How to Overcome Obstacles to Daily Prayer

Do you pray every day? 

Some of the common reasons people give for not praying every day include: 

• I never learned how to pray. 
• My recited prayers have lost their meaning. 
• My prayers have become a virtual “shopping list” of wants. When the wants run out, so does my prayer. 
• I’m unsure of who or what to pray for.  
• I don’t hear God’s side of the conversation. 
• I feel too guilty about my sins to talk to God.   
• I don’t have enough privacy.  
• I can’t find the time to pray.   

You might well be able to add to this list based on your personal experience. Great! Identifying obstacles is the first step in removing them.

How can we work past these hindrances and build a habit of consistent daily prayer? 

We should begin by defining prayer. Prayer is multifaceted, but fundamentally, it is talking to God personally. We might compare it to communicating with any person. Saying nothing doesn’t build or maintain a meaningful relationship. Neither is it helpful to communicate only through a long list of requests for favors. And simply saying the same thing every time you talk would be odd!

Just as in any conversation, what you say to God must be meaningful.

How to begin building a habit of daily prayer

One way to start is by reviewing how Jesus taught His disciples to pray. This addresses the first two points above.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:9-13 are often called the Lord’s Prayer. Perhaps you’ve been taught to recite it. But if we read how Jesus prefaced these words, we will avoid the pitfall of monotonous, prewritten prayers.

He began, “When you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7; emphasis added throughout).

After this warning against simply repeating empty phrases as prayers, He continued: “In this manner, therefore, pray” (verse 9). The English Standard Version reads: “Pray then like this.” Instead of the Lord’s Prayer, these verses should be viewed as the Lord’s guidelines on how to pray.

Christ later gave more instructions, both during His earthly ministry and by inspiring the writers of the New Testament. 

Prayer is a powerful tool for good

Next, let’s establish that it isn’t wrong to ask God to provide for our needs and those of our loved ones. 

Prayer is a powerful tool at our ready disposal by which we can serve others—people beyond those in our immediate circle. Part of Jesus’ model prayer includes asking our Father, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). But we should think beyond just our own needs. Prayer is a powerful tool at our ready disposal by which we can serve others—people beyond those in our immediate circle. 

Christ inspired the apostle James to write, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16). Other translations put it: “The prayer of a righteous person has great power” (ESV) and “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (New International Version).

Knowing this should inspire us to go before God on behalf of others in need, having confidence that our prayers can help them. There are many people suffering from disease, accidental injury, violence, hunger and poverty. These people need our daily prayers!

God appreciates our praying to Him on behalf of others in need.

Get to know God

Now, let’s expand on the obstacle of not hearing the other side of the conversation. Remember that prayer is talking to God. How can we talk sensibly to someone we don’t know?

Some people find it helpful to jot down a few notes about things they want to pray about. Not to recite, but to jog their memories when they pray.Studying the Bible is essentially listening to God. Through reading God’s Word, we get to know His thoughts, His desires, His instructions, His expectations for us and His overall plan for all people. 

As we get to know God, we’ll find prayer—talking with Him about what He has said to us through His Word—comes more naturally.

God has inspired an encyclopedic insight into His mind through the Bible! It is so detailed that it must be broken down. 

That often means receiving some guided instruction from God’s servants, so we can know how His Word applies to life. That may seem daunting, but it is actually quite workable and enjoyable. 

For more information, see our article “How to Study the Bible”