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Servant School – Prayer - Hindrances

Servant School

March 3, 2022

Introduction

Welcome to our Servant School class on Prayer

This week, our lesson is titled “What Hinders Prayer?”

I wonder sometimes if we don’t occasionally get a little superstitious when it comes to prayer

Illustration

The Rabbi's Hat

A Rabbi is walking slowly down the street when a gust of wind blows his hat from his head. The hat is being blown down the street, but he is an old man and can’t walk fast enough to catch the hat. Across the street a Gentile sees what has happened and rushes over to grab the hat and then returns it to the Rabbi. “I don’t think I would have been able to catch my hat,” said the Rabbi. “Thank you very much.” The Rabbi then places his hand on the man’s shoulder and says, “May God bless you.” The young man thinks to himself, “I’ve been blessed by the Rabbi, this must be my lucky day!” So he goes to the Racetrack and in the first race he sees there is a horse named Stetson at 20 to 1. He bets $50 and sure enough the horse comes in first. In the second race he sees a horse named Fedora at 30 to 1, so he bets it all and this horse comes in first also. Finally at the end of the day he returns home to his wife. When she asks him where he’s been, he explains how he caught the Rabbi’s hat and was blessed by him and then went to the track and started winning on horses that had a hat in their names. “So where’s the money?” she asks. “I lost it all in the ninth race. I bet on a horse named Chateau and it lost.” “You fool, Chateau is a house, Chapeau is a hat!” “It doesn’t matter,” he said, “the winner was some Japanese horse named Yarmulka.”

I’m not sure that God really works that way.

I don’t think that prayer is some kind of magical, mysterious thing.

What Hinders Prayer?

I’ve got four things to share.

1. We Don’t Do It

(James 4:2b NKJV) Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

What are some reasons we don’t pray?

We feel like we’re too busy

We might not be allowing ourselves enough time in our schedule to set aside for prayer.

Maybe we haven’t yet developed the habit. We don’t have a regular time set aside to pray, and then we forget to pray

Some of us don’t think we’re worthy to pray, so we don’t.

Yet to be honest, by ourselves, none of us are “worthy”.

We are only worthy because of Jesus and His sacrifice for us.

Jesus is our Great High Priest and He has made it possible for us to pray.

(Hebrews 4:14–16 NKJV) —14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Maybe we’re not sure prayer really works

We’ve prayed for things before but they didn’t turn out the way we wanted them to.

I’d like you to rethink some of those thoughts. Perhaps there were lessons in prayer you needed to learn.

Prayer is not about getting our way with God. It’s about getting God’s way for us.

I’ve often heard some folks say that they don’t think that the thing they are asking for is worth taking up God’s time – so they will just handle it themselves.

That’s just not true. God sent His Son to die for you. He thinks you are worth it.

In the end, there is really no good reason for us not to pray.

2. Sin

(Psalm 66:18 NKJV) If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.

The ESV translation reads like this:

(Psalm 66:18 ESV) If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Sin has a way of cutting off our communication with God.

It’s like cutting the cord on a landline telephone.

It’s like your microwave oven cutting off the wifi in your house.

When I do not deal with sin in my heart, my prayers are hindered.

(James 4:3 NKJV) You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Here’s another way sin hinders prayer – my sinful nature can influence me to be asking for the wrong things.

It may be that my prayers are more about what makes me more comfortable than they are about what makes me more useful.

It may be that my prayers have ulterior motives – I pray for that young pretty gal, but it’s so I can get closer to her and …

Now the problem with sin is this – we are all sinners.

(Romans 3:23 NKJV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

So how can God ever hear our prayers?

It’s easy my friends.

We need to learn to admit our sin to God.

We need to turn from our sin.

We need to admit our weakness and areas we are tempted in.

We need to receive the cleansing that God desires for us.

(1 John 1:9 NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It’s not a bad thing to start your prayer time with words like David prayed:

(Psalm 139:23–24 NKJV) —23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

If God makes me aware of an area that’s wrong in my life, then I confess it to God.

And then I pray.

3. God’s Will

Now you may be wondering how “God’s Will” can hinder us from praying.

Let me explain.

(1 John 5:14–15 NKJV) —14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

This is a key verse when it comes to prayer.

The key to answered prayer is learning to ask for things that God wants to do.

will – thelema – what one wishes; will, choice, inclination, desire, pleasure

We want to be asking for things that God has a desire for, things that make God pleased.

