HINDRANCES TO PRAYER
So that nothing will hinder your prayers.
1 Peter 3:7
Prayer is the most precious thing, for it is the channel by which priceless blessings come to believers and the window through which their needs are supplied by a gracious God. Prayer is the vessel that trades with heaven and comes home from the celestial country laden with treasures of far greater worth than ever Spanish galleon brought from the land of gold. It is so invaluable that the danger of hindering it is used by Peter as a motive why—in marriage relationships and household concerns—husbands and wives should behave in such a way that their united prayers be not hindered. Anything that hinders prayer must be wrong. If anything regarding the family is injuring our power in prayer, there is an urgent demand for change. Husband and wife should pray together as joint heirs of grace, and any behavior or attitude or habit that hinders this is evil.
Prayer is the true gauge of spiritual power. To restrain prayer is a dangerous and deadly tendency. This is a faithful saying: What you are upon your knees, you are really before your God. What the Pharisee and the publican were in prayer was the true criterion of their spiritual state. (Luke 18:10-14). You may maintain a decent repute among men, but it is a small matter to be judged of man’s judgment, for men see only the surface, while the Lord’s eyes pry into the recesses of the soul. If He sees that you are prayerless, He makes small account of your attendance at religious meetings or your loud spiritual words. If you are a man of earnest prayer—and especially if the spirit of prayer is in you so that your heart habitually talks with God—things are right with you. But if this is not the case and your prayers are hindered, there is something in your spiritual system that needs to be ejected or something lacking that needs to be supplied. “Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23), and living prayers are among the wellspring.
Heavenly Father, You see the hindrances to prayer in my life. I repent of my sin and desire to give my heart to you alone. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment