Joyce Meyer - Seven Hindrances To Prayer [FULL] (08/19/2019)
Joyce Meyer addresses the frustration of unanswered prayers, emphasizing that we must ask boldly in Jesus' name, as Jesus repeatedly promised in John 14-16. She teaches that the first hindrance is simply not praying—"you have not because you ask not"—and the second is hidden sin or unconfessed faults, which block answers; confessing, forgiving, and abiding in Him clear the way for powerful, joyful prayer that brings full joy and God's abundant responses.
The Frustration of Unanswered Prayers
There's nothing more frustrating, I think, than to be praying and feeling like you're not getting answers. Now, we know about waiting and we know about testing and things like that, but eventually we want to feel like that it's pretty clear to us that God's hearing our prayers and He's answering us.
How many of you know it really excites you and stirs your faith up when you pray for something and you see a very clear answer? And I mean, you know that you know that it's God. And so, I'm committed to prayer and I'm sure that many of you are. And so, I just want to make sure that I'm doing it in a way that is going to, at least from my part of what I can do, is going to assure that I'm going to get answers and that I'm not blocking or hindering God in any way.
Now, prayer is so important to our life, our walk with God. And I probably read a book or study prayer at least, probably four times a year. And I think we all need to continue hearing about prayer and being reminded of how powerful it is and how important it is.
And you know, to pray just simply means to ask. With God, we should never assume and we should never presume because that's rather rude. We just need to ask. I don't believe that prayer ever should be complicated. I don't believe that it's something that should be hard or difficult or that we should dread.
I think that eventually you may start out with... I mean, I have a prayer time every morning, but I like to look at prayer more like breathing, where you're just praying all throughout the day. You come to depend on God to the point where you just know that you need to be leaning on Him all the time.
Overcoming Distractions and Satan's Tactics in Prayer
We all know that Satan will do everything he can to try to keep us from praying. I mean, have you noticed that when you're trying to have your prayer time, that you think about everything in the world, that all these things you've forgotten, you can... if you ever need to remember anything, just go try to pray. Because right then you'll remember everything that you need to take care of.
So I actually keep a notepad by me when I pray. So every time that I'm reminded of something I need to do, I can jot it down and not have to get up and go do it right then. Satan also loves to disturb us. He loves to upset us. So when we're trying to spend time with God, we end up doing nothing but worrying and complaining, rather than actually praying prayers that are going to be productive for the kingdom of God.
So is it all right with you if I just do a couple of teachings here on prayer and get us all stirred up in that area again and excited about it? So... The first roadblock or the first hindrance. And you know, I like to use examples when God puts them on my heart because I just think that they leave a picture in us that we don't forget.
So the point is, is that if I'm going to be praying, I want to make sure that my prayers are getting through. And I want to make sure that God's answers are getting through. But if there's a roadblock, then I may just be... but there's something hindering me and I can't get through.
They told me interestingly enough that on the route coming here tonight, I didn't see them because I wasn't paying attention, but there was signs like this everywhere. Road closed, road closed, road closed. Well, I just thought that was kind of interesting. So maybe God wants to keep this in front of you all weekend. That you don't want to have roads closed. You want to open every door that you can for God's great blessings to pour into your life.
The First Hindrance: Simply Not Asking
The first hindrance to prayer is simply not praying. A prayer can't get out if it's not prayed. God can't answer something that wasn't asked. And we all know that when we pray, we need to pray in faith. And so I'm not even going to make a big issue out of that except to say that everything that God does for us comes through believing.
If we put our faith in Him and we believe. So asking is a sign of that dependence on God. But right before Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane, which for Him, He knew that things were winding down, coming to a close. He said some things recorded in the book of John toward the end that I think are all like maybe some of the most important things He wanted to leave us with.
Like one of the things He said in John 14 was peace I leave with you. My own peace I now give and bequeath unto you. And for me, I've come to learn that peace is one of the most important things in our life. I can tell you for me, life is just not even worth living if I can't be peaceful.
And I tell you, you know if you're gonna be peaceful, if you're gonna get along with people you're gonna have to work at it. It's not something that just falls on you. You can't even just pray for peace. You got to know that you have peace and then you have to pursue it and do what you need to do to make sure that you are peaceful.
But that was one of the things that He said right toward the end. I mean, He could have said a million things. But He said, remember to stay in peace. I always like to say if there's no peace, there's no power. If you want to be powerful, You've got to stay peaceful.
There's nothing that destroys the power of God more than disunity. But there's also an amazing thing that happens in four chapters in the book of John. In a handful of verses, seven times, the Holy Spirit writes down basically the same thing for us. Ask. Whatever you ask for in my name, I'll do it. Ask. Whatever you ask for in my name, I'll do it.
Jesus' Repeated Promise to Answer Prayer
Actually, what prompted this was I was doing one of my three or four times a year of just stirring myself up again in prayer. I've got lots of different books on prayer. And I may not even read the whole book every time. But I like to just keep learning in that area. I also study a lot on the mouth because that... Just thought I'd throw that out there for good measure.
And the writer of this book that I was reading said, actually, if you stop and think about what these scriptures say, they are absolutely, astoundingly incredible promises. Ask. Whatever you will, and I'll do it if you abide in me. So we're going to actually look at all these scriptures.
