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This is Michael Brown. For those listening, everything is normal. For those watching, we're in a different studio today and tomorrow. But class is now in session in the School of Prayer and we're here to infuse you with faith and truth and courage to help you stand strong on the front lines. Remember, if you're not getting our monthly frontline newsletter, it's free, it's digital, it's edifying, it's upbuilding, it's encouraging from the Hebrew word study to missionary testimonies to a powerful lead message, book excerpts. If you're not getting it, sign up again digital free.
Go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org and click subscribe. What I want to focus on today is hindrances to prayer, hindrances to prayer. We've been emphasizing day after day the importance of prayer, that we do what we can do. But we pray, yes, to have a relationship with God, to deepen our walk with him. Absolutely, that's a foundational reason that we pray. We pray so that we can pour our heart out to him and cast our cares and our burdens and our worries on him. That's a major reason why we pray. But we also pray because we want to see answers. We pray because we need miracles. We pray because the gospel can't advance without the help of God. We pray because we're in over our heads in this world and many of the situations of life or business or ministry or family. So we go to God saying, God, I can only do so much. I need you to work. I need you to act. I need you to show yourself powerful. So we must understand hindrances to prayer, things that get in the way of effective, effectual prayer. And again, I'm being as practical as I can, as down to earth as I can. What's the use of giving this beautiful spiritual language?
It sounds so good, but we don't know what to do with it. So first hindrance, and this is just my order. You could have a different order. First hindrance to prayer is a haughty independent spirit, a haughty independent spirit. Prayer begins by us saying, I can't do this.
I need God. That's where prayer begins. And before we pray then, we humble ourselves and ask yourself the question, why do we often get on our knees to pray? Is it just a posture? No, it is a sign of, I am kneeling down before the king. Why do we sometimes lay on our faces when we pray?
You may have done that as well. Why do you even bow our heads? It's a sign of saying, you're the king. You're God. You are the supreme one. You are the creator. We are the creative being. So it begins with humility.
It begins by getting low. God, I need your help. We are not miracle workers. There are no superstars in the body, giants. We are all little, frail servants of a glorious, wonderful, extraordinary God.
That is the reality. He's the miracle worker. He's the one that knows the hairs on our head. He's the one that controls the destiny of nations. He's the one that created, what is it, billions of galaxies?
I mean things completely beyond our possible comprehension. We're just, in terms of who we are in ourselves, we're not even a dust on the balance, on the scales. So we are saying, God, we need your help. That's why God says the famous verse in Second Chronicles 7 14 to Israel, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, that's where it begins, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. I've had to confess to God a different kind of arrogance.
It's not that I think I can do it on my own. It's not that I think I don't need God's help, but rather I'm often, and this has happened over the decades, running so hard doing the work of God that I neglect being with God in the process. That running hard and doing and being is, those are different things, being in his presence and looking to him and praying.
Well, I'm so busy doing other things. You're so busy with life and family and ministry and work and school and all of that and making the latest deal and doing this and running around for God that we neglect being with him. That's another kind of independence and it's saying I can do this on my own, like with a little help from God. No, we can't do this on our own with a little help from God.
We can't do it at all. It is Christ in us. It is Jesus in us. It is God working in us that carries out the work.
Let me read some scriptures to you. Acts chapter 14, when the people praise Paul and Barnabas as gods. As Paul is preaching, he sees a man, he's in the list, he sees a man who's been crippled and he perceives he has faith and he says, he says, stand up on your feet, stand up and walk. He says that and the man walks and they begin to grow. You're, they're worse than his gods and he said, we're human too.
We are human too. Acts chapter 4, verses 29 and 30, after persecution arises against the believers. They say, the apostles and the believers pray, now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. So they ask God to do what he could do.
Persecution comes, pressure comes, challenge comes, difficulties come. What do they do? They, we're just your servants. You have to stretch out your hand.
You have to do the work. They get low. They ask God to move from on high. What does Jesus say in John 15 five? And we have to ask ourselves, do we believe these words or not? Do we believe these words or not?
I am the vine, Jesus said, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing.
Apart from me, you can do nothing. Do we believe that? On the one hand, yes, he's in us.
We're in him. That can be something 24-7, but so much of this is lived out through prayer. So much of being in him and abiding in the vine, so much of it is lived out through prayer. And, and that's what we need to, to, to put down as the roots of abiding him.
Jesus is saying otherwise you're gonna bear no fruit, no lasting fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Do we believe that? If so, we should give ourselves to prayer even more, saying God, work through me. Answer these prayers. Work in my family. Work in the situation. Work in our ministry. Cause your will to be done.
Leaning on him, depending on him. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7. Paul says, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. So the, the treasure that we have is carried in these jars of clay, which is why we are so dependent on God. Which is why Paul was a man of prayer. We looked at his prayer life earlier on. Remember if you, if you miss any of the broadcasts, just wherever you get your, your, your podcast iTunes or Spotify, just search for courage in the line of fire.
