{"id":2308,"date":"2020-02-08T17:52:13","date_gmt":"2020-02-08T17:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/?p=2308"},"modified":"2020-02-08T17:52:13","modified_gmt":"2020-02-08T17:52:13","slug":"hindrances-to-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/08\/hindrances-to-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Hindrances to Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201d \u2026 that your prayers be not hindered\u201d (1 Peter 3:7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBehold, the LORD\u2019s hand is not shortened, that it\ncannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities\nhave separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from\nyou, that he will not hear\u201d (Isaiah 59: 1-2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and\nhis ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them\nthat do evil\u201d (1 Peter 3: 12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not\nhear me\u201d (Psalm 66: 18).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DAILY, REGULAR ANSWER TO PRAYERS SHOULD BE NORMAL FOR ALL\nCHRISTIANS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The normal Christian life is a life of regular, daily\nanswers to prayer. In the model prayer, Jesus taught His disciples to pray\ndaily for bread, and expect to get it, and to ask daily for forgiveness, for\ndeliverance from the evil one, and for other needs, and daily to get the\nanswers they sought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the way Jesus Himself lived- in daily unhindered\ncommunion with the Father, so that He could say to His Father and our Father,\n\u201d .. .1 knew that thou hearest me always \u2026 \u201d (John 11 :42). All the\nteaching of the Lord Jesus about prayer shows that we too have a normal,\nday-by-day unhindered intercourse with God, asking and receiving, seeking and\nfinding, knocking and having God open to us. He plainly said, \u201cHitherto\nhave ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may\nbe full\u201d (John 16:24). When we are told in James 4:2 that \u201d \u2026 ye\nhave not, because ye ask not\u201d, it is proper to infer that God intended\nasking to be followed by having, and that the Christian in the will of God can\nlive day by day in the fullness of joy of having his prayers answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is perfectly normal for an obedient child to ask for food\nevery meal time and get it, get all he wants, and eat until he is perfectly\nsatisfied. And using that figure, the Saviour said, \u201cIf ye then, being\nevil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your\nFather which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?\u201d (Matt.\n7: 11).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A depositor whose account is in good condition normally has\nevery check he draws honoured by the bank. Why, then, cannot a child of God day\nby day draw on the bank of Heaven, have his prayers answered as a matter of\ncourse, as a daily business? He can! When a Christian fails to have his\nprayer-check cashed, he should regard it as proof that something is wrong that\nneeds attention at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I tum faucets on in the bathroom or kitchen, I expect water\nto pour forth every time. If I turned the tap and water did not come, I would\nbe surprised. I would also know that something radically was wrong, and I would\nimmediately set out to find out why the water did not run. If I press a light\nswitch and the light does not shine, or if I plug in an electric motor and\nthere is no power, I know that something is wrong, dead wrong, that the\nconnection with the powerhouse is broken; and I set out to find what is wrong\nand to remedy it. Just so, every Christian ought to be in daily communion with\nGod and ought to live the joyful life of answered prayer; and when anything\nhinders his prayers, the Christian ought immediately to be able to find out\nwhat is wrong and get it remedied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the Scriptures above indicate that there are sins which\nhinder the prayers of Christians, sins that tum God\u2019s face away so that He will\nnot hear, yea, sins which make it so that God cannot, in righteousness, heed\nthe cry of His own child, whom He loves! We are not left in the dark about\nthese sins. God, in His wonderful love, has shown us in the Bible the things\nthat grieve Him, the things that make it so He cannot answer fully our prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often we pray for daily bread or for other daily\nnecessities, such as money for rent, or for a job, or furniture, or clothes,\nthings for which God tells us to pray; and yet no answer comes. Christians\noften pray for the conversion of loved ones, pray for revivals, pray for help\nin temptation; all matters about which every Christian certainly has a right to\npray, matters about which God has declared in His Word that He is concerned,\nand which He is anxious to give us; and yet Christians often do not get the\nanswer to their prayers. Why? The answer is that many a good prayers cannot be\nanswered by a holy God because of sins in the life and heart of the one who\nprays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may be that you have some of your prayers answered, or\nthink you do. The dear Lord, who \u201d \u2026 sendeth rain on the just and on the\nunjust\u201d (Matthew 5:45), and is \u201d \u2026 kind unto the unthankful \u2026\n\u201d (Luke 6:35), may give you many things that do not come because He\nrespects your prayers and answers them, but because of His infinite mercy which\nis poured out even upon the vilest sinners. The God who still gives breath to\nthe murderer, still gives food to the man who never prays, the God who gives\nall the bounties of nature to a sinning, Christ-rejecting race -that God still\nloves and cares for His children even when they live in sin and grieve His\nheart. So perhaps what God has been doing for you when you prayed was not at\nall the answer to your prayers, but just such mercies as His infinite Love and\ngoodness provide for the most wicked of His creatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whether God hears some of your prayers, or none of them,\nyour prayers are hindered if you do not day by day live in the fullness of\nanswered prayer so that you can sing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing between my soul and the Saviour, So that His blessed\nface may be seen; Nothing preventing the least of His favour, Keep the way\nclear- let nothing between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often we are painfully conscious that our prayers are not\nheard. Last night a man said to me as we parted at the close of the service in\na great rescue mission, \u201cPreacher, before you sleep I wish you would pray\nfor me. My prayers never get higher than my head. God won\u2019t hear me.\u201d Is\nthat your case? Do you feel, even as you call on God, that He is not pleased,\nthat He will not hear, that there is no likelihood of your receiving the thing\nfor which you ask? Then, oh, how important it is to clear the line between you\nand God so He will hear you. How important it is to confess and forsake\neverything that grieves the dear Holy Spirit and shuts up Heaven to your\nprayers and stops God\u2019s ears! <\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"