Zambia Hunt

I read a helpful article by Bill Donahue in Leading Life-Changing Small Groups on the subject of receiving answers to prayer.

Though Scripture makes clear that God always answers our prayers in some manner, there are also guidelines for effective praying. Certain practices or attitudes can hinder your prayers, and in such cases, God does not respond to them. The passages below help us understand that we must be in right relationship with God and with others for our prayers to be effectively heard by God.

1. Harboring unconfessed sin puts a barrier between you and God (Psalm 66:18).
2. God hears the prayers of those who obey His commands (1 John 3:22-23).
3. God does not hear prayers that have wrong or selfish motives (James 4:3).
4. We are instructed to pray according to His will, not according to ours (1 John 5:14-15).
5. When we pray, we are to ask in faith. Unbelief is a barrier to answered prayer (Mark 11:22-24).
6. An ongoing abiding life in Christ (having regular fellowship with Him) allows your prayers to be heard. When fellowship is broken, so is communication with God (John 15:7).
7. Sometimes we do not have answered prayers because we do not ask. We are to pursue appropriate requests regularly and bring them to God (Luke 11:9).
8. Prayer in the Spirit (that is, under the control of the Holy Spirit) is also a prerequisite. This verse instructs us that we must also persevere in our praying. Prayers offered in the flesh are not heard by God (Ephesians 6:18).
9. If you are unable to forgive someone for something that person has done to you, then God says He does not forgive you. Restored and right relationships are essential for open communication with God (Mark 11:25).
10. We are to pray with thankful hearts. Those of us who come before God without a spirit of thankfulness find that our prayers are not heard (Philippians 4:6).

I find that I am most often hindered in my prayer life. One writer of old said, “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.” Is it any wonder that we must labor and war with dilegence to be men and women of prayer.

Perhaps these ten reminders will encourage you to pray more faithfully this week.