Hindrances To Prayer by Oswald J. Smith

Hindrances To Prayer 

There are three hindrances to the prayer life, three enemies with which we have to cope. Of course, if you merely fall down at your bedside in the morning and mumble off a few words of prayer, and then get up and hurry to work, you will not know what I mean. I am talking about real prayer, intercessory prayer, prayer that achieves its objective. I say there are three hindrances.

Interruptions

Have you ever had the telephone ring when you have been at prayer? Or has the baby cried? Have friends called upon you? Have you been interrupted in one way or another? Satan knows exactly when to send the interruptions. If he can interrupt you when you are at prayer he will have wrecked the efficiency of your prayer ministry.

Now how did I get rid of interruptions? I discovered that I had to have a time for prayer and a place for prayer. When I am at home I make my study the place for prayer, and I make the first hour of the morning directly after breakfast the time for prayer. Everyone knows when I am at prayer – therefore interruptions are avoided.

When I am crossing the ocean, I find the most secluded part of the deck I can find, and that becomes my place for prayer. When I am at a summer conference, I go out into the woods, and there, under the trees, I find a place for prayer.

May I say that your place for prayer will become so sacred that you will think of it as holy ground. I have stained the walls of my study with the breath of my prayers. I always go back to the same place when I pray, and there God meets me.

You, too, will have to have a place of prayer and a time for prayer. Only then can you avoid interruptions.

Drowsiness

Have you ever become drowsy when you have been at prayer? You know what I mean. You kneel down and place your head on your arms, close your eyes and attempt to pray. Before very long you become drowsy, and at times you fall asleep. Thus drowsiness hinders your prayer life. Your body is tired and weary. You have become exhausted and you just cannot keep awake.