Why Is It So Hard to Pray? — Carter Conlon

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The Call to a Life of Unceasing Prayer

Why is it so hard to pray? I'm not asking you to answer that. That's the title of my message tonight. Let's pray. Father, I ask you tonight. Lord, you're taking us on an incredible journey into your life.

And I pray tonight for the young, the struggling, the weak. Lord, you'll not leave any of us behind in this journey. You will reach out and not let the body move any faster than all its members can move together.

I pray tonight that you give me the ability to speak clearly and simply. That every person in this room can understand this message. And at the end of it, we will be encouraged to move into a dimension of prayer that you long for us to be in.

Now, I believe, Lord, you're going to do this. God, you have to give an eyesalve anointing tonight to see this. It's not something that is learned. It has to be understood and experienced. And I pray, God, tonight that you do the miraculous.

And Lord, we give you the glory. Even before we open your word, we give you the glory because you love us. And you're taking us as your church into a dimension of your life that will get us through everything that is before us.

And not just through, but we will be a living testimony of you, Lord. We thank you for it with all our hearts in Jesus' name. Now, you don't need to open your Bibles yet. We'll get there in a moment. Why is it so hard to pray?

1 Thessalonians 5 .17, Paul says, pray without ceasing. Now, the Holy Spirit would not anoint him to write these words if God didn't intend that to be the lifestyle of the Christian. Our life is to be just a walking, breathing prayer.

We're communing with God. And he's communing with us as we walk through our day. We're just living in an attitude of prayer. 1 Timothy 2 .8, Paul says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere. So, it's not just, it's wonderful to go into the prayer closet.

We should do that and have a pattern and a habit of that. But Paul says everywhere. That means subway, workplace, when you're being chewed out by your boss. You can just bleep out the voice for a moment and just draw away into a moment of prayer.

He says, lifting up holy hands without wrath. And the definition of wrath in the Greek New Testament is, it's a mind free from anger or the desire to punish others who have done us wrong. That's really what it means.

Paul says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere. Lifting up holy hands with a mind free from anger and free from the desire to punish other people who have done us wrong. And without doubting. Matthew 21, chapter 21, verse 22.

Jesus said, in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing you shall receive. Philippians chapter 4, verse 6. Paul says, be careful for nothing. And the word nothing, again, in the Greek means not even one.

Not one. Not even one person. No matter who he may be. In other words, the Lord is saying, I don't want you to be worried about people. You put things into my hands. No matter what the circumstances. Whether it's a backslidden family member, an unbelieving person, whether it's somebody who's giving you heartache.

I don't want you, God says, to worry about this. I want you to give it into my hands. And in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Now, with thanksgiving.

How do you give thanks unless you believe that you're going to receive the answer? I don't know how you can do that. With thanksgiving, the Lord says, I want you to come into my presence without ceasing, everywhere.

I want you to come in with a believing heart. And I want you to come in with thanksgiving. I want you to lay down the cares and concerns of this life. And no matter all the things that come your way because of people around you.

And I want you to come into my presence and bring back to me, as it is, the things that I've told you. We're not bringing things that are unfamiliar to God. We read the word of God. We know what God says.

And we just simply bring it back to him with a heart of thanksgiving. Oh, God, thank you. Thank you, Lord. In spite of what I see. In spite of what I hear. This is what your word says. I bring this back to you.

God, thank you. You're going to bring this to pass. So, folks, I have lived this. I have walked this. And I know this is true. Wonderful when we can come to God with thanksgiving. Now, the question then comes, if prayer, then, should be the natural expression of my life.

Then why does it often or always seem so hard to pray? Now, I'm going to share with you a few things tonight that I've learned in this journey. What I'm about to share is not all inclusive. But these are things the Holy Spirit has laid on my heart and that I know to be true.