Courage in the line of fire. You'll see it with my name or picture. And then just look at all the past episodes. Listen to them or on our YouTube channel, The Line of Fire on YouTube.
You just go there and you'll see the whole series you can watch. But make sure you subscribe and then click on the bell. This way you'll be notified of new videos because we put out many other videos on other subjects.
We'll be doing a lot more of that in the new year. So God's put his treasure in jars of clay to show the all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. The previous chapter, or actually in 1 Corinthians 3, Paul says, look, one waters, one plants, another waters, God gives the increase.
God is the one who gives the increase. How much more effective would we be if we pulled back from all of our activity and gave ourselves more to prayer? This is not an excuse for inactivity. If, look, if you need a job and you say, I'm just gonna stay home all day and enjoy, enjoy the presence of the Lord and read the Bible.
Okay, but you're not gonna be able to eat. Paul said if you don't work, you don't eat. And, and if you need a job, go out and look for a job. And if God's giving you faith to pray in a job, well then pray it in.
And if the answer doesn't come, well if something's wrong, go out and get a job. It's not an excuse for laziness. But speaking for myself, laziness is not the issue.
Prayerlessness is a greater issue. If we could just think, I could, I could walk, here I'll give you an analogy. I could walk from my house 20 miles away to a place where there's, well let's say you live in jungle areas in Africa. We're in drought, but there's this one place, there's this giant well that still has water 20 miles away. I could walk every day all the way from there, 20 miles, however long it takes me, get the water, and I've got as many buckets as I can carry, and I'm gonna walk all the way back the next day, and some of the water's gonna evaporate by the time I get back.
And then when I get home, it's just a little water to spare for our village. Okay, well you keep doing that because you have no choice, but pray, pray, because God could send the rain, and overnight there could be floods of water. We do not avail ourselves sufficiently of in prayer. James, Jacob chapter 4 verses 7 to 10, submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Come near to God and he'll come near to you. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Proverbs 3 7, Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and shun evil. Micah 6 8, He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Humility, friends, is one of the most basic things God requires of us, and a lack of humility is a major hindrance to prayers.
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Deep appreciation for standing together with us and being such a blessing to our listeners and our viewers. You know, as we talk about the need to humble ourselves and how a haughty, independent spirit can be so dangerous, when you humble yourself, you have to lean on God. We've all been through it.
We've all been through it. That you hum- you want to fight. You want to justify yourself. You want to take a stand. You want to argue.
I mean, I'm a debater, right? And sometimes you just have to get low and humble yourself and- and- and take the hits and let God fight for you. But that's part of faith and it's part of what empowers our prayers. So humility is something God requires of us. Lack of humility is a major hindrance. Second hindrance, second hindrance, a consistent lack of understanding of corporate responsibility. Again, this is just my order.
You can have a different order. A consistent lack of understanding of corporate responsibility. What I mean is, we are not just isolated from the rest of the body. That we rise and fall together in many ways. And we're not isolated from the rest of our nation. For example, if there's greater prosperity in the nation, we tend to do better. If there's less, we tend to live on less. If there's a war going on, our young men will be enlisted or volunteered to fight. If, in other words, we're affected. We have a good president, a bad president. It affects things.
We are in this world together. When you read the history of Israel, you read the history of its leaders. As the kings went, so did the nation. So in modern times, an evil leader like Hitler could not have done so much evil alone. Others had to get on board.
So what's what's the point of this? If there's stuff happening in our world, in our nation, we can't shut our eyes to it and just live in our own world. We have to say, oh God, turn the hearts of our nation, or turn the heart of the church, or bring us on a national level to repentance.
I don't want to stay on that one too long because I want to look more on a personal level, but that's also an issue. Another hindrance is fascination with man. In other words, we look to people too much. We put too much trust in people to do what only God can do. Yes, we should be able to trust people in terms of friends and colleagues and leaders and and spouses and family and things like that, but ultimately our only trust can be in God. Our only trust can be in God.
That that's that's where it begins. That's where it ends in terms of ultimate trust. We could only put all our eggs in his basket, and so many times we look, the powerful man of God, the powerful woman of God, where the role this one plays in our life and that one plays in our life, and thank God for Godly men and women to use this. Thank God for Godly friends that that help you and strengthen you, but you can't put your hope in people the way you put your hope in God. There is an ultimate hope, an ultimate trust, an ultimate leaning, an ultimate throwing yourself on someone that can only be done on God, and otherwise he's the only one who can carry the burden.
Yes, you may be broken-hearted. You sit with a best friend or a spouse and you weep on their shoulder and you cry together, and that's therapeutic and that's helpful and it's beautiful, but they can't work the miracle that you need. And the mighty man of God on TV, he's not the miracle worker. She, the mighty woman of God, she's not the miracle worker. So we must understand it is God who does the work, not the great man or woman of God. We can be drawn to people who operate and the gifts of the Spirit, instead of the Spirit himself, or we can be drawn to scholarship and the exaltation of brain power. We can be drawn to people who operate and the gifts of the Spirit, instead of the Spirit himself. We can be drawn to scholarship, the exaltation of brain power.
