Hinderances to Answered Prayer

“HE SHALL CALL UPON ME, AND I WILL ANSWER.” PSALM 91:15 NKJV

When a nightclub opened on Main Street, a church which was only a few blocks away organized a 24-hour prayer vigil. They asked God to burn the club down. Within a week, lightning struck and it burned to the ground. The owner sued the church, which denied responsibility. After hearing arguments from both sides the judge said, “It seems that wherever the guilt may lie, the nightclub owner believes in prayer, while the church doesn’t.”

The first hinderance to answered prayer is – prayerlessness. Sounds simple, but our prayers are not answered when we don’t pray. Saying we believe in prayer is not the same as praying. James writes: “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:3 NKJV). We must take the time to ask God for what we want and need. Sometimes we process situations in our minds, or talk about them with our friends, or wish, or hope, but we don’t pray. Thinking, wishing, hoping, and talking with others is not prayer; only prayer is prayer! When we have a need or a situation that concerns us, we’re only praying when we talk to God about it.

God is waiting for us to make requests of Him in prayer. He never gets tired of us coming to Him! He is able, willing, and ready to act on our behalf, but only if we pray. Jesus said: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8 NKJV).