I want one thing to be rumbling around in your head. Ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask. You have not because you ask not. Ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask. Amen? Matter of fact, the first time that I got hold of this, actually from James 4:2, it says, you have not because you ask not. We'll look at that later. That's not even one of these seven we're going to look at right now.
I got so excited about asking. And I got such a revelation on how I'd been trying to do so many things myself and wearing myself out, trying to change David, change my kids, and change my circumstances, and make my ministry grow, and change myself. And he said, you have not because you ask not.
Somebody over there is getting it. And I got so excited I could hardly stand it until I got somewhere by myself so I could just start asking. How many of you, just in your spirit tonight, you can believe that God probably wants to do a whole lot more for us than what we know how to ask Him for?
Well, if God wants to do it, He will. Nope. Now, God is sovereign, and He can do anything He wants to. But His normal mode of working is somebody has to pray. And then God works. He can do anything He wants to. He's sovereign. He does step outside of that from time to time.
But I believe that I'm in ministry today because somebody prayed me through some of the stuff that I was going through when I was a child. I don't know who it was. I had a grandfather who was a little bit chubby, and he sat in a rocking chair all the time and read his Bible. That's the one thing I remember about Grandpa Watson. He just rocked and prayed, rocked and prayed, rocked and prayed, rocked and prayed.
And I, you know, I'm sure he was praying for me. Covers for us through other people. I honestly can tell you, and I believe this with all my heart, if God did not have people praying for me, I don't think I would be alive. Because I know that the devil 100% despises any of us who are sharing the Word of God.
The Power of Asking in Jesus' Name
When I'm on that television every day, and billions of people. I mean, I know the devil hates that. He despises it. And I think a lot of people that pray for me are ones that I will never know. But prayer is absolutely amazing. There's a whole lot more to it than what we think.
And I think one of the reasons why the devil tries to tell everybody, it doesn't do any good. You know, just when you pray, you may not always feel a lot of stuff along with it. But you pray in faith, and you believe that God hears you, and then from then on, you believe one thing and one thing only, and that is God is working.
God is working. I don't care what it looks like. I don't care what it feels like. I don't care what I see. God is working. I prayed in faith. He says He hears me. And God is working. Can you say that right now? God is working. Okay. That's the other thing I want to make sure you leave here with tonight. I'm going to ask and God is working.
All right, John 14:12. I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, and I love that kind of language. He's saying that. Now look, I'm very serious when I tell you this. If anyone steadfastly believes in me, he will be able to do the things that I do and he will do even greater things than these because I go to the Father.
And I know many times I've thought, well, you know, I don't see too many greater things. But, you know, one of the things that I realized is just through all the technology we have today, people preaching the gospel today can reach more people in 30 minutes than Jesus did in his three years of ministry. That's pretty phenomenal.
I mean, I'd say that's pretty amazing. If you get a friend on your heart today and you want to share something with them or pray for them, you can pick up your phone and do it. Jesus would have had to have walked days and days and days. So I think that we are doing a lot of the greater things and sometimes we don't even realize that we are.
You know, he was in one human body and could only be one place at one time. But let me tell you something. Christians are all over the place. I mean, there's a lot of us and we are an army. All we need to do is start getting into agreement and stop fighting with each other.
All right. So John 14:12, I assure you most solemnly you'll do the things that I've done greater things. Verse 13, and I will do. I myself will grant whatever. Whatever, my gosh. Whatever you ask in my name, that is presenting all that I am. So that the Father may be glorified and extolled in and through the Son.
Yes, I will grant. He's saying it again. He wants to make sure we're getting it. When God says something twice, it's like, are you getting this? Yes, I will grant. I myself will do for you whatever you ask in my name. That is presenting all that I am.
Now there's a couple of things there that I want to just make mention of. Obviously, we can't just pray for anything that we want and get it. We all know that. So what in the world is this all about? Well, first of all, if you have a close walk with God, you're only going to want the things that you know are right.
But if you abide in Him and His Word abides in you, you can ask what you will and He'll do it. And the abiding means that you live, dwell, and remain in God. It doesn't just mean you go to church on Sunday and act like the devil all week. And then you read this scripture and start asking for a bunch of things with wrong motives and then wonder why God's not answering your prayer.
He said here that we ask in His name, presenting all that He is. And we need to do it just like that. Father, I ask you in Jesus' name. I come in Jesus' name. When we ask God for something, we're not doing it because we've been good or not doing it because we've been bad. We go in Jesus' name.
Abiding in Christ for Effective Asking
And we ask for the outrageous promises of God, even though we know full well that we don't deserve it. And we ask because if we can have the life that Jesus died for us to have, it will bring Him glory. And other people will be salt and light. And other people will begin to want the life that we have.
Christians should not be down and discouraged and dragging themselves through day after day and just barely get by all the time, barely making it. It's fine to start out in the prayer line, but you shouldn't be there 30 years after you're born again. Then you need to be doing the prayer line.
It's fine to go get some counseling, but if you have to go get counseling every week, two or three times a week for 40 years, then I don't think you're getting any help. Whatever you ask in my name for the glory of God presenting all that I am, I'll do it.
