HINDRANCES TO PRAYER 

I PETER 3:7 

          After having given instructions to wives in verses 1-6, Peter speaks verse 7 to the husbands in the group.  He says to them “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered”.  Husbands are told to live with their wives with an intelligent understanding of what marriage is supposed to be.  Both husbands and wives are to see themselves as vessels or part of the furniture in the house of God.  The woman is however the weaker vessel.  She however is not intellectually or morally weaker, but is physically weaker.  Wives were to not be treated as slaves or animals but were to be seen as co-heirs to the gifts and graces of God.  Husbands are told do treat their wives in this way so that their prayers would not be hindered. 

We all recognize that not every petition made to God is granted.  We have several examples of unanswered prayers in the Bible.  Oftentimes there are a variety of reasons why our prayers go unanswered.  Today I want to talk about a few hindrances to prayer.

The first hindrance was given in I Peter 3:7

1.     Wrong relationships

Husbands are told to consider their wives so that their prayers would not be hindered.  But husband and wife relationships are not the only ones of importance to God.

PROVERBS 21:13

          This verse says that when turn a deaf ear to the poor when we cry in our hour of need that our cries will also not be heard.

MICAH 3:1-4

          The people were rebuked here for mistreating God’s people.  Note that it is the leaders of Israel and Judah who are being rebuked here, i.e., it is God’s people being rebuked for how they treat one another.  Jesus told the disciples that they would be recognized as his disciples by the love they showed for one another (John 13:34-35).  We are commanded to love one another and if we don’t have right relationships with one another God will not responds to us when we cry to him.

PSALMS 18:40-41

          Of course it is not just how we treat one another that counts.  Here God would not respond to David’s enemies when they cried out to him, simply because of the way they treated David.  You see if we are going to have God respond to our prayers we must have right relationships with mankind and especially saint to saint.

2.     Another hindrance is rebellion against God or refusing to yield to God.

ZECHARIAH 7:12-13

          It amazes me how often we think that God should respond to us and answer our prayers when we refuse to listen and take heed to what he is requesting of us.  He told Judah that even as he had called to them and they had refused to hear, when they called to him he would also refuse to hear.  God is not some toy for us to pull down off of a shelf and play with only when we desire to do so and then put him back there when we tire of him.  If we want him to hear when we cry to him we must learn to take heed when he speaks to us.  We ourselves don’t like having friends and acquaintances who call on us only when they want something.  We feel used when this happens and it would be impossible to convince us that such treatment demonstrates loves.  If we will not hear God, we should not count on him hearing us.  In fact Proverbs 28:9 says, “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”  In Proverbs 1:26 God says that he will laugh at the calamity and mock the fear of those who refuse to hear his wisdom. Listen as I read this passage (Proverbs 1:24-28 - Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; ²⁵But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: ²⁶I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; ²⁷When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. ²⁸Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me).  When man rebels against God and refuses to hear what God has to say, then God turns a death ear to man when we cry out for his help.  If you have prayers that are going unanswered maybe you should check to see if you are listening as God speaks to you  and are you maintaining right relationships with mankind and with God.

3.  Sin and hypocrisy

PSALMS 66:18

          To regard here means to hold on to with affection.  So, if I hold on to or crave iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me.  Holding on to sin is a reason for many unanswered prayers.  One commenter on this verse says. “If I had seen iniquity in my heart and encouraged it; if I had pretended to be what I was not; and if I had loved iniquity while I professed to pray and be sorry for my sin, the Lord would not have heard me.  I would have been left without his help and support in my time of trouble. (Dakes)”  We may have all at some point in our Christian lives found ourselves fitting into this state of craving to sin and even falling into the same sin time and time again; offering a fake repentance, recognizing that we were making little if any effort to depart from sin.  This is a dangerous place to be because we leave ourselves without the assurance of God help in our time of trouble.  Isaiah 59:2 says “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”  The only true source of continued peace and comfort that we can have in this world comes from knowing that we can go to and count on the almighty God to hear us when we pray and act on our behalf.  When we are caught in sin, even as believers, this sense of peace and comfort is disturbed.

