Prayer is needed in our own lives, for those we love and for the Church. Only prayer can bring the breakthroughs that are necessary. You can call it revival, renewal or whatever term you like but we must have it. We must pray for God’s blessing and favor. We must get answers to our prayers.

Wherever provision is lacking, miracles are the only option and peace must be granted the answer is to pray. Persisting in prayer leads to prevailing prayer and prevailing prayer leads to powerful prayer. Powerful prayers are what get results.

But there are distinct reasons why prayers aren’t effective. These reasons can keep the power we need from being manifested in our lives and in the Church. James 5:16 tells us, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”  But is unrighteousness the only reason why our prayers are not powerful and effective? There are certainly other reasons as well.

It may seem obvious but prayerlessness is the first reason. You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. If you don’t pray you don’t get answers. Prayerlessness leaves us more self-consumed and less self-content. Prayerlessness hurts our family, friends and community. Prayerlessness keeps us from receiving what God is ready to provide.

Too many talk about prayer, say they believe in prayer or can explain about prayer but are not actually praying enough. This neglect may be simple busyness but what should be more important in our schedule than prayer? We are filling our lives with reality television, video games, soccer practices and miss out on what matters most. Some may think God is not interested in the details of their life or think why ask when He already knows. But Psalm 37:23 says, “He delights in every detail of our lives.” These then are just excuses erecting the barrier of neglect.

Certainly lack of righteousness is an obstacle to effective prayer. In fact, the Psalmist tells us, “If my thoughts had been sinful, He would have refused to hear me.” (Psalm 66:18) We can actually block the answer God has for our prayers by the sin in our life. Make sure disobedience does not stand in the way of your prayers being answered. Identify any sin in your life anything you are doing or failing to do that is not pleasing to God.

The good news is the answer to overcoming this is clear – confession and repentance. When we acknowledge our sins and repent of them we will be forgiven. When we confess our sin we literally agree with God that it is sin. Then we repent. We turn and go in a new and opposite direction. Then there will no longer be anything standing in the way of God hearing and answering our prayers.

Only an individual and God know their true motives in what they pray for. James 4:3 says, “Yet even when you pray, your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons.” Prayers go unanswered when our motives are not right. Search your heart to determine your true motives. Others may think they know your motives but only you know if they are right.

One way to eliminate selfish motives is to pray for others instead of you. When the focus is on others needs rather than yourself, you are not being selfish and people will be blessed. Pray for God to help them and provide for them. God wants to answer. He wants to provide for them and you. We can always count on His goodness and mercy. But wrong motivations are a barrier that we must address for Him to do it.

Our prayers will be hindered when our relationships are not right. There can be no powerful, effective prayer as long as we are not in right relationship with others. Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) before we worship we must first make peace with the person who is angry with us. To get prayers answered we don’t wait for others to come to us we go to them. We try to make things right. I Peter 3:7 says, “A husband should be thoughtful of his wife…then nothing will stand in the way of your prayers.” 

How can we pray in agreement with fellow believers if we are not in right relationship with them? It is the prayer of agreement that God answers. Make things right so interpersonal problems don’t hinder your prayers. We cannot have the power that comes from agreeing in prayer unless our relationships are healthy.

Asking God to do something is the beginning of a powerful prayer but believing He will actually do it requires faith. James 1:6 tells us, “When you ask for something you must have faith and not doubt.” Without faith prayers can never be effective. Faithless prayers result in unanswered answers perpetuating the false belief that God doesn’t really answer prayer. 

Jesus is looking for faith from us and when He finds it powerful things happen like never before. When the Roman officer told Jesus He did not have to come to his house and pray for his daughter all He had to do was say she was healed - Jesus was thrilled. He finally had found someone who had faith in God’s power.

Helplessness combined with faith produces results. Believing for specific answers, praising God for the answer in advance and spending more time in prayer will create greater faith leading to powerful prayer.

Maybe the biggest reason prayers don’t get answered is giving up praying when the answer doesn’t come soon enough. Jesus knew lack of persistence would be a huge issue in prayer so He told His disciples a story about how they should keep on praying and never give up (Luke 18:1-8). 

God is not like an unjust judge, He will respond to the prayers of His people. We need to persist in prayer for several purposes. We may need to build up the strength so we can handle the answer God gives. We may need to accumulate the knowledge in order to not waste God’s answer. Or we may need to fashion the character so we are a good example for God to answer our prayers. If we keep praying however long it takes the answer will come. There can be no quit in us until we get the result.