5 Things That Block God from Hearing Our Petitions

God makes many promises in His word regarding His attention to our prayers and the confidence we should have that He is faithful to answer them. Matthew 21:22 says, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. (NIV)" To be sure there is no misguided belief that this is a New Testament-only phenomenon, 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "when my people humble themselves … and pray, seek me, and turn away from their evil practices, I myself will listen from heaven, I will pardon their sins, and I will restore their land. (ISV)"

So why do some of our prayers never seem to reach God's ears? There is the issue of timing of course. God works on a time line that is often impossible for us to understand until we can look back to realize that His delay was in our best interest. But what about those times where He clearly says "NO!" or where His silence carries the sting of final denial of our request?

There are five questions we must ask ourselves when we see that God has not "inclined His ear" (see Psalm 10:17) to our prayers.

1. Are we living a sin-filled life?

We are all born in sin; with a sin-nature; we all lead sin lives. In other words, we are completely unable to eliminate sin from our own lives. A sin-filled life, on the other hand, is one where we seek, enjoy, and have no desire to put away our sins. See for example Isaiah 59:1-4 and Jeremiah 14:10-12. As we grow in grace, we must be more and more mindful of what we consider sin. Refusal to show love and compassion; tendency to take advantage of the disadvantaged; and willfully aligning ourselves with the enemies of God, for example, can block our petitions from reaching God.

2. Is our prayer out of His will?

When we find ourselves in trouble as a result of our willful disobedience, God is not obliged to hear us (see 1 Samuel 8:18). We must take care that our positions are aligned with God and not man. Too many times we follow the tide of the mistaken many, rather than swimming against it with the faithful few.

3. Do we have an unrepentant heart?

Many times we harbor sin simply because we lack the will to face our true desires and confess them to God (see Psalm 66:18). It is difficult for us to accept that we have natures of greed, hate, wantonness, bitterness, etc. We must accept this if it exists in us, otherwise God will never listen.

4. Do we have impure motivations?

Is our prayer selfish; does it seek vain glory? Obviously, God has no problem with us going to Him for personal needs. But those needs cannot be rooted in our desire to receive glory, notoriety, fame, etc. (see Matthew 6:5). Nor can our prayers attempt to make God complicit in our evil or wrong-doing (see 2 Kings 5:20-27).

5. Are we praying for things already in our control?

Finally, we must be careful that our prayers are not too small for God. Our prayer life is an essential element in the development of our faith. The more we see God move in our lives through answered prayers, the greater faith we (should) have to turn to Him for greater needs and the less anxiety we (should) feel when trouble appears. We (should) also learn along the way that there are things that God has already empowered us to do ourselves, either independently or as a necessary part of His working in our prayer (see 2 Kings 4:1-7).

Our prayers are meant to purify and grow us. They are not simply meant to be panic rooms or escape hatches, though some circumstances may call for miraculous rescue. The five questions above are simple but require us to confront ourselves before taking our requests to God. The best news is that if we do this — face our short falls and bring them to God — He is faithful to remove them and strengthen our prayer relationship as a result.

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