Look, I'm a debater. People look to me to answer the rabbis and these other things, but ultimately your your hope has to be in the truth of God, and this is a hindrance to prayer because we're looking at people to do what only God can do. Isaiah 2 22, it's, it's, it's a verse, it's a little difficult to translate just because of the idiom in Hebrew, he Lulachim min Adom, which is literally, cease yourself from man. Some, some of the translations more literally say that, cease yourself from man. This is for of what account is, whose breath is in his nostrils, for of what account is he?
So I'll read one translation, stop trusting in mere humans who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem? And that's again Acts 14, friends with Paul and Barnabas, why are you doing this? Why are you worshipping us?
We too are only human like you. We are in a culture today, we are in our church culture especially, because of mega churches, many God is blessed. I work in five mega churches, but you know you've got multiple campuses and the face of the pastor preaching, and I'm not saying it's sinful or wrong, but we have this now, we have anybody can be a YouTube sensation, right, or have social media following on Instagram, whatever, you get millions and millions and millions of people hanging on your every word and waiting for your latest video. We're in a culture, we're in a society now that's, that's different, and it's different in that, it's different in that we, we are more able to exalt people. We're in a situation where it's much, much easier to lift people up and to look to the man or woman of God, as opposed to, you know, you're in an underground church, everyone's in hiding, the, the top leaders are in prison, we just have to be more careful.
That's all I'm saying. Look, I'm speaking to you, I can reach lots of people through our broadcast on radio and podcasts and social media and YouTube, etc., and, and perhaps some things we say can go viral, and it's easy to look at the person, we've got to keep our eyes on the Lord. It's subtle many times, but we must do that.
Oh, let's, let's see if I can get into one more. Fourth hindrance, an instant society mentality. I first taught on this, I would say, in the late 80s, did an extensive class on foundations of prayer, and these notes that I'm gleaning from and using some of them in teaching, these were put together from my class, taught over a period of years, and then notes were transcribed from then, much more extensive notes than I would have had while teaching, and I'm thinking when I first taught about an instant society, compared to now? Wow. I mean, think, think of the situation centuries ago where the only way to communicate was a written communication or an oral communication which had to be passed physically from one part of the world to another. So let's say you live in the early 1800s, and you're in the American colonies, and you've got relatives in, in England, and some exciting news, some very exciting news, it's time sensitive, you want them to know, well you write a letter, and you get a letter on the next boat going to England, the fastest communication you can find, right?
And that boat go, and there were times when we didn't have that either, and that boat now goes across the Atlantic, and it arrives maybe six weeks later, and then the letter has to get the letter, get it to the person. Wow! Amazing! Exciting! And they write you back, and then the next boat coming out, so maybe it's 14, 15 weeks before you even hear anything.
We're talking three, four months. Wow. Isn't that extraordinary? And that would be, wow, they got it quickly.
Now we're FaceTime anybody anywhere. Just boom, boom, but everything instant, and, and many big answers, many key things, many things that we need most do not come instantly. In fact, the vast majority of the most important things that we need do not come immediately. So God does instantly forgive sin, yes, when we ask him to, and, and he often instantaneously answers the prayers of his people, but we have this instant mentality for everything. We don't want to wait for anything.
You know, you might even, you may be waiting to order something, if it takes more than one click, and it doesn't already have your payment, you don't even do it. That, that was too much effort, that was too much effort, that will not work in prayer. Acts 1 14, they all join together constantly in prayer, along with the women, and Mary, Miriam, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
And this is for ten days before the Spirit fell, after Jesus ascended to heaven. They all joined together constantly in prayer, and they prayed until the answer came, and that is what it is going to take. For the biggest, most important things, this will be prayer over a period of time. Our attitude can be, let the world come, serve us, or let God come, hey, we need, gonna need, come and serve us, or we can have the mentality, Lord, we're serving you, we're here to honor you, we're here to love you, and now you pray until the answer comes.
You cry out until the answer comes. You meet with God until the answer comes. Leonard Ravenhill, the greatest man of prayer that I ever knew, that from 1907 to 1994, we were super close to the last five years of his life. He said this, if we do not learn to concentrate, concentrate in prayer, then we will have to pray in concentration camps.
Can I read that again? If we don't learn to concentrate in prayer, then we will have to pray in concentration camps. May the Lord help us to concentrate in prayer. May the Lord help us to focus in prayer. May the Lord help us to be undistracted in our prayers. May the Lord help us to deepen our prayer life so that we legitimately have a prayer life.
This is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener-supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the Word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference. So go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org, and click Donate.