William Gurnall warned, “The Christian’s armor will rust except it be furbished and scoured with the oil of prayer.” The great battle of each day is a spiritual one and much of it is fought on the Plains of Prayer.

The Wicked Worm loathes to hear God’s children storming the throne in confidence and so he wars with particular force to keep us off our knees. In what ways does he do this? How are we tempted to backslide in our life of prayer? What are some common hindrances to prayer we should know? Sound answers to these questions are aids in The Great War.

Hindrances to True Prayer

Joel Beeke is pastor who models experiential theology. That is, he knows theology is meant to live in our hearts—it is to be experienced. He knows when to warn, when to command, and when to comfort. Case in point: his recent post on common hindrances to prayer. Here’s wise pastoral counsel married to the truth of God’s word. I only took the highlights from each point, so make sure to read it all after the jump.

1. Little sense of sin. The man who sees his state may truly cry to God for mercy.
2. Pleading on grounds outside of Christ. Too often our hearts rest on something else than Christ, often our own self-righteousness. We must learn to seek Christ alone and pray in His name alone. The Father’s heart is opened to the sinner in Christ.
3. Separating prayer from the Word. The promises of God in Scripture are the substance of our prayers.  Robert Murray M‘Cheyne said, “Turn the Bible into prayer.”
4. Unbelief. We must learn to rest in and believe that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him in faith.
5. Too busy. Maybe we are busy even with lawful activities. We still must make use of the means of grace diligently, making all other activities secondary.
6. Lack of dependency on the Spirit. Ask the Spirit to groan within you and teach you to pray (Rom. 8:26). Without the Spirit, Thomas Boston said that men pray “like [deaf] people making a roar.”
7. Spiritual dryness. Recognize that you may often not feel like praying, but happily prayer does not depend on your feelings. The command still stands: “Be faithful in prayer” (Rom. 12:12).
8. Shame on account of sin. When we are ashamed of our lives and evil hearts, we often avoid coming to God in prayer. But this is precisely the time we must go to God (Gen. 3:8; Heb. 4:13). Humble yourself before Him, and plead the merits of the Son!

Read it all here. May you persist in prayer this day!