What are some of the most common hindrances to answered prayer?

Not Asking for Anything: James 4:2b says, “You do not have, because you do not ask.” Many of us don’t receive answers to our prayers simply because we don’t ask for anything. I remember someone once claiming that we shouldn’t ever make requests to God — that we should just submit ourselves to whatever God wills. But God is described in the Bible as a Father who delights to give good gifts to his children (Matt 7:11). So refusing to bring our requests to God will not do (cf. Matt 7:7; John 16:24).

Asking with Wrong Motives: James adds another hindrance to answered prayers: wrongly directed motives. James 4:3 reads, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” Perhaps you are praying for God to provide finances, but your primary motivation is for easier life circumstances. Wrong motives can hinder prayers from getting answered.

Nurturing Sin in Our Hearts: Psalm 66:18 reads: “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” This verse seems not to focus upon those who have sinned in some way and properly confessed their sin to the Lord. Rather, its focus seems to be upon those who hold onto sin, mull over it in their hearts, keep returning to it, and sometimes even delight in it. Cherishing iniquity in our hearts hinders prayer from getting answered.

Not Believing: Please don’t misunderstand. You cannot simply generate belief. An increase of faith is a work of the Spirit. But you can hinder God’s intention to increase your faith through chronic unbelief. James 1:6-7 reads: “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.” are a few thoughts on the topic of praying in faith.

Giving Up: Jesus taught two parables to encourage people not to give up when they pray. In the first of the two parables, he compared persistence in prayer to someone who would not stop pestering his neighbor in the middle of the night until he lent him some bread to share with unexpected guests (Luke 11:5-10). In the second, Jesus compared persistent prayer to a widow who kept entreating a judge to give her justice in court (Luke 18:1-8). Lack of perseverance is one way we can hinder receiving answers to our prayers.

Refusing to Forgive Others: Matthew 6:14-15 reads: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” I acknowledge that asking God to forgive one’s wrongdoings is a particular kind of prayer — and so in context does not explicitly extend to other types of prayers — but I still think that harboring unforgiveness in one’s heart is likely to hinder various types of prayer, not simply prayers for forgiveness.

Not Asking According to God’s Will: 1 John 5:14-15 explains, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” Conversely, if we do not ask according to his will, the likelihood that God will answer a particular prayer significantly decreases. (Of course, God can answer any prayer at any time he thinks is good, regardless of any conditions we might or might not fulfill.) Praying according to the will of God, though, is a bit more complicated than it might seem on the surface. are a few thoughts about praying according to the will of God.

A Husband Not Living with his Wife in an Understanding Manner: This hindrance is particular to husbands. But despite its specificity, it still needs to be included on our list. 1 Peter 3:7 explicitly tells us that such demeanor in a husband will hinder his prayers: “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”

Lack of Concern for the Poor: Proverbs 21:13 warns, “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered” (cf. James 2:13; Matt 18:30-34). One way to hinder prayers being answered is to lack compassion for those who are poor in this world.

Not Abiding in the Vine: Jesus said in John 15:5-7, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” These verses don’t explicitly say that failing to abide in Jesus (that is, staying closely connected to Jesus) will result in prayers not being answered, but the implication is unmistakable. Positively, these verses teach that abiding in Christ is a condition for answered prayer. And Jesus does say that long-term failing to abide in him will lead to cutting off (whatever that exactly means, which I won’t address today). So, failing to abide in Christ must be considered a hindrance to answered prayer.

Not Actually Being a Child of God: I know that it’s popular in our broader culture to talk about everyone in the world being God’s children. In the sense that God is the one who created everyone, I admit that that’s true. But the Bible frequently uses the language of being children of God for those who receive Jesus and who believe in his name (e.g., John 1:12). So, when Jesus says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matt 7:11), he is speaking of those who believe and have entered into a discipleship relationship with Jesus — not about everyone on planet earth. But if you are not actually his child, then you cannot expect to receive such Father-to-child gifts, gifts like the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13), who is only given to God’s spiritual children (Rom 8:9).

Brothers and sisters, let us avoid anything that hinders our prayers from being answered as we bring our requests to our heavenly Father who delights in giving good gifts to his children.

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