Satan’s Opposition and the Believer’s Access to God

Now, first and foremost, Satan will oppose prayer. Because he knows that it's your lifeline to God. God has always desired a relationship with you. So, Satan will oppose you in this relationship by bombarding your mind with accusations of failure.

The moment you try to come into the presence of God, he will bombard you with thoughts that you're unworthy to be talking to God. You're unworthy to ask God for anything. And if you even remotely believe that, then he will even increase.

He'll turn up the heat and cause you to believe that God is looking down upon you with an angry or a disapproving countenance. He'll try to destroy you before the prayers even come from your heart. The devil himself knows.

He knows history. He knows that on occasion and throughout the course of time there have been men and women who've had the courage to go in and believe God in the prayer closet. And he knows what happens.

He can be building some evil empire as it is for years, tens, hundreds of years. He can be putting walls around the people and pushing out as it is all the trace of Christ. The only danger now, even in countries, the only danger now is that somebody somewhere is going to lay hold of God again.

And he knows it. So he has to come down. And when a saint begins to pray, the powers of evil begin to bombard the mind saying, No, you're not worthy to come into the presence of God. And God doesn't want you to come into his presence.

He's been looking down upon you and he's been observing all of your failures. And what right do you have to come to the throne of God? This is the ultimate lie, folks. You see, this is what the cross was all about.

When Jesus Christ went to the cross, the wrath of God for all of the sin of everyone who's ever trusted in him was poured out on his son. Now the son in victory was raised from the dead, sitting now at the right hand of God.

God does not deal with us in the manner of holding us to account for the wrong things that we have done. He deals with his son. And you and I enter into the victory of the son simply by believing that he took our place on the cross.

We cannot be condemned because the devil has to condemn Christ to be able to condemn you and I. We are in him, seated in victory at the right hand of Almighty God. I have a right to go into the presence of God.

It's not by works of righteousness that I have done. It's by his mercy that he has saved me. It's not my perfection. It's Christ's perfection. It's not my victory. It's Christ's victory. He sits at the right hand of God.

He is at the throne of God. And I am in him. Paul says in the book of Ephesians, if I have trusted in Christ for my salvation, I can have had the worst day of my entire Christian life. But God knows I am a genuine Christian.

God knows I want to walk with him. God knows I want to love him. God knows I want to serve him. I'm not playing games with God. And I can have had the worst day of my entire Christian experience. But I can still walk in with confidence to the throne of God.

And I'm fully accepted in Christ. That's why Paul says, if God be for us, who can be against us? Who can condemn us if Christ has justified us? Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. That's why he says in the Old Testament, I give you the power to condemn every voice that rises against you in judgment.

You can condemn these voices. You have the right that the devil accuses you. Turn and look him in the face and say, listen you, I'm not here because of my righteousness. I have trusted in Christ. He has bought my redemption.

He's invited me to the throne of God. And because of his grace, I am here to place my petitions with thanksgiving before God. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4 and 5 says,. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

We have that power, beloved. The weakest of saints here tonight, you have that power if you are a genuine Christian. If you have truly trusted in Christ. If you truly in your heart want to walk with God.

If you are truly, truly believed in Him for your salvation. You have the power to cast down the thoughts of the devil himself. You have that power given to you of God. If you can't remember anything, just turn to the devil if you must and just say, obey Christ.

Just obey Christ. That's all you have to do tonight. Obey Christ. Hebrews chapter 4, if you go there please. I'd like you to see this in your Bible. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 14. Right after James, or right before James rather.

Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14 says, See then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession. Our profession, of course, is that He is our redemption.

He's our righteousness. He's our cleanness as it is. He's our forgiveness. He's our access to the throne of God. He's our assurance that when we die we're going to heaven to be with God. He's our all, He's our everything.

Oh, thanks be to God. Verse 15 says, We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. But he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

And really, boldly means, God says, come with incredible confidence. I'm not looking for those who come with their own righteousness. It's those who come and they know they're clean because they've trusted in Christ.

