Two Main Hindrances to Prayer

Rom. 8:17--NIV--Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

John 14:12--NIV--Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

There are two great hindrances to prayer #1--We don't pray. #2--We don't utilize prayer to the utmost extent that God intended it.

In Luke 18, Jesus talks about being consistent in prayer. He talks about a widow who comes before the judge EVERY DAY and lays a claim on his judgement bench for relief. Jesus finishes the parable by asking, Vs 8--NIV--However, when the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?

Understand what Jesus was asking here. He wasn't really asking if there would just be any faith. He was actually asking if He would be able to find people that had enough faith to be persistent in praying like He did.

Do we give up if we don't get an answer after we have prayed a couple of times? Do we stop praying because we think it might not be God's will? Are there too many other things in our lives that we enjoy more than answered prayer?

In John 14:12 we have a three hour sermon on prayer in just one sentence. Jesus plainly tells all of us that the Heavenly Father is expecting us to do the same things that He did AND MORE. Most of us have quit before we even get close enough to the same things that He did.

Jesus reached thousands of souls through His message, His anointing and His miracles. But, He got that type of power by consistently spending time with His Father in prayer. That's what brings us to the #1 hindrance to prayer. We give God a few minutes of our time a week.........if He's lucky. Amen?

Personal and not just congregational time should be spent with the Father in prayer and sometimes in just listening to Him. Yes, that will correct our paths. Yes, that will convict us of sins. But it will also strengthen our relationship with the prayer answerer.

#2--We need to get a vision in our spirits of just how powerful God wants to be. Is God content with just a few souls a year when His heart aches for the entire world? Is raising the dead, healing the crippled and casting out demons the greatest extent of the power of God? The answer to all of these questions is NO! But, we will never really comprehend the extent of prayer that God meant for us until we spend time in His presence.

Pray with me:

Father, we, as Christians, have fallen way short of what we should be. While some might be content with the shallow waters of Your presence, some of us long for the healing waters of the Holy Spirit to flood through our souls.

We are going to make more time in our lives to seek You. It is evident that we are not being used to the fullest extent of the gifts that You have put inside of us. But that is going to change starting today.

As we spend time in Your presence, we ask that You commune with us. Give us a vision of Your possibilities to us. Help us to understand the great compassion and great grace of Your heart. Instill withing us a greater hunger for more of Your power.

Father, fill us with Your power and the demonstration of the Holy Spirit. Help us not to be content with a move of God in our churches. Help us to take Your power to the masses like Jesus did. Help us take it into our homes, the market place and our jobs. Come alive inside of us in a way that everyone we meet can tell that You are alive within us.

Bring revival to the streets of Savannah instead of death. Bring healing of body and soul instead of injury. Instead of striking each other with our hands, help us to join hands with other prayer warriors and fight the good fight of faith and prayer.

In Jesus' Name, Amen