John 15:7 says, if you live in me, abide vitally united to me, and my words remain in you and continue to live in your heart, ask what you will. And it'll be done for you. My, my, my, my, my, my. But if you're abiding and His Word is living and remaining in your heart, you know what? You're going to be much more concerned about spiritual things than natural things. You're going to understand all this by the time we get done.
John 15:16. You've not chosen me, but I've chosen you, and I've appointed you, I've planted you, that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, that your fruit may be lasting, that it may remain and abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, presenting all that I am, He will give it to you.
I think that one of the things that we want to see is how astounding it is that right before... Jesus knew His time was about up. And so, in this very short period of time, He's saying, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask. Ask in my name. I'm giving you my name. There's authority in my name.
You can go to the Father now and ask in my name because you're presenting to Him all that I am. We don't have to go anymore and say, well, you know, God, I did two things right before things wrong and so now I guess there's no point in me asking you because you can't help me. We go in His name for His glory and we ask and we ask and we ask and we ask and we ask and we open the door for God to do great things in our life.
You have not because you ask not. John 16:23, and 24 and this is one of my favorite because I used to not be a very happy Christian. There's too many unhappy Christians. And one of the reasons why I was unhappy was because I was so intent on trying to be the kind of person that God wanted me to be but I was trying to do it all myself.
I hadn't learned that you have not because you ask not yet. Now if there's something going on in me that needs to change, I just ask God to change me. I don't mess with struggling with it. I study the Word and I ask God to change me. I don't try to change myself and try to change myself and try to change myself. Try to change myself.
I just say, God, you knew what you were getting when you got me. Come on, Psalm 139 says he knows everything before we ever do it. He knows. He knows. He formed me in my mother's womb. He gave me my mouth. He knows. He knows every thought that we haven't thought yet.
And so I'm, you know, I'm tender toward God when he convicts me of anything I want to change. And I'll study in that area very diligently. I'll study in that area because I know that's my part but I can't change myself. I can maybe control a little bit of my behavior for a while but if there's not an inward change then it's not going to last.
Asking Brings Full Joy and Removes Strife
And so I was not a very happy Christian because I was working at being a Christian. You're supposed to enjoy being a Christian not have to work at it every single day of your life. So I particularly like this verse because it says in verse 23 and when this time comes you will ask nothing of me you will need to ask me no questions I assure you most solemnly I tell you that the Father will grant you whatever you ask in my name that is presenting all that I am.
Verse 24 please Up until this time you've not asked a single thing in my name that is presenting all that I am but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive so that your joy might be full. Amen?
I found out I'm so much happier if instead of trying to do it myself you know if I think something's going on with Dave that needs to change then you know what I do I just say God look I know I got a lot of problems of my own so if I'm off base here forgive me don't mean to be in pride but I don't I feel like that thing in Dave needs to change God would you convict him would you work in him would you bring the change and then I just go on about my way and have a happy little life.
But 25 years ago I couldn't do that. First of all I didn't even pray I tried to change him I tried to talk him into changing I'd get mad I'd pout I'd feel sorry for myself and God can't work when we behave like that. He wants us to ask so he can work and after you ask him if you believe he's doing what you've asked him to do there's no reason not to be happy.
We don't say what's the matter sister? Well I tell you I'm just praying for God to take care of this situation I tell you I've been praying about it praying about it and praying about it and I believe God's working but I just I'm so discouraged it don't work like that.
If we really believe if you really believe then why not go ahead and be happy? Well I have a problem I shouldn't be happy if I have a problem why not? God told you cast all your care on me because I care for you. All your care all your concern all your worry cast it all on me.
But see the devil tries to make us feel guilty if we enjoy life while we have a problem. We think we need to figure it out and think about it and figure it out and ask all of our friends who already don't know what they're doing what we should do. What would you do about this situation? You better take a look and see what kind of mess their lives in before you start getting advice from them.
In John 16:26 this is the seventh time in John 14, 15 and 16 out of three chapters in the Bible this is the seventh time that Jesus says the same thing. At that time you will ask and pray in my name and I'm not saying that I will ask the Father for you for it will be unnecessary. You can ask in my name and whatever you ask it will be done for you.
So the first roadblock to answered prayer is just not praying. Is there anybody here that is like I used to be where you just you try everything and then you say well I guess all I can do is pray. I've tried everything I know and nothing that I'm doing is working I guess all I can do is pray.
Well guess what honey you could have prayed to start with and saved yourself that headache backache misery worried days and all those things because apart from me ye can do nothing. Now you know there's probably all kinds of people watching us on television and maybe some of you go to church every week and you know you pray some prayers at church and maybe there are even prayers that you read out of book and I'm not making light of that but you need to make sure that they mean something to you.
Because God is a God of hearts but in church is not the only time you pray. First thing that happens every day you need to say God thank you for this day and I know that I can do nothing without you so please be with me and help me in everything that I do.
I'm asking. I'm asking to be able to raise these kids and not go insane. I'm asking to be able to drive to work in the traffic and not get mad and do ugly things. I'm asking that I won't overeat today because we know that I'm tempted in that area. I'm asking God we need to be asking.
I want this promise about ask, ask, ask, ask, ask whatever you will ask. You know I want that when I see the incredibility of that promise it makes me willing to do anything that God tells me to do in order to be able to have that kind of power with God in prayer.
