The greatest obstacle to prayer

One of the greatest blessings of knowing God as our heavenly Father is that we can speak to him. He is a God who intimately cares for all our needs. He knows what we need even before we ask (Matt 6:8). He wants us to constantly reach out to him in prayer, bringing to him the needs and concerns that are on our hearts. Repeatedly God urges us to pray: ‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you’ (1Pet 5:7), ‘Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge’ (Ps 62:8), ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you’ (Matt 7:7).

Why then do we find it so difficult to pray? Why do we rarely find ourselves on our knees, asking, seeking and knocking at God’s door? Why is it that when we do knock, we are often like the boy who knocks and then quickly runs away before the door is opened? Many of us find so little satisfaction and joy in prayer. (Let me be honest and say that I too find it difficult and hard to pray!)

Many of us would blame our prayerlessness on a busy and frantic lifestyle. We already find it hard to fit in all that needs to be done. Our bodies and minds are racing from one thing to another. And even when we stop to pray, it is done quickly and efficiently. Busyness is certainly a major hindrance to prayer. But there is a bigger problem than this.

The greatest obstacle is not so much a busy lifestyle, but an inbuilt desire to be in control. We would rather be self-sufficient than dependent. We would rather be self-determining, than let God decide the outcome. We would rather hide our sin and be strong, than be vulnerable and admit our failures and weaknesses. Our busyness in many ways reflects our desire to be self-sufficient and in control. The result is that we often fail to stop, to pray and to find our rest in God.

What then must we do to renew and transform our prayer lives? Firstly, we need to admit to God our desire to be self-sufficient. We need to admit that haven’t trusted him. Rather than let God be God, our natural and sinful desire is to be in control. We need to humble ourselves and recognise the root cause of the problem. Secondly, we need to acknowledge our utter dependence on him. For every spiritual, physical and material need – we depend on our loving heavenly Father. He is in control and we need him. Thirdly, remember that he loves you and always has your best interests at heart. ‘God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us’ (Rom 5:8). What God wants most of all is not our short-lived pleasures, but our eternal and everlasting joy in him. He wants us to grow in our love and devotion to him, that we might be more and more like his son Jesus (Rom 8:28-29).

Ultimately it is not time management that will transform our prayers, but humility and brokenness. For this is the kind of prayer that brings us to our knees and which is most pleasing to God. After he was exposed to his own sinfulness and shame, David recognised this wonderful aspect of God’s character when he wrote, ‘The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise’ (Ps 51:17).

God looks forward to your time

One of our problems when it comes to prayer is that we’re driven by guilt. We haven’t spent enough time with God, nor do we always look forward to that time. We don’t always pray with passion or persistence. And we’re a lot more self-reliant than we should be.

But as with every other area of the Christian life, we should be motivated by grace and not by guilt. We should be motivated by the privilege, the joy and the unfailing love of our heavenly Father. To be motivated by grace we need to remember the following.

Prayer is first and foremost our response to God’s love for us. It is not a way to earn God’s love or favour. For God has already loved us! He has lavished his love on us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. He has brought us to himself as sons and daughters of God. God loves to hear the prayers of his children who come to him.

Secondly, prayer is our response to God’s word to us. It is not that God silently waits for us to speak to him before he speaks to us. God has already spoken to us through his word, and through his Son Jesus. He has graciously revealed himself, his character his plans and his purposes to us. In response he invites us to pray not only for ourselves, but also for others, and for his glory, his kingdom and his will to be done (Matt 6:9-13).

Thirdly, God’s love for us is never dependent on how we’re feeling emotionally. Our feelings may go up and down, but God’s love for us never changes. As Paul says in Romans 5:6-11, if God loved us when we were his enemies, how much more will he love us now that we are his friends? James Hudson Taylor once said that even when he felt his prayers were flat and wooden, he often experienced God’s answers to prayer.

Fourthly, God listens to imperfect prayers. It is the perfect Son of God who intercedes for us and makes our prayers acceptable (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25). And it is God’s Holy Spirit who helps us in our weakness, bringing our prayers to God even when we cannot express them perfectly (Rom 8:26-27). God knows what’s on our heart even before we ask.

Fifthly, in answer to prayer God will always give us what is best as only the perfect heavenly Father can (Matt 7:7-11). God is never stingy or joyless. In fact Jesus came to give us life to the full (John 10:10). He came to make our joy complete in him (1John 1:4). God will never give us second best!

Lastly, through prayer God has given us the privilege of being part of his kingdom work in the world. God can do all things single-handedly, but he has chosen to work both through the preaching of his word and through the humble, dependent prayers of his people. As it says in James 4:2, ‘God is more willing to give than we are to ask.’

Be encouraged by this simple fact: God looks forward to our time with him. How can we do anything less than go to him frequently, passionately, and confidently, praying for ourselves, for others and for his kingdom to come!

Pastor Owen Seto