How do I know if something is God’s will?

a. Is it clear in God’s word?

There are a few things that are clearly God’s will.

Paul was encouraging Timothy to prayer when he drops this truth about God’s “will”…

(1 Timothy 2:4 NKJV) …who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

The word translated “desires” is the verb form of thelema. God desires, God “wants” people to be saved.

So … are we praying for specific people to be saved? It is God’s will.

Will they get saved? That’s where it’s a little more complicated. I think this is one area where mankind’s free will can be in conflict with God’s desires. But we can still pray.

b. We learn God’s Will through prayer.

I find that sometimes I am praying for something for years before I have a clear indication of whether this is God’s will or not.

On those kinds of issues, you don’t find out until you pray. And keep praying.

There are some things that I pray for, and after months or even years, I feel a growing conviction that God wants me to stop praying for it.

This happened several times with Jeremiah:

(Jeremiah 7:16 NKJV) “Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you.

(Jeremiah 11:14 NKJV) “So do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.

(Jeremiah 14:11 NKJV) Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for this people, for their good.

This is part of the work of prayer.

Sometimes we don’t learn God’s will until we are praying.

4. God’s Timing

Timing and prayer is a little like destroying a “Death Star”.

Play “Luke Destroys Deathstar”.

Now destroying a Death Star requires lots of things, but you aren’t going to be able to destroy the Death Star unless the timing is perfect.

We need to be okay with knowing that God has perfect timing.

After Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586BC, the prophet Jeremiah found himself travelling with a small group of Jews who had survived the fall.

There had been a political assassination, the Babylonian appointed governor had been killed.

The people were concerned that Babylon was going to come back and wipe them all out.

They asked Jeremiah to seek God and find out what they were to do.

(Jeremiah 42:7 NKJV) And it happened after ten days that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

It took ten days before the great prophet Jeremiah heard the answer from God.

We aren’t told why it took so long. It just did.

They had to “wait for it”.

Eight days after Jesus’ birth, His parents took Him to Jerusalem to be circumcised. It was there they met a fellow named Simeon.

(Luke 2:25–32 NKJV) —25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: 29 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation 31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, 32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

Why didn’t Simeon see Jesus earlier than this? It wasn’t time.

(Luke 2:36–38 NKJV) —36 Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; 37 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 38 And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

Here was Anna, given to fasting and prayer. Sure this would have caused the Messiah to come quick. Right? No. It wasn’t time.

Early in Jesus’ ministry, He visited a pagan healing site in Jerusalem where diseased people were seeking cures.

(John 5:5–9 NKJV) —5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.

Why wasn’t the man healed during those 38 years?

I’d like to suggest that the simple answer was, “it wasn’t time”.

When we start to pray for specific requests, we are going to find that God tends to answer in one of three ways:

Yes.

No.

Not Yet.

Sometimes the thing we are praying for is the right thing, but it’s just not time. Will you keep praying for it? I hope so.

I hope that helps…

In Class

Any comments from tonight’s teaching video? Questions?

How are you doing on your daily prayer time? How many days this week did you set time aside to pray?

Have you ever had specific prayer requests that have not been answered, or have not been answered the way you wanted?

Have you ever changed the way you pray for someone?

Can you think of other things that can “hinder” prayer?

Let’s see how we did on our homework. Can you recite the two verses we’ve memorized so far?

(Numbers 6:24–25 NKJV) —24 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;

Have you thought about what it means for God’s face to “shine” on us?”

I think about Moses being in the Tabernacle and coming out with his face “shining” because he was in God’s presence.

God’s glory shines on us and lights us up.

What does it mean for God to be “gracious”?

Did you do the homework assignment of starting a “prayer list”?

May I see it?

Have you learned anything yet by praying for these people every day?

If you’ve been reading with us in our Daily Bible Reading, there have been lots of passages about prayer this week.

Did you see any passages on prayer?

Here were some of mine…

(John 7:17 NKJV) —17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.

(John 8:31–32 NKJV) —31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

This week’s memory verse – we are going to add to what we did last week:

(Numbers 6:24–26 NKJV) —24 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’

We will be eventually memorizing Num. 6:24-26, but here’s the passage it’s from:

(Numbers 6:22–27 NKJV) —22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: 24 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’ 27 “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Let’s take time tonight and pray for Pastor Caleb, and the events taking place in Ukraine.

He will be boarding a plane soon and making his way home. We expect him to land at LAX around 1pm tomorrow afternoon.