Strife and Jealousy Block Answered Prayer
In James 4:2 the Bible says you have not because you ask not. Let's go to James 4 I want to look at verse 1. How many of you already think you haven't been asking as much as you should be asking? So many people are so miserable in their walk with God because they're in works of the flesh.
I lived in works of the flesh and works of the flesh don't work. They're works that don't work. And all you do is just wear yourself out trying to change your kids trying to change your spouse trying, trying, trying trying, trying trying, trying trying, trying but are you believing?
We're called believers because believers are supposed to believe otherwise we'd be called triers. And what an awesome answer to everything whatever you need whatever you need God's got good office hours 24-7 whatever you need You never get a busy signal. Whatever you need, you ask. You ask in Jesus' name. And He hears you. And He'll answer.
You know, strife is a really huge problem in people's lives. And it's probably one of the greatest hindrances to answered prayer. People fighting and arguing. Disunity in homes. People not getting along in church. Choir leaders mad at the pastor. And people that sing are mad at the choir leader. And Sister Jones is sitting out there wanting to be the worship leader. And you know how it goes.
How many of you would say it's safe to say that the world is pretty much full of strife? And it's a very dangerous thing. I mean, it's not just a little problem. It's actually spiritually one of the most dangerous things to the believer. And that's why Jesus said, I'm leaving you my peace. So we have peace. It's up to us whether we decide to use it or not.
And one of the reasons why God gives us this great privilege of prayer is so we don't have to worry. Philippians 4 says, be anxious for nothing. Don't worry about anything. But in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace that passes understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
The very moment that anything happens, that any need arises, you pray. You breathe out that prayer to God. You don't have to be in a certain posture. You don't have to be in a certain place. You just pray. You talk to God about everything.
But I will admit, and I'm sure that many of you would say the same thing, that even though you went to church regularly, even though I went to church regularly, and I was actually a leader in the church, I mean, there was so much strife in my life.
And James 4, verse 1 says, what leads to strife and discord and feuds? And how do conflicts and quarrels and fights originate? Why can't we get along with people? Why are so many people so unhappy? You know, there's not a lot of really full-time happy Christians. I'm talking full-time happy Christians.
You know, we can get slappy happy, jumpy happy when we come to church. You know, and the worship team is playing, and it's like, oh... But I'm talking about full-time happy. Full-time happy. Happy in the storm, happy when the storm is over. Full-time happy.
Verse 2 says, here's the problem. You ready? You're jealous. You covet what other people have. And your desires go unfulfilled. So you become a murderer because the hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned. You burn with envy and anger. You're not able to get what you want. So you fight and you war.
And here it is. You do not have because you do not ask. Oh my gosh! You do not have because you do not ask. If you see somebody get a blessing, instead of being jealous of them and getting an attitude, you need to be glad for them and just say to God, I think that's really nice. That's something I would enjoy. God, if you would ever want to do that for me, I'd be joyful, but I'm happy.
You know, we have to say to ourselves sometimes, I don't have to have that to be happy. I'm happy right now. I don't have to have what you have to be happy. I'm happy right now. We have to, you know, we all have to remember that we're individuals before God and He's got an individual plan for our life and He doesn't do everything the same way in everybody else's life.
You know, Phil Wickham, our worship leader here tonight, he's an awesome singer. But can I tell you something? There's probably people in the world that can sing circles around Him and they'll never have the opportunity to do what He's doing. Why? And as people, we sit back and, why God, why not me? Because God is God. And that's about all you can say. Because God is God.
And He does what He does for reasons that we don't always know. I don't know why I'm... People ask me all the time. Well, why do you think that your ministry got so big? And why do you think? And why do you think? And why do you think? Well, I could come up with a handful of things but they'd all be nonsense. The truth of the matter is, is God.
And we can have peace if we just begin to say, you know what, God, I believe that You're in control and if that's what you want me doing, then you'll make that happen in my life. And if you don't, then I'm happy anyway. Come on, I want some people to have some peace when you leave this conference.
You have not because you ask not. Ask and receive that your joy may be full. Well, I just don't think I can be happy if my husband don't change. Well, you know what? I used to think that too and mine didn't and now I'm happy. Well, he didn't. I mean, there wasn't all that much wrong with him to start with. It was me that had the problem and I just thought he had to change so I could be happy.
And when I finally found out that I needed to take responsibility for my own joy and quit trying to give somebody else the job of keeping me happy. Amen? Well, Dave played too much golf and I didn't like it because he played golf. Well, he still plays golf. And he plays golf more now than he did back then. He plays golf and he plays golf and he plays golf and he watches golf and he watches football and he watches basketball and baseball and hockey and soccer and cricket and anything that's on, he watches it. And I'm happy.
And I'm happy because we've been married 43 and a half years. And now when he watches all that stuff, I get time to myself. I'm happy. Amen? Well, I just can't be happy. If I can't have kids, I can't be happy. Oh, if this kid doesn't grow up and get out of this house, I can't be happy. I can't be happy if I can't have a bigger house. Oh, I can't be happy if I'm going to have to clean this big house every week.
Come on, you have not because you ask not. Ask, release it to God, and say, God, I trust you. If this is what I'm supposed to have, you're going to do it at the right time. And I'm going to be happy in the meantime because I'm here to serve you. Amen? Turn to the person next to you and say, ask.
