HINDRANCES TO PRAYER
Oswald J. Smith
[1889-1986]
There are three hindrances to the prayer life, three enemies
with which we have to cope. Of course, if you merely fall down at your bedside
in the morning and mumble off a few words of prayer, and then get up and hurry
to work, you will not know what I mean. I am talking about real prayer,
intercessory prayer, prayer that achieves its objective. I say there are three
hindrances.
Interruptions
Have you ever had the telephone ring when you have been at
prayer? Or has the baby cried? Have friends called upon you? Have you been
interrupted in one way or another? Satan knows exactly when to send the
interruptions. If he can interrupt you when you are at prayer he will have
wrecked the efficiency of your prayer ministry.
Now how did I get rid of interruptions? I discovered that I
had to have a time for prayer and a place for prayer. When I am at home I make
my study the place for prayer, and I make the first hour of the morning directly
after breakfast the time for prayer. Everyone knows when I am at prayer –
therefore interruptions are avoided.
When I am crossing the ocean, I find the most secluded part
of the deck I can find, and that becomes my place for prayer. When I am at a
summer conference, I go out into the woods, and there, under the trees, I find a
place for prayer.
May I say that your place for prayer will become so sacred
that you will think of it as holy ground. I have stained the walls of my study
with the breath of my prayers. I always go back to the same place when I pray,
and there God meets me.
You, too, will have to have a place of prayer and a time for
prayer. Only then can you avoid interruptions.
Drowsiness
Have you ever become drowsy when you have been at prayer? You
know what I mean. You kneel down and place your head on your arms, close your
eyes and attempt to pray. Before very long you become drowsy, and at times you
fall asleep. Thus drowsiness hinders your prayer life. Your body is tired and
weary. You have become exhausted and you just cannot keep awake.
When I am praying alone I never kneel. I never stand or sit.
What do I do, then? I always walk when I pray. I clear the furniture from the
center of the room and then I pace back and forth as I talk to God.
I have walked hundreds of miles down through the years as I
have prayed. I started doing it at the very beginning of my Christian life and I
received so much blessing from it that I have continued it ever since.
Some ministers have to play golf for exercise. I have never
had time for such exercise. There has been too much to do. I find that the very
best exercise that one can take is that of walking. Hence, as I walk and pray, I
get all the exercise I need.
If I were to fall asleep for a single moment I would crash to
the floor and would be wide awake instantly. But that has never happened. As I
walk back and forth I am always wide awake. I am on the alert. I am able to pray
intelligently, and I never fall asleep. You, too, can overcome drowsiness if you
will walk.
Wandering Thoughts
You know what I mean. Just when you are concentrating on
prayer, you find yourself thinking, planning, arranging about the future. Thus
Satan fills your mind with wandering thoughts, and instead of praying – you are
thinking. Well now, how are you going to get rid of wandering thoughts?
As I walk back and forth, I put my petitions into words, and
by praying out loud I avoid wandering thoughts. You see, I have to concentrate
upon what I am saying to God just as I concentrate when I am preaching. If you
will pray out loud, you will also find that there will be no wandering thoughts.
When you kneel to pray, and pray quietly to yourself and to
God, the time seems long. Perhaps when you open your eyes you will discover that
you have only been praying for five or ten minutes. That has been my experience.
But, when you walk and pray out loud, you will discover that
the time will go by so fast that you will be amazed. You will open your eyes and
look at the clock, and you will discover that you have been praying for half an
hour, three quarters of an hour, or perhaps an entire hour.
These, then, are the three hindrances to prayer –
interruptions, drowsiness, wandering thoughts. Have you overcome them and are
you a prayer warrior for God? If not, you can be – if you will follow these
suggestions. Will you do it?
"Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1).
2 comments:
I think wandering thoughts would be my worst enemy if I was to pray regularly.
I hear ya, friend, thats the big one for me, also...
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