Things Hindering Praying
There are times that we need to make personal decision and take action, or even have strong discipline to deal with the
- external distractions, such as the TV, the radio, the telephone, family demands, pressure of our employment or other problems, or
- internal, personal distractions, such as fatigure, procrastination, wandering thoughts, emotional upsets, lack of faith, lack of persistence or even impatience with God as we have seen before.
With the help of the vey One to whom we are praying, by following Christ’s example in Mark 1:35, and spend time with God before we do anything else. We can be honest with God even telling Him that we don’t feel like praying and He understands how human we are (Hebrews 4:15-16).
Things Hindering God’s Answering
- Defective relationships in the home (1 Peter 3:7)
We may need to humble ourselves and say ‘I am sorry’ to someone we’ve wronged before God can answer our prayers.
- Problems in the heart, such as unconfessed sin
God cannot condemn sin in a sinner and condone it in a saint. (Matthew 5:23-24, 6:14-15 & Ephesians 4:32) Unrelinquished sin can stand in the way of God answering. Psalm 66:18 says plainly: ‘If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.’
- Being disobedient to a directive He has given us for our life.
Or we may be unwilling to give up a relationship or an ‘idol’ in our life which displeases God. Any of these problems can prevent God answering our prayers.