All right. Ephesians 3:20 says, God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond all that we could ever dare to hope, ask, or think. Is there anybody here that can think of some things that you've been, it's been your little project you've been working on? Some person you've been working on, but the truth is you don't pray for them very much. Come on, don't you be lying. Ask, cast your care.
The Second Hindrance: Hidden Sin and Unconfessed Faults
Now, the second hindrance that we'll talk about to prayer is hidden sin. Now, we just have to come clean and say that you can't just pull certain scriptures out of the Bible and try to make them work without taking the whole counsel of the Word of God. And so, we do sin, but thank God we have an answer.
Every Christian has an answer, an immediate answer, every time you do something wrong. And that is, is to admit it, confess it, receive God's forgiveness, and go on intending to change and never do it again if God will graciously help you and strengthen you. But you can't just ignore things, I can't just ignore things.
One of the greatest reasons why Christians are unhappy is because they have things hidden in their heart, and they're being pretenders, putting on the Christian happy face every Sunday. Now, I'll just tell you one thing. If you're going to church every Sunday, and your house is full of strife all week, and you're praying and wondering why your prayers aren't answered, you might as well just start confessing, getting the strife out of your house, start being the one to try to be the peacemaker, the maintainer of peace, and then God can answer your prayers.
Lord, I remember all the years I'd fight with Dave all the way to church every Sunday morning and then wonder why my prayers weren't answered. How stupid, how utterly, absolutely stupid. But I didn't know any better. I was only picking out the parts of the Bible that I liked. I was only picking out the parts that were going to get me something. Come on now.
I wasn't picking out the parts that were going to require something of me. And as I said, you'll understand this better by the time we get to the end of it. But I want this promise about ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, whatever you will ask. You know, I want that... When I see the incredibility of that promise, it makes me willing to do anything that God tells me to do in order to be able to have that kind of power with God in prayer.
How tragic that so many of us miss that because we'd rather hang on to some dumb, bad attitude. Well, I'm not going to go tell him I'm sorry. I'm the one that always has to say I'm sorry. And I'm just not doing it. And I'm not going to forgive him. Well, you're going to miss an awful lot. You're going to have your bad attitude, but you're going to miss a lot.
You know, not all Christians are spiritual Christians. A lot of Christians are carnal Christians. That means that they are saved, but they walk in flesh. Will that keep you out of heaven? You know, first of all, I'm not the one to judge all that because I don't know what people are doing. But let's just say by and large, I mean, there's going to be a lot of people in heaven that just didn't act too great while they were here because they really, truly do believe in Jesus. They really do.
But I can tell you one thing. You won't live a powerful life. You won't live a happy life. You won't live a peaceful life. Your life won't be a witness to anybody else. I was a Christian for many, many years before I became a serious Christian. I was a church-going Christian. I did good works. I was on the church board. I went to church all the time. My kids went to Christian schools.
And I can tell you that my life was no different than any sinner up and down my street. And if anything, I could have kept people out of heaven with my attitude. Because when people see that we're churchgoers, but we act no different than them, then there's no respect. And the greatest thing that we need to do today is to live the life. To just simply live the life.
Now, we're going to make mistakes, but we need to immediately ask God to forgive us. We need to come clean, get it out in the open, and go on. I think it's so important, especially if you've got a stronghold in your life, something that just keeps occurring over and over and over, and you can't seem to get free.
I think one of the things that's very helpful is to confess your faults to somebody that you love and trust and ask them to pray. Because the last thing the devil wants you to do is bring things out in the open. He wants things hidden. Secrets kill people. It's amazing what we do to ourselves when we hide stuff.
We don't have to play games with each other. You don't have to be the perfect person all week. How was your day yesterday? I acted really bad all day yesterday. Really bad. But I sure am glad that God's gracious and that He's willing to forgive me. I've talked to Him about it. He's forgiven me. And you can pray for me too because I need all the help I can get. Amen.
How are you yesterday? Fine. Fine. Just fine. Praise the Lord. Fine. Psalm 66:18. Confession is so good. I think we should start every morning before we even try to pray. Just say, God, if there's anything that I've done that's been offensive to you or anyone else, bring it to light right now so I can confess it and get rid of it.
You know, I don't... Obviously not picking on anybody in particular, but you know, as I sit here and look, I mean, I know with this many people here that there have to be people here that you've just got all kinds of secrets. God knows anyway. We're not really keeping anything from God.
And when you talk to God about your sins, don't call them, well, Lord, I'm sorry, I missed it. That's a new word for sin. I missed it. To sin means to miss the mark, but I don't like to hear people say that. Call it what it is. I was jealous. I was hateful. I was rude. I was unloving. I was unkind. We don't like to call it what it is because it sounds nasty to us. It's like, yeah. But that makes the forgiveness all the much better. Amen.
Then when my heart's right with God, when there's nothing there, my heart's right, then I can come to Him and ask boldly. And when the devil tries to remind me, well, you can't ask for that. Look at what you did yesterday. Say, well, you're missing the point. I confessed it. God forgave me. Now I can ask in Jesus' name.
Psalm 66:18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. James 5:16. Confess to one another, therefore, your faults, your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins, and pray also for one another that you may be healed and restored to a spiritual tone of mind and heart.
The heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available, dynamic in its working. Are you seeing that? Let's go back and look at the first part of it. This is all one scripture. Confess your faults to one another. Your faults, your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins.
And no, you don't have to tell everybody that you know everything that you did. But we must stop living phony, pretend lives and be real. Amen? Confess your faults, your slips, your false steps, your offenses, and pray for one another. Don't judge people when you know that they've done something. Pray for them that you may be healed and restored to a spiritual tone of mind and heart.
The earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available, dynamic in its working. Satan wants us to do things wrong. He wants us to be loaded under guilt and condemnation, never really deal with it, and then try to pray these pitiful, pathetic, well, God, if you'll just do this one thing, I'll never ask you for anything else.
I hate what the devil does to people. I talked to a woman in a store one day and she was waiting on me and we just struck up a conversation. I think she recognized it from TV and then she told me what church that she went to and then I got to asking her about how they're, you know, how they were paid in the store.
I said, you get commission or you paid hourly. She said, well, I'm paid by the hour but she said, I have a quota that I have to make and if I don't make that quota then I can, you know, if I keep not making it long enough then I can lose my job. And she said, sometimes it gets kind of scary, you know, because you're doing everything you know how to and if you just don't meet the quota then you, you know, you could get fired.
And I said, well, why don't you pray and just ask God to send people to you? She said, well, you can't do that, can you? I said, pray and ask God to give you a favor. Pray that when people look at you they're just going to like you. That they're going to want to buy things from you.
She said, well, now listen to this. This woman's been in church 30 years and this is what she said to me. Well, you can't pray about money, can you? That was sad. But you know how many people there are, even people right watching me that you're even like, you mean I could pray for that?
Whatever you ask in my name, presenting all that I am. If you abide in me, my word abides in you. Ask what you will. Why can't we ask for favor? I get a lot of favor. It amazes me the favor that I get. And it's not just because I'm on television, I ask for favor. I pray that God will give me favor. Almost every day of my life, I pray for favor and I confess favor.
I don't have time to try to do the dance to try to make everybody like me. I tried that in the first few years and it will just kill you. So I finally decided, God, you are going to have to make them like me because this is what I am. This is it. And I can't try to do it one way for you and another way for you and another way for you and another way for you.
So I just believe God gives me favor. Pray for open doors. Pray for God to open doors that you can't open. And close doors that need to be closed that you're not willing to close. Did you hear me? Don't just pray for God to open doors. Pray for God to close doors in your life that need to be closed.
Start getting honest with God. It will be so hard if you start really calling things what they are. And maybe having a good friend or a spouse or a sibling that you feel like you can really trust. And begin to make yourself accountable to somebody and confess things and ask for prayer. Whew! Boy you gonna make the devil mad when you do that. Because he wants you to keep everything hidden and put a plastic "praise the Lord" sign on your face when really inside you're just about destroyed.
↓↓↓ Part 2 ↓↓↓
Joyce Meyer stresses prayer as a central privilege for Christians, urging us to remove hindrances for answered prayer. After not praying and hidden sin, she addresses doubt as a major block—Satan plants seeds of unbelief during waiting times. The key counter is declaring aloud, "I believe that God is working," regardless of appearances, keeping faith strong. She also warns against selfishness in motives, teaching denial of self opens the door for God's better care and answers.
Prayer as Our Greatest Privilege
I made a decision a long time ago that prayer is one of the central themes of the Christian's life. It's a great privilege. It's not some kind of an obligation. It's a privilege to go to the creator of the universe who has all power and can do all things and ask him in Jesus name to do things for us and other people and our nations and our governments and so on and so forth.
But we're talking about seven hindrances to prayer. If we're gonna be committed to prayer then we might as well do everything we can to make sure they get answered. How many of you can say amen to that? I'm not big on wasting my time. If I'm gonna do something I want to know that it's gonna be fruitful.
So I'm committed to prayer. I spent quite a bit of time in prayer this morning. Prayed for all of our partners. Prayed for the meetings. Prayed for myself. Prayed for my husband. Prayed for my kids. Prayed for our co-labors in Christ. Prayed and prayed and prayed.
Well I want to know that my prayers are gonna work. Not praying is the first obstacle. You can't get a prayer answered you don't pray. Second obstacle is hidden sin. Keeping things hidden you think in your life. Thinking God doesn't know about it. But God knows about everything.
And the whole point of confession is for our benefit. He wants us to bring it up, bring it out, deal with it, get it over with. Because to be honest, anytime that there's hidden sin, there is an oppression there or a guilty conscience. You're not free.
And it's very important when we come to God to ask for anything that we come boldly. Amen? Boldly doesn't necessarily mean loud, but it means you're coming with confident boldness. I love Hebrews 4, 15 and 16. It says, we have a high priest who understands our weaknesses. He's been tempted in every point, just like we have, yet he's never sinned.
I love the fact that Jesus understands my mess ups. I love that. And then verse 16 says, therefore, because he does understand, let us come boldly to the throne of grace. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, even though we're not perfect in everything. Let us remember who we are in Christ. Let us receive the forgiveness that God offers and then let us come boldly to the throne so we can get our needs met in plenty of time by asking God to help us.
