The greatest mystery of prayer is that it joins people on the earth with the heart of God in heaven! Prayer is spiritual and it goes into the unseen realm it brings things out of the unseen realm into the realm we can see and into the world around us, right where we live. When we pray we connect with that spiritual realm, which is where God is, and which affects our daily lives more than we realize.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
The Message
16-18So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

Prayer opens doors for God to work!! James 4:2 We do not have certain things because we do not ask for them.
God has always said to his people and is still saying to us: “you and i are partners. You are my body in the earth.” Jesus christ does not have a body in the earth today so we are the body of christ. We represent who he is and what he does on the earth. We are his mouth, his hands, his feet, his face. We are to express his heart, demonstrate his LOVE, and reveal his power to those around us. And so we need to pray! We need to access the wisdom and resources of heaven for ourselves and FOR OTHERS. What is the all important key to answered prayers? WALKING IN LOVE.
Jesus made it clear that love is his number one priority when he said
John 13:34
The Message
34-35″Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”
If we only do one thing in our lives it should be to love people. Genuine, pure, fervent love. Its impossible to truly love others without knowing God, loving him, and knowing how much he loves you. Many people think great faith is the number one sign of spiritual maturity but walking in love is the true test of spiritual maturity and it is essential to an effective prayer life. Our LOVE walk energizes our faith walk. The bible teaches that faith works through love. Galatians 5:6 I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.

There are 14 hindrances to prayer
1. prayerlessness…james 4:2 you do not have, because you do not ask. Do not let prayerlessness hinder God from working in your life and the lives of your loved ones.

2. lack of boldness…ephesians 3:2020-21God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

3. sin…psalms 66:16-20 All believers, come here and listen,
let me tell you what God did for me.
I called out to him with my mouth,
my tongue shaped the sounds of music.
If I had been cozy with evil,
the Lord would never have listened.
But he most surely did listen,
he came on the double when he heard my prayer.
Blessed be God: he didn’t turn a deaf ear,
he stayed with me, loyal in his love.

4. praying outside of Gods will…..Always pray Gods word.

5. praying with wrong motives

6. doubt and unbelief…James 1:6-8
The Message (MSG)
5-8If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

7. worry…
Philippians 4:6
The Message (MSG)
6-7Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

8. lack of gratitude…
Philippians 4:11-12
The Message (MSG)
10-14I’m glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you’re again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don’t mean that your help didn’t mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles.

9. negative confession…Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it for death or life.

10. failure to focus…Prayers are like a laser beam. It is powerful, but you must stay focused until the desired results come!!
11. not caring for people in need…1 John 3:17-18
The Message (MSG)
16-17This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
18-20My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

12. rebellion…Rebellion toward authority will render unanswered prayers.

13. unforgiveness…
Ephesians 4:24
The Message (MSG)
20-24But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.

Mark 11:25
The Message (MSG)
22-25Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain, for instance: Just say, ‘Go jump in the lake’—no shuffling or shilly-shallying—and it’s as good as done. That’s why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you’ll get God’s everything. And when you assume the posture of prayer, remember that it’s not all asking. If you have anything against someone, forgive—only then will your heavenly Father be inclined to also wipe your slate clean of sins.”

14. Pride…
1 Peter 5:5
The Message (MSG)
4-5When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he’ll see that you’ve done it right and commend you lavishly. And you who are younger must follow your leaders. But all of you, leaders and followers alike, are to be down to earth with each other, for—

God has had it with the proud,
But takes delight in just plain people.

Proverbs 16:5
New International Version (NIV
5 The Lord detests all the proud of heart.
Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

When you ask the Holy Spirit to come in, then you give Him power over your life, to do the things not only in you, but through you. That’s where the power part comes in. You see, Jesus is just one man, but the Spirit of God is in all of us. That means when we come together IN HIS NAME, we are bringing the Holy Spirit with us. There is power in numbers. Jesus said where two are gathered in my name, ask anything (John 14:14)…, and one can put a thousand to flight, two can put ten thousand to flight (Lev. 26:8, Deut. 32:30). He isn’t talking about birds here, he is talking about the enemy that try’s to come to kill, steal, and destroy. The ones he wants to attack are us, because God love us so much and wants to draw us closer to Him, and has entrusted us with His Spirit, His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our help, our teacher, our comforter. He guides us in all truth. He is everything we need to keep going forward, even when the days look dark. He will lead and guide us through the tough times and into everything God has waiting for us.

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