6 Reasons Your Prayer Life is Unfruitful
Have you been feeling like your prayers are falling on deaf ears? Do you feel like your prayers reach no farther than the ceiling? Well, here’s some good news. They don’t have to! Or did you not know that “your body is the temple of God and that His Spirit dwells within you” (1 Corinthians 6:19)? Our prayers don’t have to reach the heavens because heaven came down to us and the Spirit of the living God dwells within us…not far off somewhere!
Having said that, there are still several reasons that our prayer life may not prove fruitful. We will examine these reasons and, hopefully, resolve them so that we may hear “yes” and “amen” to our cries to the Lord. And yes, there are prayers that are guaranteed to grant you a “yes” from the Lord (ex. “God will you do Your will in my life?”).
So, with God so near and accessible, why do my prayers still go unanswered or negatively answered? Here are 6 reasons to consider:
1. You Have No Prayer Life
The most obvious reason is that the reason you do not hear from God in a moment of trouble, is that you don’t have a prayer relationship with Him. Sure, when things seem desperate, you may try and cry out to Him, but if you haven’t developed a relationship with Him through prayer, you will seldom recognize His voice when He does speak. You will more easily miss the subtle ways He interacts with you.“…You do not have because you do not ask God” – James 4:2b
2. You Ask Wrongly/Selfishly
My daughter will sometimes ask for things that I know will not be good for her, and if she were to really think about what she’s asking, she might realize that her selfish requests will be bad for her in the long run. So James tells us in his letter ,”when you ask you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasure.” If it is true that God is causing all things to work together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28), then he is obligated to ignore or even rebuke your selfish, wrongly-motivated prayers if they are not what is best for you according to His glory and will.
3. You Have Discord in Your Household/Family
That’s right, your prayers can literally be hindered because of those fights with your spouse!
“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you in the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered – 1 Peter 3:7
Did you see that?! Your lack of grace and understanding with those God has placed in your life can hinder your prayers.
4. You Have Unforgiveness
As with family discord, any sinful disconnect with others is an obstacle to right standing with the Father. Jesus was clear about how important forgiveness is to even our eternal salvation. That’s right, forgiveness matters even for salvation.
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” – Matthew 6:14-15
The reason this is true is that salvation comes not from believing in Jesus. Plenty of people believe in Jesus – that he was a good man, or a prophet or a saint- but the faith that saves is a faith in the finished work of Jesus. What is that work? His death, burial, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins.
Therefore, to not forgive others (or self), is to not believe that Christ has already died for the forgiveness of sins. Who is it that you think you are anyway that can call unclean (or unforgiven) what God has made clean (or forgiven)?!
So you see, unforgiveness is actually unbelief in the finished work of Christ on the cross. For which sin did Christ die? If he did die for sin, then who are you and I that can withhold forgiveness. Can you undo what God has done?
5. You Do Not Delight in the Lord
We are faced, every day, with choices and decisions which have no clear black or white, right or wrong. How can we possibly know which way is best in the little things? How can we pray and expect to hear from God if we aren’t sure of His will and desire for some things?
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will GIVE YOU the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.” – Psalm 37:4-5
Here we are told that desires will be given us if we will simply find our delight in Him. The question, then, becomes, “Do you delight in the Lord?” If the answer is “yes,” then the second question is, “What do you desire?” because if we are delighting in Him, truly, then he is giving to us the desires that drive us!
If you are not delighting in Him, then expect to be disappointed with your prayer time, as He will take the means necessary to bring us, his children, to submission and delight! It is for our delight that He often answers, “No.”
To go a step further, Proverbs says, in the 28th chapter that the prayer of someone who turns his ear from hearing the law “is an abomination” (v.9).
6. You Are Not His Child
A very likely possibility that you have never heard from God in your prayers is that you do not belong to Him. And, while this may sound like a harsh statement, I assure you it is only in love that I write it.
Charles Spurgeon once said to his congregation that if they were to question themselves about their faith, to err on the side of lostness because it would be better to enter heaven wondering if you’ll make it than to enter hell, knowing for certain that you will never go there. And then he added that, if narrow is the gate that leads to life and difficult the path and few will find it, then it is more probable that you are right in your doubt of faith than wrong!
Today, if you are reading and desire to know Christ, I urge you, cry out to Him. Ask Him to deliver to you a new heart. Because if you can do even this remedial task, it is evidence that he is at work in you to even desire to know him.“No one is righteous, not even one. There is none who understands; there is no one who seeks God.” – Romans 3:10-11.