HINDRANCES TO PRAYER
We have gone very carefully into the positive
conditions of prevailing prayer; but there are some things which
hinder prayer. These God has made very plain in His Word.
- 1. The first hindrance to prayer we will find
in James 4:3, "Ye ask and receive not BECAUSE YE ASK AMISS, THAT
YE MAY SPEND IT IN YOUR PLEASURES."
- A selfish purpose in prayer robs prayer of
power. Very many prayers are selfish. These may be prayers for
things for which it is perfectly proper to ask, for things which
it is the will of God to give, but the motive of the prayer is
entirely wrong, and so the prayer falls powerless to the ground.
The true purpose in prayer is that God may be glorified in the
answer. If we ask any petition merely that we may receive
something to use in our pleasures or in our own gratification in
one way or another, we "ask amiss" and need not expect to
receive what we ask. This explains why many prayers remain
unanswered.
For example, many a woman is praying for the conversion of her
husband. That certainly is a most proper thing to ask; but many
a woman's motive in asking for the conversion of her husband is
entirely improper, it is selfish. She desires that her husband
may be converted because it would be so much more pleasant for
her to have a husband who sympathized with her; or it is so
painful to think that her husband might die and be lost forever.
For some such selfish reason as this she desires to have her
husband converted. The prayer is purely selfish. Why should a
woman desire the conversion of her husband? First of all and
above all, that God may be glorified; because she cannot bear
the thought that God the Father should be dishonored by her
husband trampling underfoot the Son of God.
Many pray for a revival. That certainly is a prayer that is
pleasing to God, it is along the line of His will; but many
prayers for revivals are purely selfish. The churches desire
revivals in order that the membership may be increased, in order
that the church may have a position of more power and influence
in the community, in order that the church treasury may be
filled, in order that a good report may be made at the
presbytery or conference or association. For such low purposes
as these, churches and ministers oftentimes are praying for a
revival, and oftentimes too God does not answer the prayer. Why
should we pray for a revival? For the glory of God, because we
cannot endure it that God should continue to be dishonored by
the worldliness of the church, by the sins of unbelievers, by
the proud unbelief of the day; because God's Word is being made
void; in order that God may be glorified by the outpouring of
His Spirit on the Church of Christ. For these reasons first of
all and above all, we should pray for a revival.
Many a prayer for the Holy Spirit is a purely selfish prayer. It
certainly is God's will to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
Him--He has told us so plainly in His Word (Luke 11:13), but
many a prayer for the Holy Spirit is hindered by the selfishness
of the motive that lies back of the prayer. Men and women pray
for the Holy Spirit in order that they may be happy, or in order
that they may be saved from the wretchedness of defeat in their
lives, or in order that they may have power as Christian
workers, or for some other purely selfish motive. Why should we
pray for the Spirit? In order that God may no longer be
dishonored by the low level of our Christian lives and by our
ineffectiveness in service, in order that God may be glorified
in the new beauty that comes into our lives and the new power
that comes into our service.
- 2. The second hindrance to prayer we find in
Is. 59:1,2: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it
cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But
YOUR INIQUITIES HAVE SEPARATED BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR GOD, and
YOUR SINS HAVE HID HIS FACE FROM YOU, THAT HE WILL NOT HEAR."...
- Sin hinders prayer. Many a man prays and prays
and prays, and gets absolutely no answer to his prayer. Perhaps
he is tempted to think that it is not the will of God to answer,
or he may think that the days when God answered prayer, if He
ever did, are over. So the Israelites seem to have thought. They
thought that the Lord's hand was shortened, that it could not
save, and that His ear had become heavy that it could no longer
hear.
"Not so," said Isaiah, "God's ear is just as open to hear as ever,
His hand just as mighty to save; but there is a hindrance. That
hindrance is your own sins. Your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from
you that He will not hear."
It is so to-day. Many and many a man is crying to God in vain,
simply because of sin in his life. It may be some sin in the
past that has been unconfessed and unjudged, it may be some sin
in the present that is cherished, very likely is not even looked
upon as sin, but there the sin is, hidden away somewhere in the
heart or in the life, and God "will not hear."