ISAIAH 1:10-15

          The people are accused here of hypocrisy.  They were following through on all the rituals and sacrifices, but not in an effort to seek God or establish a relationship with Him.  God because of his weariness with their lack of commitment says in verse 15 “when you make many prayers I will not hear”.  The attitude that Judah displays here seems to be prevalent in the local church today.  Rituals are followed, in fact Sunday morning worship itself is just a ritual to many who attend church.  Many are not in church seeking to know God better, but rather for all sorts of reasons.  These persons often give a bad name to being a Christian because often their actions do not support their claim of being a Christian.  God wants us to know that when we choose to do as we desire, we forfeit the security of knowing that God is attentive to our prayers.  Job 27:8-9 says, “For what is the hope of the hypocrite, …Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?”  Sin separates us from God and though he can still hear the prayers of all mankind, He does not promise to acknowledge the prayers of the hypocrite and sinner.  Sin and hypocrisy are certain hindrances to unanswered prayers.

4.  Asking amiss

JAMES 4:3

          This simply boils down to asking with the wrong motive; seeking only to gratify one’s own cravings.  Since as Christians we are to do all to the glory of God, even our prayers should have as their focus glorifying God.

JEREMIAH 14:11; 15:1

          Here God had become so fed up with Judah that he told Jeremiah not to pray for them any more.  Jeremiah however, continued to intercede for the people of Judah.  God finally says to Jeremiah, “even if Moses the great leader or Samuel the great prophet come to me on their behalf, I will not change what I have declared concerning this people.”  He is saying to Jeremiah, “you may as well stop asking because what you are asking for is outside of my will and I am not going to change my mind about this.”  So many times we spin our wheel in pray by asking and pleading with God to do that which is not his will to do.  We burn up a lot of prayer energy and time with little or no results because we fail to seek God for his will prior to bombarding him with our prayer.  Not knowing the will of God is a sure way to find oneself asking amiss and hindering the chance of an answered prayer.

I JOHN 5:14-15

          Knowing God’s will is essential in having a confident and successful prayer life.  Knowing his will allows us to pray in accordance with the known will of God.  And if we pray according to his will He promises to hear us and grant our petition.  (Example – Tanesha college)

5.  Wavering in faith

JAMES 1:5-7

          To stand in faith without wavering requires two things.  First I must have confidence in God abilities and second I must have the assurance that God will use his abilities on my behalf.  Most who accept the existence of our great God already ascribe to him the ability to do as he chooses, when he chooses and how he chooses.  In other words there is no question of his ability.  We waver because we do not know if God will use his power on our behalf in the particular situation we are confronting.  This brings us back to the need to know the will of God for the situation.  When we know his will we can have faith that he will do his will. (Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.)

6.  Interference from the enemy

DANIEL 10:12-14 (Explain)

          There are spiritual battles constantly going on in the heavens as our enemy seeks to constantly stop or delay the answers to our prayers.  Imagine that each time you make a request of God that an angel is dispatched with you answer.  Imagine how many battles he must fight between heaven and earth and then the ones he must fight on earth to deliver your answer.  Some of us are not praying, praising and thanking God enough.  To assist you in this, imagine that your praises and thanksgiving build a direct channel between you and God.  The more praise and thanksgiving you offer the farther into heaven your channel reaches and the stronger are channel walls.  Imagine that this is the channel that the angels use to bring answers to prayers.  For many of us our channel stops before it even reaches the clouds.  Some may have a clear channel, but with thin walls.  They do a good job of really praising God in spirit and in truth when they do it.  But they do not do it often enough to fortify the walls and keep cracks repaired.  So the enemy breaks through and the angels must still spend valuable time fighting.  Just suppose that this is the way it really happens.  Then think of what we normally do when we need God’s assistance.  We pray, we worry, get depressed, pulling emotionally away from others and from God.  We offer minimal praise normally on Sunday morning only and even then it may be half hearted.  And then we wonder why our prayers are not being answered.  We may not be hindering our own prayers by having wrong relationships, by rebelling against God, or continuing in sin.  We may not be hypocritical or be asking amiss.  We may simply be uninvolved in the spiritual battles that  occur in order to receive answers to prayers.  If you have unanswered prayers ask God why and then either adjust your prayer or adjust your actions.