Sermon Outlines

By Frederick F. Schwindt, Evangelist

HINDRANCES TO PRAYER

1. If prayer is opening our lives to infinite power and wisdom and love, why don't we all do it?
   1. A prayerful study of the prayer life as taught in the Bible exposes many so called reasons for neglecting prayer - even by professed Christians
   2. With some it is sheer ignorance of the nature of prayer and its working
   3. The sad part of it all is many Christians tell me that they do not know how to pray
2. What causes men to neglect prayer?
   1. Each of us will have to examine our own hearts to find our lethargy to have and meet the Lord in prayer
   2. Our opening text admonishes us to pray without ceasing

1. They may differ in the life of each person:
   1. They are, by enlarge, controlled by our environment or circumstances
   2. Experience shows that no two cases are alike
2. This writer can think of five special hindrances to prayer:
   1. When we don't feel like praying - in this case our moods become the barrier to communing with God - Examples: Habakkuk felt as if he was facing a blank wall for a long time - his prayers seemed to go no higher than his voice - Hab. 1:2; that was true of David at times - Ps. 88:14; a moody Christian is very undependable - Gen. 49:3-4; James 1:6-7
   2. Being quitters - "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not faint" - Luke 18:1-9; our Lord knows the tendencies of some of His children, when they do not obtain right away what they seek in prayer, they quit - they give way to discouragement
   3. Not using our minds about prayer - "Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord" - Is. 1:18; 46:26; 41:1; do we reason our prayers through?
   4. An unloving spirit - note the spirit of the Elder Brother toward his father and his prodigal brother - Luke 15:25-32; when we approach the throne of grace in that spirit we set up a barrier between us and a prayer answering God. Someone suggests that the door of mercy moves on the hinges of mercy or love - I John 2:9-11; 4:20

1. Sin - hidden sin, sin which we are unwilling to forsake or part with:
   1. Saith the Lord, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear" - Is. 59:1-2
   2. Said the Psalmist, "O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Iniquities prevail against me" - Ps. 65:2-3; "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" - Ps. 66:18
2. Secret sins are, in truth, the hidden cancer of the soul:
   1. These sins are deadly because they do their work in the dark - we are afraid to have them exposed to the light
   2. Prayed David, "Cleanse thou me from secret faults" - Ps. 19:12; "Our secret sins are in the light of thy countenance" - Ps. 90:8; writes the preacher, "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or bad" - Eccl. 12:14
3. How solemn, how awe-inspiring, prayer is when we view it in the light of this message:
   1. When our prayers are ineffective, dull, and discouraging - then let us search our hearts diligently to discover the reason for this condition
   2. We shall not be long in waiting to discover at least some of the hindrances to our prayers
   3. Then do our part to remove the barrier to our prayers as indicated in Is. 1:17-19
   4. May this humble message bring new thoughts to us a to some of the reasons for unanswered prayers