Any one who finds his prayers ineffective should not conclude that
the thing which he asks of God is not according to His will, but
should go alone with God with the Psalmist's prayer, "Search me,
O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see
if there be any wicked way in me" (Ps. 139:23,24), and wait
before Him until He puts His finger upon the thing that is
displeasing in His sight. Then this sin should be confessed and
put away.
I well remember a time in my life when I was praying for two
definite things that it seemed that I must have, or God would be
dishonored; but the answer did not come. I awoke in the middle
of the night in great physical suffering and great distress of
soul. I cried to God for these things, reasoned with Him as to
how necessary it was that I get them, and get them at once; but
no answer came. I asked God to show me if there was anything
wrong in my own life. Something came to my mind that had often
come to it before, something definite but which I was unwilling
to confess as sin. I said to God, "If this is wrong I will give
it up"; but still no answer came. In my innermost heart, though
I had never admitted it, I knew it was wrong.
At last I said:
"This is wrong. I have sinned. I will give it up."
I found peace. In a few moments I was sleeping like a child. In
the morning I woke well in body, and the money that was so much
needed for the honor of God's name came.
Sin is an awful thing, and one of the most awful things about it
is the way it hinders prayer, the way it severs the connection
between us and the source of all grace and power and blessing.
Any one who would have power in prayer must be merciless in
dealing with his own sins. "If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me."(Ps. 66:18) So long as we hold on to
sin or have any controversy with God, we cannot expect Him to
heed our prayers. If there is anything that is constantly coming
up in your moments of close communion with God, that is the
thing that hinders prayer: put it away.
- 3. The third hindrance to prayer is found in
Ez. 14:3, "Son of man, these men have taken their idols into
their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity
before their face: should I be inquired of at all by
them?"(R.V.) IDOLS IN THE HEART CAUSE GOD TO REFUSE TO LISTEN TO
OUR PRAYERS.
- What is an idol? An idol is anything that takes
the place of God, anything that is the supreme object of our
affection. God alone has the right to the supreme place in our
hearts. Everything and
everyone else must be subordinate to Him.
Many a man makes an idol of his wife. Not that a man can love his
wife any too much, but he can put her in the wrong place, he can
put her before God; and when a man regards his wife's pleasure
before God's pleasure, when he gives her the first place and God
the second place, his wife is an idol, and God cannot hear his
prayers.
Many a woman makes an idol of her children. Not that we can love
our children too much. The more dearly we love Christ, the more
dearly we love our children; but we can put our children in the
wrong place, we can put them before God, and their interests
before God's interests. When we do this our children are our
idols.
Many a man makes an idol of his reputation or his business.
Reputation or business is put before God. God cannot hear the
prayers of such a man.
One great question for us to decide, if we would have power in
prayer is, Is God absolutely first? Is He before wife, before
children, before reputation, before business, before our own
lives? If not, prevailing prayer is impossible.
God often calls our attention to the fact that we have an idol, by
not answering our prayers, and thus leading us to inquire as to
why our prayers are not answered, and so we discover the idol,
put it away, and God hears our prayers.
- 4. The fourth hindrance to prayer is found in
Prov. 21:13, "WHOSO STOPPETH HIS EARS AT THE CRY OF THE POOR, HE
ALSO SHALL CRY HIMSELF, BUT SHALL NOT BE HEARD."
- There is perhaps no greater hindrance to prayer
than stinginess, the lack of liberality toward the poor and
toward God's work. It is the one who gives generously to others
who receives generously from God. "Give, and it shall be given
unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running
over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye
mete it shall be measured to you again." (Luke 6:38, R.V.) The
generous man is the mighty man of prayer. The stingy man is the
powerless man of prayer.
One of the most wonderful statements about prevailing prayer
(already referred to) 1_John 3:22, "Whatsoever we ask we receive
of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things
that are pleasing in His sight," is made in direct connection
with generosity toward the needy. In the context we are told
that it is when we love, not in word or in tongue, but in deed
and in truth, when we open our hearts toward the brother in
need, it is then and only then we have confidence toward God in
prayer.