Don't you think it's amazing that you can mess up, get forgiveness, and still go boldly to the throne of God's grace and get the help that you need? I don't know where you're going to get a deal like that anywhere. And he forgets our sins, he removes them as far as the east is from the west.
Battling Doubt in the Waiting Season
The third hindrance that we want to talk about today is doubt. Doubt. Are any of you ever plagued with doubt? Only 25%, the rest of you have perfect faith. Come on, you ain't that tired. I get plagued with doubt. Doubt.
I'll pray about something or make some kind of a decision and then in my mind I'll hear. Well see, thank God by now I know that everything that comes in my head is not my thought. Many of it is just Satan trying to use my mind as a garbage dump. So just because you have a doubt in your mind, that doesn't really mean that you doubt in your heart.
But if you just listen to what's in your mind, and don't pay attention to what's in your heart, then you're going to get deceived and Satan is going to steal your answer. I can pretty much tell you that when you ask God for anything, or you step out to do anything that's going to be progress in your life, that Satan is going to come and try to plant little seeds of doubt.
This ain't going to happen. Who do you think you are? Well, look at how long it's been. After the things that you've done? Well, it's just not going to happen. That's all. It's just not going to happen. Well, I have found a real key for me, and I hope it will be a blessing to you.
And just really in the last maybe three or four months, this has become real prevalent for me. And I was teaching this in Africa when I was there recently. And I just think that every once in a while, God gives me a real powerful little thought that becomes a principle, and it kind of has worked into the core of my teaching.
Like, you know, one of the things I've said a lot is I'm not where I need to be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be. I'm okay and I'm on my way. How many of you have heard that if you've heard me teach very much? Okay.
And so another thing that I say a lot is if you do what you can do, then God will do what you cannot do. Little statements that say a lot. So I've found one of those little keys when doubt comes against me, and I'm going to share that with you here in the next few minutes, but first we're going to look at a couple of scriptures.
James 1:5 through 8. I'm so glad you're here today. And I'm so glad I'm here. Okay, if any of you is deficient in wisdom, that means if you've got a situation and you just don't know what to do. We have anybody there right now. If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God who gives to everyone, not just someone, who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly without reproaching or fault-finding.
And it will be given. It will be given. Not might be, could be. It will be given him. My gosh, if we really read the Bible, and take the time to look at it word by word and meditate on it. Don't read the Bible for quantity. Read it for quality. It's not about how much you read. It's how much are you getting out of what you read.
This verse says something amazing. If you don't know what to do, ask God. And He will help you. He won't find fault with you. He won't do it with a grudging attitude because maybe you haven't been everything that you should have been in the past. Ask. And God will help you.
Let's put it back up. Verse 6. Only it must be in faith that He asked with no wavering, no hesitating, no doubting. That means we've got to make our mind up what we believe and stand on it. Not be changing our mind and be indecisive.
Well, one minute I think I want, I believe, and the next minute I think I don't. And you know, well, I believe that this is what I want God to do. Well, no, I don't know if I think God can do that. For the one who wavers, hesitates, and doubts is like a billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.
For truly let not such a person imagine he will receive anything he asks for from the Lord. Why? Because that doubt becomes a road closed. I've prayed in faith and I've sent my prayer out. And now, even if God sends an answer, it's not going to get in. Because the road is closed.
You say, well, tell me, tell me, tell me, quick! What's the answer? I will in a minute, but I want you to be hungry for it. Mark 11:23. And it's so simple, it's scary. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt at all in his heart, but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him.
Be a great opportunity to do a four-part series on the mouth, but we can't do that today. For this reason, I'm telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe, trust, and be confident that it is granted to you, and you will get it.
Now see, when we pray for something, we don't get it immediately, do we? He says, you pray, and you believe, and you will get it. But the waiting time is what gets us in trouble, isn't it? If we prayed and immediately had a result, then nobody would have any problem.
But when you pray and you have to wait a week, a month, three months, six months, a year, two years, three years, four, five, six... Man, it gives the devil time to mess with your mind. Amen?
Speaking Faith Against Doubt
So, I have discovered that all we really need to do when the devil tries to lie to us is just say something back to him. Learn how to talk back to the devil. Huh? Well, first, that's the way you all look. First of all, you got to realize that every thought that comes in your head is not yours.
So don't take it like it's yours and meditate on it and make it yours. If somebody offered you poison, you wouldn't take it just because somebody offered it to you. And Satan offers to poison our lives, no telling us how many times a day, by putting wrong thoughts in our mind.
But the Bible says you can cast down the wrong ones and keep the good ones. We have a mind of the flesh and a mind of the spirit. And your thoughts should be your thoughts. And you don't have to think something. If you don't want to, you can choose your thoughts carefully. You can throw some out and keep others.
Well, that sounds like a lot of hard work, Joyce. It is. Let me tell you something. You are not gonna be a lazy Christian, and be victorious. That's why I said last night that being a Christian is not for wimps. It's a full-time job. Amen.
Now you can go to church every week and go home be miserable all week, and go back to church, and go home be miserable all week, and go back to church. And you can do that for 50 years, and you may go to heaven because you really believe in Jesus. But you will never have any joy here. You will never have any victory. And nobody will ever look at you and want what you got.
