Question of the Day

When Kenneth and Gloria started their journey of faith they had questions too—lots of them! So, we've compiled the most frequently asked questions by people like you—people who earnestly desire to find God's answers to the practical, real-life challenges of everyday living. We have a new question every day, so check back often!

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Is there anything that can block my prayers?
Is there anything that can block my prayers?
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Unanswered prayer is not the result of God’s unwillingness to use His power, but because of hindrances we allow to overcome us. The Bible says His eyes look to and fro throughout the earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). 

So, is there anything that can block prayers?

1. Praying Amiss (James 4:3). That means praying with the wrong motivation and praying outside the will of God. You can find the will of God in His Word, so be sure your prayers line up with what He says.

2. Doubt and Unbelief. Mark 11:24 tells us that believing we receive what we ask for is a prerequisite for getting our prayers answered. That means if you’re begging God for something, you aren’t believing you receive it. If you ask, then walk away and worry about it all day, again, you haven’t believed.

3. Unforgiveness. Mark 11:25 warns that we must forgive when we pray. This is vital. Prayer will not work without forgiveness. Strife can also hinder your prayer life. Strife is merely acting on unforgiveness. James 3:16 says, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” (KJV). When you take confusion and add it to Satan’s work, problems arise. The absence of strife is the key to getting rid of confusion and evil. It is the predominant, primary prerequisite for answered prayer.

4. Dwelling On the Past. Instead of putting our painful failures behind us, we often dwell on them until those failures become more real to us than the promises of God. We focus on them until we become bogged down in depression, fearful that if we go on, we’ll only fail again. It’s a downward spiral that leads from discouragement to depression to despair. All you have to do to break out of it is to get your eyes off the past and onto your future that’s been guaranteed by Christ Jesus through the exceedingly great and precious promises in the Bible. God remembers your iniquities no more (Hebrews 8:12), so neither should you. Instead, replace thoughts of the past with scriptural promises about your future. As you do, the spiritual aches, pains, bumps and bruises that have crippled you for so long will quickly disappear!

Related Article:
How To Develop a Powerful Prayer Life