Hitting a Wall in Your Prayer Life? Here’s Why

Prayer is vital to a fulfilling walk with God, yet many find it challenging. Have you ever felt like your prayers are hitting a wall? Do you feel as though you have something hindering you? You’re not alone. Many people feel like this at one point or another. Here are a couple of things that could be causing it based on Matthew 13.

Hindrances to Your Prayers

1. Lack of Understanding

The first obstacle for many is a lack of understanding of prayer and why it’s essential. Many people don’t pray because they find it confusing or pointless. We must remember that prayer matters. Remember, prayer is more than just asking God for things; it’s about developing a relationship with Him. It’s a two-way street. Understanding this can transform your prayer life.

2. Lack of Strength

Many hear about prayer and do it with strength, but often, when difficulties hit, they stop. This is like the seed that was killed by the sun in Matthew 13. Prayer requires spiritual, emotional, and physical strength. Martin Luther once said, “Prayer is the sweat of the soul.” Sometimes prayer has a certain resistance, and during this time, you’ll need to develop persistence and not quit. It won’t always feel easy or even as enjoyable. That shouldn’t stop you from praying.

3. Busyness

For many believers, it’s not hard times that choked out their spiritual life but rather their busyness. For them, things didn’t get hard. They got too good.

Jesus warns about letting the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches hinder our spiritual growth. Don’t become so busy that you forget to pray. Don’t believe the lie that prayer takes time. Prayer saves time. When you begin to put God first in your life, He’ll make everything fall into place (Matthew 6:33).

4. Satan

Prayerlessness was born when Adam and Eve obeyed Satan and hid from God.

When you begin to fall into the trap of Satan, you will live your life hiding from God. That’s what prayerlessness is. It’s hiding from God. Do you ever wonder why Satan has fought to keep prayer out of schools? What about when he made a law to cause Daniel to stop praying? It’s because God causes us to become bold like lions when we come out of the secret place.

5. Unanswered Prayers

Unanswered prayers can be discouraging, but they shouldn’t stop us from praying. We must understand that even when prayer doesn’t seemingly change things, it’s changing us. Sometimes, God’s answers are different from our expectations. His answer is sometimes “no” or even “wait.”

Even if there is no answer from God, we should not allow that to stop us from going to God. James 4:2 says that we have not because we ask not. If we allow discouragement to keep us from prayer, we’ll have missed out on so much more for our lives.

6. Mistreating Your Spouse

1 Peter 3:7 tells us that how we treat our spouse can impact our prayer life.

That means if you live with your spouse and you’re constantly fighting, not dwelling with them with understanding, and not giving them honor, your prayers are going to be blocked.

7. Unrepentant Sin

Isaiah 59:1-2 Sin separates us from God. Living in unrepentant sin can block our prayers. Now, this is not about going and digging up old sins to try and confess them. This talks about repenting for any known sins and forsaking them.

God is not going to hear a person who willfully and habitually chooses to live an unrepentant life. Jesus made it very clear in Matthew 7 by stating, “You who practice lawlessness.” This is not saying those who struggle with sin. Practicing it means you make a habit of it.

Final Thoughts

John Blanchard once said, “The real secret of prayer is secret prayer.” Don’t allow any lies, distractions, or sins to keep you from running to God. When praying gets hard, pray hard and always ask the Holy Spirit to help you.

Read: Strategies to Build Your Prayer Life