“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect and the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
The Bible encourages us to pray. We are promised that when we pray God will hear and answer- as we saw in the post yesterday about the power of prayer. But we are reminded in 1 Peter 3:7 that our prayers can be hindered. Nothing is worse in a Christian’s life than to have their prayer power hindered. Prayer is our life line. I want to share with you some ways that our prayers can be hindered. (You will understand that the hindrance is our problem and our cause, not God’s.) According to 1 Peter 3:7, bad family relations can hinder our prayers. Husbands are to treat their wives with respect, or their prayers will be hindered. I think that this is true of all family relations in principle. Our spirituality can be gauged by how we treat family members. If we are nice to everyone else but act like tyrants at home, God sees it and is not pleased. If the wife demeans and belittles her husband, she is not doing what the Bible tells her to do. If children do not obey their parents, they are not doing what the Bible tells them to do. If parents are harsh on their children without real love, they are not doing what the Bible tells them to do. We must try to keep things right within our families. It would be virtually impossible to have an open, honest relationship with Jesus and treat members of our family disrespectfully. I think that the Bible clearly indicates that bad family relations can hinder our prayers. According to 1 John 5:5, ignoring the will of God can hinder our prayers: “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” To me, this is the bottom line on prayer. Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:10: “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Being in the will of God is absolutely necessary in all matters in the Christian’s life, and answers to prayer are no different. There are people who say that if you pray in order to accept the will of God, you lack faith. To the contrary, I think it means that we are taking our faith in the sovereignty of God seriously. When we petition God in prayer, our goal should not be what we want but what God wants. Would we want to consciously do anything that would be counter to the will of God? Would we want to claim anything by prayer that was contrary to the will of God? Would we want to pray to go somewhere that took us out of the will of God. Would we want God to do anything in the lives of people for whom we pray outside of God’s will. This is closely tied to James 4:3:“When you ask you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” When we pray, we need to remember what Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Not my will but thy will be done.” Mark 11:24 indicates that lack of belief can hinder our prayers: “Therefore I (Jesus) say unto you, what things soever you desire when you pray believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.” (When you read this, don’t forget the discussion on 1 John 5:5 about the will of God. ) Belief, or faith, is the key that unlocks the door to prayer power. We do not cross our fingers and pray, expecting God to answer our prayers. When we pray, we should open our hearts to God in profound trust that He will hear our prayer and answer according to what He deems best for us. The answers that I have had to prayer were always for the best and brought victory into my life. It is of utmost importance that we believe that God hears and answers our prayers. There are other hindrances to prayer but these are among the most common hindrances. Bro. Joe
1 Comment
LACKSON KENETH
5/20/2017 02:46:36 pm
I Need More About Prayer
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|