So for Jesus' sake, it's time that we take hold and realize that the Bible says that we are God's representatives in the earth. God's representatives in the earth. The Bible says that God is making His appeal to the world through us. What kind of life are you living? Are you salt and light? Does anybody want what you've got? I'll just leave you with that thought.
We don't have to just listen to everything that falls in our head. So, we need to learn how to talk back to the devil. And I've discovered a wonderful thing. All I say now is, I believe that God is working. I don't care what it looks like. I don't care what it feels like. I don't care what I see, what I don't see. I don't care how long it's been. I believe that God is working.
And you know, that's true. When we see a result, it's the result of what God has done while He was working when we did not see Him. And so, right now, while you're here in this conference, if you have believed God, and you're not getting into doubt, God is working.
He's working on your kids you prayed for. He's working on your spouse you prayed for. He's working on you that you've asked Him to work in you. And then the devil says, well, you ain't changing. You act worse now than you ever did. You say, God is working in me. I don't care what it looks like. God is working in me.
And that's how you stay in faith. You don't just sit around and go, it's just so hard. Faith is so hard. I mean, I pray and I try to believe God, but then I just have all these doubts and it's just... I mean, all we're doing is just agreeing with the devil. Come on, let's make our words count.
Say it out loud. I believe that God is working. And I don't care if you have to say it 200 times every day. Make a decision that you are going to act like a warrior more than a conqueror. And you are not going to lay down anymore and just take whatever the devil puts out.
The Bible says, if you ask in my name, you will receive. Now, when we're praying things that concern other people, sometimes I think those take the longest because God will not override somebody else's will and make them do something just because we'd like them to.
But I tell you one thing, He will bug the living daylights out of them. And I think sometimes that we just need to even pray about how to pray for somebody. Don't just start praying for somebody according to your will. Like, for example, I mean, I don't know, let's just say that you know somebody that's excessively overweight and you know it really bugs them and you'd want to help them.
So, you know, we can go around and say, oh God, help them lose weight. Help them lose weight. Like, it's just going to kind of fall off of them. But the thing is, is they will lose the weight when they have a strong enough desire to do whatever is required to do it.
So now I pray that God will give people a strong enough desire and a will to do what's right and to not give up when it gets hard. We have to just stop asking God to do everything for us and realize that He gives us the strength to do the doing. Did you hear me? God gives us the strength to do the doing.
Rejecting Selfishness in Our Prayers
So we don't want to just pray, oh God, get me out of debt. God, I've lived like a maniac financially, now get me out of debt. No, we say, God, when I have to go to the store and I'm going to stay out of there if I don't have to go because I've already proven that I don't do very good when I go shopping. But when I have to go, God, help me, help me, help me, help me not to be buying stuff that I can't afford to buy. Help me.
Not just, oh God, get me out of debt. Oh God, make me lose weight. And then no matter what it looks like, like, you know, there are people that I love that, I mean, you know, I've got four kids and ten grandkids. And so certainly out of all that, there's people that have needs in their life.
And I pray different things for my children and my grandchildren on a regular basis. And some of them, it seems like I pray and they happen real quick. And then others, it just seems like, well, is this ever going to, is anything ever going to change? But every time that thought comes to my mind, this is never going to change, I say, I believe God is working. And I name the person.
I believe that God is working in Johnny. I believe that God is working in Mary. I believe that God is working in my finances. I believe that God is working in my body. He's healing me right now. I believe that God is working. He's helping me to get over my past. I believe that God is working. Amen?
If you say it enough, the devil will leave you alone and go bother somebody that'll listen to him. I think it's important for us to realize that this great privilege that God has given us to ask anything in his name. Well, I mean, that's just... that's astounding. It's like, if we would just take a day and think about that, it's just like, what a privilege.
So, surely, we want to make sure that these other things are in order so we can get those answers that God wants to give us. Selfishness. God doesn't answer selfish, self-centered prayers that are prayed out of a wrong motive. Mark 8:34 tells us how important it is that we let God deliver us from selfishness.
Jesus called to him the throne with his disciples. Get the picture. Jesus, standing maybe on a rock, preaching to people in a field. And he said, look, if you want to follow me, deny yourself, forget yourself, ignore yourself, disown yourself, lose sight of yourself and all of your own interests.
Well, that doesn't sound like much fun, does it? And take up his cross and join me as a disciple and side with my party, following with me continually, cleaving steadfastly to me. Now, this scripture really messes with people's heads because it sounds so like not fun. Forget yourself, lose sight of yourself.
But the point is, very simply, that if we will stop trying to take care of ourself, then God will take care of us. And let me tell you that he will do a much better job than any one of us could ever do. God can get you more in a moment than you can get for yourself in a lifetime.
God can give you more joy from the inside out than you could ever go by across a counter anywhere. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way unto him and he will bring it to pass.
Why is it that when you have a problem, a serious problem, or when I have a serious problem, that many times, even though I could go help somebody else with their problem, I can't help myself. Forget yourself. Stop trying to take care of yourself. Why don't you retire from self-care and throw a big retirement party?
Now, I don't mean... Don't take what I'm saying out of balance. I'm not saying don't take care of yourself. I'm not saying don't invest in yourself. I'm not saying don't do things for yourself. I'm saying don't be a selfish, self-centered person where everything in your life is all about you.
And the way that you can judge that is by simply asking yourself, what am I doing that's making somebody else's life better?