Facing Obstacles to Your Prayers

Persistence is the key to effective prayer during hard times. If something is standing in your way right now listen up! Here’s what you need to do.

She wanted justice. Nothing extraordinary or unreasonable. She had been wronged and she just wanted it to be made right. So she went to the person in charge and asked for his help.

There was just one problem: he refused to help her.

So she asked again.

He continued to refuse to hear her out. He wouldn’t take any steps to do what was right. He was heartless and he didn’t care about the people he was supposed to look after. He had no respect for God either.

But she kept asking.

Finally, the man got so sick of hearing from this woman that he gave in and finally gave her the justice she sought. He finally did the right thing.

Can you relate to her struggle?

What You Need to Remember When You Face Obstacles in Prayer

This story is not about me but I have been that woman. I have been wronged and went to all the right people for help and was refused. I went to my church with my concerns about the abuse that I was suffering. They didn’t want to hear anything I had to say. In fact, they continued to embrace the man who was abusing me and my children. That hurt.

I went to the police for help but there was nothing they could do. And the court system? Not very helpful at all either because the judge was being fooled and manipulated by my abuser. Even my lawyer seemed to be under his spell. That was frightening.

Everywhere I turned I had a door slammed in my face. After a while I realized that I had been knocking on the wrong doors. I needed to appeal to the real Judge in my case.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow is a great lesson on being persistent in prayer. Jesus used it to encourage His followers to never give up in prayer. I found a lot of encouragement in this passage during seasons when I felt defeated.

If there was one lesson that I could share with you from this scripture it would be the importance of understanding who has the final say when it comes to prayer.

There’s a reason Jesus took the time to explain that the judge in this parable had no respect for people or God. There’s a reason He took the time to point out that the judge had no intention whatsoever of doing right.

In the end, none of that mattered:

Then the Lord said, ‘Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly!’ Luke 18:6-8a NLT

That thing or person standing in your way… not more powerful than God.

When God makes a promise (to give justice to His children who cry out) you can be sure He will keep it. Keep going to the throne in prayer. Keep making your requests known to the Father. And watch as He comes to your aid!