.Seven Hindrances To Prayer – R. A. Torrey
From How To Pray
We are in the midst of our staff enrichment retreat and we are spending much time as a staff in prayer. In my preparation for the prayer times, I came across this outline written by Dr. R. A. Torrey on the various hindrances to prayer:
11. Asking with wrong motives. James 4:3. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” Sometimes we can be praying for something that is more a selfish want
than it is God’s will.
2. Unrepented sin. Isaiah 59:1-2. “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” If we ask God to search our hearts and show us where there is sin, He will.
3. Idolatry. Ezekiel 14:3. “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?” It was once said that if there is something that consumes you or excites you more than God, that is idolatry.
4. Ignoring the poor. Proverbs 21:13. “Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard.” Sowing and reaping go hand in hand and the poor are always close to God’s heart.
5. Unforgiveness. Mark 11:25. “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.” There is no allowance for bitter roots within the temple of God.
6. A wrong relation to a husband or wife. 1 Peter 3:7. “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.” The wife too should obey the Word and respect her husband; most likely disobedience would hinder prayer as well.
7. Unbelief. James 1:5-7. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.” Belief and trust can be demonstrated through action and word.
This is a good time to take inventory – personal inventory of your life. Are you finding that your prayers are not being answered? Maybe you need to take a look at this list and do some business with your Heavenly Father. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
Compass Pointers: There are always uncertainties ahead, but there is always one certainty--God's will is good. Vernon Paterson
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 12:25; Level 2: Proverbs 12:17-22
Anchored to the Rock: Prayer and a holy life are one. They mutually act and react. Neither can survive alone. The absence of one is the absence of the other. E. M. Bounds
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