And He says, yes, you've got needs and you are weak and you struggle. But I'm inviting you into my presence. And not only inviting you, I'm asking you to come in with confidence. Because I will hear you.

And I will answer you. And you'll begin to know that I'm God. Hallelujah. Now, I've seen three reasons over the years why people can't pray or they start praying and then they give up praying. These are things that I've just observed in the years that I've walked with God.

Prayerlessness Through Resistance to God’s Will

First and foremost, people stop praying because their journey is not in line with the will of God. Now, many people start out with incredible zeal and they're at all the prayer meetings and they're getting hold of the promises.

And they come in to the kingdom of God with a youthful innocence. And it's a delightful thing to see that. But God says, I don't want everyone in my body to be youthful and unknowledgeable forever. You see, there's a plan I have to bring the gospel to all men and women throughout the world.

That's why He has a body on the earth. It's to be a testimony and to go into all the nations and preach the gospel to every person created in the image of God. And many, many people come in to the church of Jesus Christ and they begin to pray.

But they're not willing to undertake the journey that God has for them. Every person here tonight, you have a journey that God has destined you to walk on. Now, you or I may not be aware of this. When I first got saved, if the Lord would have told me what he was going to do, I don't know if I could have contained it.

It would be so far out of the realm of possibility. And many, many people never leave this realm of possibility or the realm of what they feel their life should be and how God should be obliged to add to it.

And they begin to pray, but they're inwardly driven for personal reward and not just to bless the people. I want you to think about Balaam. You don't have to go there, but in the book of Numbers, chapters 22 to 24.

Here's a man that God, in spite of his backslidden condition really, but God is speaking to this man. But he's unwilling to really walk the path that God, God says, I want you to bless the people. I want you to bless my people.

And there was a foreign king that was hiring him as it is to curse the people of God to stop their journey. But the Lord says, no, you're to bless my people. And he heads out and he starts out on this journey.

And he is, in a sense, communicating with God because the scripture indicates that God is actually speaking to him. But he's not clean in this journey. He's got an agenda and he's not willing to lay it down.

And there's so many people today that they're communicating with God. And God really is speaking in the beginning, but there's an agenda and they're not willing to lay it down. It might be just a viewpoint of who you and I think we are.

What we think our life should be. How we view ourselves and we're quite happy with our view of ourselves. And so we bring this view into the prayer closet. And we now expect God to agree with it. And to bless it and to go with us on this journey.

And this man is unaware that God is actually opposing him on his journey. And he ends up living. He sees this blessing and he stands on these mountaintops and he says, oh, that my end could be like his.

Oh, I see no iniquity in Jacob. I hear no iniquity in Israel. I see among them the shout of a king. He's got this vision of Christ right before him. But he can't bend his own heart and say, God, lead me.

He can't give up his agenda. So he sees this incredible mercy with his eyes. But he will not yield himself to God's purpose for his life on this journey. So he ends up seeing it, but he's living outside of it.

And that's how you can come to church and the Bible can be opened and you can see the promises and know the history, but end up living outside of it. And then eventually you can't go into the prayer closet anymore, because ultimately God says, you're not willing to embrace my will for you.

And of course, God's yoke is not burdensome or heavy. If we're walking with the Lord, he says, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. There's a delight of God. There's nothing more delightful to the Christian person than to be living in the will of God.

There's nothing more laborious than to be outside of his will, trying as it is to cut into this place that you can't get into. James says, you ask in chapter 4, verse 3, and you don't receive, because you ask amiss that you may consume it on your lust.

And it means that you're coming into the prayer closet and you're asking for things, but they're not according to the will of God. Amazing. The second reason that people stop praying is unconfessed sin.

Unconfessed Sin and the Call to Forgiveness

Now, Isaiah 59, verses 1 and 2, the prophet says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you that he will not hear.

Now, I'm not talking about struggles. We all have struggles. There's a difference. I'm talking about unconfessed sin. I'm talking about known and willful practice. The person sitting here tonight, you know it's wrong.

