10 Causes Of Prayerlessness

10 Causes Of Prayerlessness

KEY SCRIPTURES

1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.”

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Psalms 14:4 “Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? Who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.”

Isaiah 43:22 “But you have not called upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel.”

INTRODUCTION

Praying is a medium of communicating with God, our maker and it is through prayers we get to receive from God, the plans, purpose of existence, vision for one self and others. Prayer is the greatest untapped and misused resource of the Christian life. A relationship with God is impoverished and fatigued without communication. Without praying to God, we can’t get from him. Prophet Samuel in the bible identified prayerlessness as a sin because it is a violation of God’s command. A prayerless Christian is a powerless and backsliding Christian. Backslidden started the day you lost your prayer life. Moreover, if you stop praying, you start sinning and if you start sinning, you stop praying, there is no way you can combine the two together. The security defense of a family altar is devastated when regular prayer is missing. A prayerless man doesn’t enjoy the continuous presence of God.

10 Causes Of Prayerlessness

Prayerlessness ignores the gift of intercession that God has given us and also a defiance towards God’s command to love others. Prayer makes room for the correcting voice of God but prayerlessness weakens our ability to hear Christ when he whispers words of correction or conviction to our spirits. Without His Spirit living in our hearts, we would be on a rough road following our own judgments. Prayerlessness clouds your heart to the temptations surrounding you and leads to further sins. Prayer is our lifeline and connection to God and Christ showed the opposite of prayerlessness in His walk on earth and modelled a prayer-filled life. In this article, we will look into 10 causes of prayerlessness in order to check and correct them from our lives if found.

1. SIN: Sin is a factor that can cause prayerless in the life of a believer. When we have been sinning and we know, it draws you back from praying to God because guilt has set in. Sin undermines our faith in God. A Christian who is still carnal has neither the disposition nor strength to follow after God. He remains satisfied with his prayer of habit or customs but the glory and the blessedness of secret prayers is a hidden thing to him and until his eyes are opened, powerful prayers are impossible for him.
2. BUSYNESS: This is a cause that results in neglect. We constantly want to do things in life that will bring us gain. Praying can be neglected when you focus on an agenda to make you accomplish in life. Getting a new job, education or just having fun is not bad but when we are often on the move, self-focused, busy, we leave our lives short with our involvements with God. Are you too busy giving some time to God? Are you too tired to observe your quiet time due to the fact that you slept late? Prayerlessness is setting in; don’t let busyness stop you from communicating with God. Praying continually should be cultivated throughout the day. You need to plan your day with prayers no matter how busy the day will become. You need to learn to withdraw to a quiet place to pray to your maker daily. Develop a habit to set some time for prayer and pray in the “in between” throughout your day.
3. DISTRACTIONS: Is also a factor that causes prayerlessness in the life of a Christian because it removes focus from God. There are two types of distractions which are physical distraction and emotional distraction. Physical distractions talk about the act of not giving your full attention to God and allowing our daily concerns to prevent us from focusing. When you are eager to pick your calls during fellowshipping with people or your mind get distracted to the point where you need to pray hard to engage in prayers because of daily concern instead of casting your cares on him and be more responsive and focusing on God, you are leaning towards prayerlessness because all these distractions will work against your prayer life and doubt will set in. Emotional distraction is based on the feelings of getting tired, sad, depressed and fatigue which can turn towards prayerlessness. This happened at the garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus told his disciples to pray with him but because of their sleepiness, they neglected their focus on God to pray and follow their feelings and emotions. We need to make sure we remove distractions from our life so that our complete focus will be towards Jesus. Physical and emotional distractions can cause an effect on your prayer life.
4. STUBBORN HEART: Stubbornness can draw you away from God and into the world. When you have this feeling that you don’t need God’s help again. You lose interest in prayer because you do not want to listen to what God is telling you, God’s choice over a matter is not palatable to you, all these can draw you away from God and cause prayerlessness. You are not interested in learning from God through prayers, the word of God doesn’t push you to repentance and your will alone is all that matters to you, then you are already suffering from prayerlessness. You need to ask God to remove all stony hearts from you and give you a heart of flesh. A heart that is ready to be obedient to God’s bidding.
5. UNBELIEF: When you have been asking God for something for long but now you are beginning to doubt whether it is God’s will for you to have it or maybe the path God is telling you to take seems hard or too good to be true but instead of fighting in prayer, you allow unbelief to settle in your heart and stop praying altogether. Unbelief can cause prayerlessness because you are already doubting God’s promises and if not dealt with on time, you might lose connection with God and his plans for your life.
6. UNFORGIVENESS: When you harbor resentment, offense, bitterness or anger towards others, praying to God will be very difficult because as Christian, we’re told to be forgiving people. Inability to forgive others can hinder our prayer life which can lead to prayerlessness. Unforgiveness is a poison to the soul and it destroys its own container. Unforgiveness is a sin that locks the unforgiving person in their own self-made prison and if not dealt with seriously, it can also lead to unanswered prayers.
7. INDISCIPLINE: This is another factor that causes prayerlessness. Prayer is likened to a train, faith is the engine of prayer, God’s promises are the fuel while discipline is the rails but if the rails are not working fine, prayers will be at a standstill because no movement is involved. If one is not disciplined in meeting set time and target for prayers, there will be stagnancy and this can lead to prayerlessness because excuses will be the order of the day. It is only discipline that can guide prayers, discipline makes you plan, structure the way in praying and methods needed to achieve answers to prayers. Prayerlessness is almost always due to a stalled engine. 
8. DISCOURAGEMENT: This is also another factor that causes prayerlessness. Discouragement is one of the weapons the enemy uses to attack our prayer lives. When answers to prayers are not forthcoming or situations beyond our control bring its ugly head and it seems hope is gradually going, this can make one discouraged and the zeal to pray or praise God is on the low. If you do not fight back all these negative feelings and emotions, prayerlessness can set in.
9. SERVICE: When you are involved in too many services in the household of faith which sap your energy and during prayers, you are busy engaging in service instead of doing the needful. Service is not a substitute for your time with God. When we neglect our prayer-life to not fill our spirit with God’s love and power, we will not be effective in the things we are called to do. Don’t allow too much service clash with your personal prayer life with God. If we want to make an impact on the world, it starts with us being humble and asking God to guide us in our service. Your service to God has to glorify only him.
10. LAZINESS: Laziness is also another cause of prayerlessness. Lazy people often have excuses why they don’t have time for personal prayers, they never do anything great for God but shuffle through life hoping someone else will do it all for them. God’s blessings won’t come down to you if you don’t work or ask for it. The bible has much to say about those who are slothful. To be more effective in your prayer life, you have to get laziness out of the way.

CONCLUSION

Prayer shouldn’t feel like a burden or obligation but it should feel natural. Prayerlessness is so subtle that we might not notice when we are deterring because we have so much to do. Once you notice you are living a prayerless life which is very dangerous, start by recalling God’s past grace, remember all the things he has done for you in the past, his faithfulness, find the leak that led to it such as bitterness, disappointment, unresolved anger etc., identify them, name the leaks and get them cleared away from your heart. Then, repent of all unbelief, fuel your faith engine with God’ promises for you. After all these, fan your faith engine fire with resources such as bible, good books about God etc. and in no time, your prayer life will bounce back stronger and better.