There is a spiritual assault on prayer right now, from the kingdom of darkness. Christians desire to pray but don’t because the oppression of Satan is on them. Many times, Christians pray, but they don’t get the results that they think they should, so they start to question the Word of God.
However, the Bible not only tells us to pray and how to pray, but it also tells us about things that can hinder our prayer. If there are things that are hindering your prayers, that means your prayers aren’t going to work. That means, according to the degree to which these things are hindering you, it quite possibly would do you no good to pray to begin with.
So maybe we need to see what things can hinder our prayers and deal with those things first, then pray. This is not a complete list, but just some things that can hinder our prayers and cause them to not be effective. Of course, we need to make sure that we are in faith and are taking authority over the enemy. But there are other things that we need to do to make sure that our prayers are not hindered.
1.) Sin in your life. Sin can hinder your fellowship with God and dull your spirit, making you less responsive to the Holy Spirit’s leading. When we pray, we need to be led by the Holy Spirit. Our prayer life will be hindered if there is sin in our life that we have not done something about. Confess your sins, for He is faithful and just to forgive us. (1 John 1:9, James 5:16, Proverbs 28:13).
2.) Failure to spend quality time in prayer. Prayer is the most important thing you can do to have spiritual strength and overcome the pressure of Satan’s world system.
There are things that Satan does not want you, me, or anyone else to do. He knows that if you do these things on a consistent basis, you will always live a life of victory and success. You will have authority over all evil spirits and prosper at all times, even when the storms of life are blowing. Satan will fight to keep you from doing these things. (Matthew 26:41, Mark 1:35, Luke 18:1)
3.) Being too busy with legitimate affairs: It is easy to become too entangled with the legitimate affairs of this life, which can hinder you from growing spiritually and fulfilling God’s purposes in your life and ministry.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (Hebrews 12:1).
These things may be good in themselves, but they are not what God has called you to do. There are things that are not necessarily wrong, but they will slow you down in your particular race. They will hinder you from growing spiritually and from fulfilling God’s purposes in your life and ministry. In prayer, a spiritual osmosis takes place. All your weaknesses are filled with the ability of God. You are filled with the power of God and the boldness of God. You become like the Lord by spending time in His presence. (Luke 18:1, Isaiah 40:28-31)
4.) Not being led by the Holy Spirit and praying in the Spirit: The Holy Spirit will instantly alert you to what is right and wrong in your spirit. He will lead you to make natural corrections that will hinder you from receiving spiritual revelations. If you will take time to pray in the Spirit, it will move you out of the mental realm into the spiritual realm. You will be much more effective in your prayer life when you spend much time praying in the Spirit.
Mental prayer alone will not get the job done. You have to go from the mental realm to the spiritual realm. That’s where all real change starts to take place. That’s where you have to deal with things. Be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is telling you. (Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:16-18, Ephesians 5:18, 1 Corinthians 14:4, Jude 1:20, Acts 2:4)
5.) Not reading and studying the Bible: The Holy Spirit will reveal revelations about His Word that you have never seen before, but if you don’t know His Word, how can He do it? The Holy Spirit will never lead you in any way contrary to what the Word says. Many people have gotten goofed up because they believe the Holy Spirit said something to them in prayer and it messed up their lives. In truth, if they had just stayed with the Word, it would have shown them that what they heard wasn’t from God at all.
We get more acquainted with the voice of the Lord by reading and studying His Word. That way, when the Holy Spirit does speak to us, we know that it is Him, not us. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Joshua 1:8, Psalm 119:105)
6.) Not being willing to pay the price: There is a price to pay for some things. Some things won’t just change after a twenty-minute prayer. Go back and study the great revivals of the past. They were prayed in after countless hours, even years, by dedicated prayer warriors. If you want to see things change in your life, there is a price to pay. (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23)
Prayer Finds The Hinderances
There are other things that can hinder you in prayer. There are even some things that will hinder you that you will never know until you ask the Lord to reveal them to you. When we have done all we know to do, after we have followed the Word, we need to see what the Holy Spirit has to say. The Lord desires to answer our prayers. He’s not withholding anything from us. We have to do our part, and the Lord will always do His part. God is with us!