But you have determined in your heart to continue this practice. And you come into the prayer closet and wonder why you can't get through to God. Your iniquities have separated you from the voice of God.

David the psalmist said, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Remember, Paul says, I want men to lift up holy hands everywhere without wrath. In other words, without the desire to punish others who have done you wrong.

And I think of Jesus in Mark 11, verse 25. He said, And when you stand praying, forgive. Just forgive. Just let it go. Let the debt go. I think of the numbers of people that I've known over the years who just will not obey this.

They won't do it. And they somehow think I can get around this. Of course, God doesn't understand my situation. No, you don't understand what God has for your life. If you just bring your life in line with what God says and say, Lord, I don't know how to do this.

But your word says to do it. So I choose to do it. And you're going to have to give me the power. And when I fail, I'm going to boldly come back in and say, Lord, it's been a bad day. You've got to give me more grace tomorrow.

You've got to help me through this. But I'm not going to embrace this. I'm not going to willfully do this any longer. I'm not going to live this way anymore. You see, some people can't pray because when they do, God will continuously bring you back to the area of disobedience in your life.

They can't go into the prayer closet. Because God doesn't forget. You can be years pushing a certain thing out of your mind. Listen, Jacob wanted the blessing of God. He's the grandson of Abraham. He wants the blessing that God said was his grandfather's.

And he says, he realizes this is in the lineage of my family. I want this. So he goes to his father and pretends he's another man than the man he really is. And he goes to his father, and his father says, who are you?

And he gives another name, the name of his brother Esau. And his father gives him his blessing, which he thinks, how many people today think you can steal the blessing of God? Now, God honored it because he wanted it.

And his brother didn't, but he didn't want it the right way yet. But God would give him the blessing he was looking for. So now, because of his sin, he's driven into a far place for years. He works 14 years just for the girl that he fell in love with.

And now, God calls him to go back. And some of you, maybe, the Lord is saying to you tonight, I want you to come back. I want you to come back again to that place that you feared. You thought it was going to bring you into disaster to just simply trust me and obey me.

And you went away, and you've been out of the prayer closet for a season, but I want you to come back. And Jacob's coming back now into the place of promise. And the Scripture says he wrestled with God, because he knew he couldn't go there unless God gave him the strength.

He said, God, I can't do this unless you strengthen me to do this. I can't give up my image of myself. I can't give up my sense of destiny and future. I envision myself as a great evangelist. Not an usher in the church.

The Lord says, no, if I called you to be an usher and you obey me, that's greatness in my sight. It's not about what you do, it's the fact you obey me. And you know that I will give you an empowerment to do what I call you to do.

I've learned that greatness is simply obedience and servanthood in the body of Christ. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God. And so Jacob ends up wrestling with God all night. And the Lord says, basically, I've got to go.

And Jacob says, I'm not letting you go until you bless me. And it's almost like all of these years have not happened. And the Lord says to him, well, I beg your pardon. You want me to bless you, but what did you say your name was?

It's as if all these years hadn't happened. What did you say your name was? When you sought my blessing years ago, you gave the wrong name. You were going in the wrong direction. But what is your name now?

And you see, he's just looking for an agreement. I gave you a name, so just tell me what your name is. I gave it to you. God says, tell me what the name is. And the man or woman has the courage to go in the prayer closet and say, I'm fearful.

I'm afraid to lay down my life and follow you. I'm whatever you are. And the Lord says, good. Now you've prevailed with God. And now you've prevailed with man. He says, now you're entering into the blessing of your grandfather.

Amazing. Because you've just come in honestly into my presence. And now we can talk. Because now we're on the same path. We're walking down the same highway as it is. And now you're going to know the blessing that you've been seeking for all your life.

