we rely on him
and trust his pleasing and perfect will for us. As Christians, it is part of
our everyday lives to pray, whether in public or private. We all know that
prayer is our way of communicating with God. It is the expression of our inner
spiritual needs. It is through prayer that we find the strength of spirit,
guidance, wisdom, joy and inner peace. It is where we seek sanctuary at times
that we are lost. Praying is just like loading our phones. We use it to send
messages and communicate not just with God but also with people who need our
prayers the most.
While all of this is true, there is the fact that our
prayers are often hindered. In 1 Peter 3:12 it says:
For
the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their
prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
God surely hears all of our prayers but there are
times that he chooses not to answer it. Here are some of the reasons why our
prayers are being hindered.
Hindrances to Prayer
1.) Spending less time in Prayer (James 4:2)
There is power in praying. Praying should not be the
least in our options, it should always be the first. Praying, we should keep in
mind, is a form of communication with God. It helps us understand and know God.
It is how we can have an intimate relationship with Him, and having this kind
of relationship is crucial in our lives as Christians because it makes our
spiritual, as well as our physical senses attentive to the Lord’s will.
2.) Unconfessed Sin (Psalm 66:18)
It doesn’t mean that we have to be perfect to have our prayers
answered. It only means that in order for our prayers to be heard, our hearts
should be cleansed first. God is holy and we know that nothing impure can come
to him, might as well, reach him. So before our prayers can reach Him it is
important to confess our sins and wash it in the name of Jesus Christ, the only
one who can purify us (1 John 1:9).
3.) Selfish Motives (James 4:3)
We can pray about our needs and desires but we should
always remember that the priority of praying is God and his glory. The Lord is
holy and if our prayers are selfishly motivated, we can be sure that he will
not answer it. That is why it is very important to put God first in everything
that we do (Prov. 3:6), his will before ours. Even when Jesus prayed, he prayed
not that his will be done but that God’s will be done, in the events to come in
his life. It should also be the same with us because after all, everything is
not about us but about God and his plans for us.
4.) Broken Fellowship (Mat. 5:23-23)
It is also important that before we bring our prayers to
God, the broken fellowship we have with our brothers are already mended. The
Bible says that if we will not forgive others, God will not forgive us either
(Mat. 6:14-15).
5.) Lack of Faith (Heb. 11:6)
The world’s perspective differs from that of God. The
world tells us that we should see things first before we believe it. While God
tells us that we should believe first then we shall see. Believing that God
will grant our prayers means that we trust him and that we rely on his promise
of a prosperous and hopeful future (Jer. 29:11). It is important that we put
faith in our prayer and believe that God in his perfect time will answer it
according to his pleasing and perfect will.
Conclusion
There are many hindrances to prayer and some of those are
what we have discussed earlier. But the most significant thing is that we
learn to examine our lives as ambassadors of Christ and learn to trust the
perfect plan of the Creator for us.
Preaching Idea
. Overcome hindrances! Trust God and evaluate
oneself.
No comments:
Post a Comment