Many a man and woman who is seeking to find the secret of their
powerlessness in prayer need not seek far; it is nothing more
nor less than downright stinginess. George Muller, to whom
reference has already been made, was a mighty man of prayer
because he was a mighty giver. What he received from God never
stuck to his fingers; he immediately passed it on to others. He
was constantly receiving because he was constantly giving. When
one thinks of the selfishness of the professing church to-day,
how the orthodox churches of this land do not average $1.oo per
year per member for foreign missions, it is no wonder that the
church has so little power in prayer. If we would get from God,
we must give to others. Perhaps the most wonderful promise in
the Bible in regard to God's supplying our need is Phil. 4:19,
"And my God shall fulfill every need of yours according to His
riches in glory in Christ Jesus." (R.V.) This glorious promise
was made to the Philippian church, and made in immediate
connection with their generosity.
- 5. The fifth hindrance to prayer is found in
Mark 11:25, "And when ye stand praying, FORGIVE, if ye have
ought against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may
forgive you your trespasses."
- An unforgiving spirit is one of the commonest
hindrances to prayer. Prayer is answered on the basis that our
sins are forgiven; and God cannot deal with us on the basis of
forgiveness while we are harboring ill-will against those who
have wronged us. Any one who is nursing a grudge against another
has fast closed the ear of God against his own petition. How
many there are crying to God for the conversion of husband,
children, friends, and wondering why it is that their prayer is
not answered, when the whole secret is some grudge that they
have in their hearts against some one who has injured them, or
who they fancy has injured them. Many and many a mother and
father are allowing their children to go down to eternity
unsaved, for the miserable gratification of hating somebody.
- 6. The sixth hindrance to prayer is found in
1_Peter 3:7, "Ye husbands, in like manner, dwell with your wives
according to knowledge, giving honor unto the woman, as unto the
weaker vessel as being also joint-heirs of the grace of life; to
the end that your prayers be not hindered." (R.V.) Here we are
plainly told that A WRONG RELATION BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE IS A
HINDRANCE TO PRAYER.
- In many and many a case the prayers of husbands
are hindered because of their failure of duty toward their
wives. On the other hand, it is also doubtless true that the
prayers of wives are hindered because of their failure in duty
toward their husbands. If husbands and wives should seek
diligently to find the cause of their unanswered prayers, they
would often find it in their relations to one another.
Many a man who makes great pretentions to piety, and is very
active in Christian work, shows but little consideration in his
treatment of his wife, and is oftentimes unkind, if not brutal;
then he wonders why it is that his prayers are not answered. The
verse that we have just quoted explains the seeming mystery. On
the other hand, many a woman who is very devoted to the church,
and very faithful in attendance upon all services, treats her
husband with the most unpardonable neglect, is cross and peevish
toward him, wounds him by the sharpness of her speech, and by
her ungovernable temper; then wonders why it is that she has no
power in prayer.
There are other things in the relations of husbands and wives
which cannot be spoken of publicly, but which doubtless are
oftentimes a hindrance in approaching God in prayer. There is
much of sin covered up under the holy name of marriage that is a
cause of spiritual deadness, and of powerlessness in prayer. Any
man or woman whose prayers seem to bring no answer should spread
their whole married life out before God, and ask Him to put His
finger upon anything in it that is displeasing in His sight.
- 7. The seventh hindrance to prayer is found in
James 1:5-7, "But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of
God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it
shall be given him. But let him ask IN FAITH, NOTHING DOUBTING:
for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the
wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall
receive anything of the Lord." (R.V.)
- Prayers are hindered by unbelief. God demands
that we shall believe His Word absolutely. To question it is to
make Him a liar. Many of us do that when we plead His promises,
and is it any wonder that our prayers are not answered? How many
prayers are hindered by our wretched unbelief! We go to God and
ask Him for something that is positively promised in His Word,
and then we do not more than half expect to get it. "Let not
that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord."
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