Prayer as Fellowship With God Rather Than Condemnation

Thirdly, people stop praying or leave the prayer closet because they have a wrong perception of what prayer is. I remember in the early years as a Christian, I'd go to a prayer meeting. Oh, dear. Two hours of laborious condemnation and faithless begging.

Holy prayer was when everybody got on their knees, you ground your face into the seat in front of you and you confessed what a rotten sinner you were. You begged and whined for two hours and everybody walked out of the church looking like they'd been run over by a Mack truck.

And the whole community is supposed to say, give us a reason for the hope that is in your life. And that's the way a lot of people pray. You go into the prayer closet, oh, I'm such a rotten sinner. Serve any of your blessings.

No. Prayer is knowing the mind of God and moving forward with Him in belief, in faith. Knowing what God is thinking. Did you know tonight that God is thinking thoughts about you? More than the sand of the sea.

And according to the Scriptures, they're thoughts of good and not evil to bring you to an expected end. The Lord says, I have a place. I'm taking you to that place. And in that place I'm taking you, you're going to be supernaturally and sovereignly sustained.

You're going to be given giftings that you don't have. You're going to begin to know that I am a supernatural God. Some of you will be given gifts of the Spirit. Others are just going to be such drastic character changes in you.

From a lying tongue to a man or woman of truth. From selfishness to a generous open heart and open hands to a needy world all around you. You're going to be given these things because these things are in my mind towards you.

And you're going to begin to know that I am God. You're going to know it by experience, not because you went to a Bible study at Times Square Church. You're going to know I am God. He said in the Old Testament, they shall all know me from the least to the greatest.

Those who come to me are going to know me because I'm going to be God in them. They're going to become new creations. The old things are going to pass away. All things are going to become new. They're going to go from image to image and glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord.

There's going to be continuous change going on in the lives of those who are mine. Those who know my mind towards them. Those who come into the prayer closet and their hearts are open and I can begin to speak to them.

And they begin to believe what I am saying. Hallelujah. Thanks be to God. John 16, 13. Jesus said, when he, the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth and he will show you things to come.

Now, it's not just events of the future for our nations, as wonderful as that may be. No, the things to come are in you and in me. He will show you. God will say, no, I'm going to change your heart in this area.

I'm going to make you a man or woman of such compassion. Right now, you don't care. But if you'll just hear what I'm speaking, I'm going to change you. There's going to be a compassion come into your heart.

Yes, you're fearful right now. But I'm going to put a love in you for men and women in this world and children that is going to cast out all fear. That's what the Scripture says. Perfect love casts out all fear.

Because fear has torment. God says, I'm going to put a love in your heart. And you'll be standing before people everywhere. It may not be crowds. It may not be large gatherings. But wherever you go, the fear of men will be gone from your life.

You'll have a love that compels you to tell them there's a Savior in heaven that loves them and died for them. God says, you'll know I'm real. Because you will know the things that are coming out of your inward parts were not in you before I came into your life.

You will know me from the least to the greatest. Once you begin to experience the supernatural working of God, Beloved, let me tell you, there is some people in the Bible that Paul says were addicted to ministering to the saints.

This probably is a couple. Maybe they've been selfish before. I really don't know. But God gave them the gift of hospitality and the ability to care for those who are walking this journey through this world in Christ.

And Paul describes them as addicted to ministering. And I see a good addiction in the Spirit. That when you and I begin to walk with God, and God begins to work in us supernaturally, we want more. Oh God, oh God, why would I limit you?

Why would I say this far and no farther? Why wouldn't I let you begin to speak through me? Why wouldn't I let you begin to heal through my hands? Why wouldn't I let you take me in places where it's impossible for anyone to go unless God is with them?

Pentecost and the Supernatural Life of the Church

In the book of Acts, when they came out of the upper room, the Scripture says they began to speak forth supernaturally into known languages of the world which they had never learned. They were immediately exhibiting abilities.

And these were sensible abilities because people who were visiting Jerusalem could understand what they were saying. God gave them supernatural ability. This is what the church has been meant to be from the day of Pentecost.

A supernatural church with the life of God inside of her, given abilities to do things that she doesn't naturally possess. A testimony to the glory of God. People all around are looking at this and saying, we've never seen anything like this.

Immediately their hearts are stirred and they begin to want to know what it means to be saved. And the Scripture says they were speaking in known languages, other tongues, the wonderful works of God. The things that only God can do.

They were making a declaration of the wonderful works of God. Beloved, that's what it's always been about. It's about you and I going into the workplace and saying, I've got to tell you what God is doing.

I've got to tell you what God has done. I've got to tell you what God has spoken to my heart. I've got to tell you what God's told me about you, what He's going to do for you. They began to speak, in the Greek it's the megalios, which means the anticipated outworking of the inward life of Christ.

Oh God, help us to understand these simple truths. Here's a fearful people in an upper room. The bloodlust of that generation is very real to them. The cross is very fresh. The anger of the crowd is very real.

And they go up into that room and in a moment of time God comes and says, Listen, I'm going to give you abilities that you've never possessed. I'm going to take you places you could never go. I'm going to make you into a person you could never hope to be in your own strength.

And you're going to change the whole known world in your generation. And they walk out of the upper room believing it with the power of God upon them. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God.

David, Joshua, and Faith for Impossible Assignments

What an exciting life. Think of David when he came to fight Goliath. Here's a young man. He's not a warrior. He's not been trained. He's not been in the army. He's been out in the field with a slingshot and with God.

He's been communing with God. He's learned to believe God. He's learned that God gives supernatural strength to those who will simply believe Him and do what He asks them to do. He's been able to slay beasts in a sense that in the natural have the power to absolutely tear them in pieces.

And he knows that God has given him supernatural ability. So when he walks into the midst of the army and looks through the valley and sees this giant challenging the very honor and the very nature of God, he begins what I've always believed was a prayer.

We record it as a statement. But David's got an open heaven. He knows what God can do. And looks down at Goliath. He's now prophesying. He's no longer speaking in the natural. You come to me with your stick.

And you come to me with your weaponry and your shouts and your terror. But I come to you in the name of the Lord God of Israel, the God of hosts, the God that you have defied. This day, he said, God's going to give me your head and not just your head, but the bodies of the Philistine army are going to be given to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.

And all the world will know there's a God in Israel. That's got to be the cry of the Christian life, folks. That all the world will know there is a God in me. All the world will know that Christ sits at the right hand of God.

All the world will know that God is alive in Christ and has a church on this earth. If you will lay down and confess sin. If you will just come in, not with your life plan, but find the life plan of God.

And God begins to speak out of heaven. And now the choice you have is to agree with him. This word gets real quiet, doesn't it, right now. To agree with him. That's what it's always been about. Think about Joshua.

The Lord of hosts comes to him. Christ himself, pre-incarnate Christ is standing before Joshua. The captain. Now Joshua bows and calls him Lord. It had to be Christ. An angel would never allow it. He gives him the battle plan.

I'm bringing you in now. This is the promised land. And here's the plan. You're going to just see this walled, great walled city. And a place of impossibility. And you're going to walk around it for seven days.

The seventh day you're going to shout. The walls are going to come down. You're going to go in. And you're going to conquer. Now you have to believe. You have to believe. Now God will speak to you things that are just as impossible.

God will tell some tonight, I'm going to make you a person of such incredible compassion. That your whole family will be astounded when they see the walls of selflessness have come down. I'm going to take that root of anger out of your life because it's rooted in unforgiveness.

I'm going to pull it up right by the roots. And you're going to be the most forgiving person in your entire clan. And people are going to look and say, how does this victory ever come about? What happened to you?

That you're speaking words of such incredible grace when everyone around you is shouting for vengeance. And shouting for retribution. You're talking about forgiveness. You're not only talking, but you've truly forgiven.