I’ve been reading a book lately by Perry Stone called Exposing Satan’s Playbook. In one of the later chapters he discusses how people become weak in their faith and prayer. He explains one of the signs of this is if someone is going through a difficult time such as sickness or financial burden that they go to others and ask them to pray for them, but they don’t pray for themselves. Often when you do this you may not get where you want to which can lead people to lose faith in God.
There can be many barriers making someone weak in their prayer. Maybe they aren’t in church as often as they should be. This can be something anyone can fall into with a difficult work schedule who may work rotating shifts and it might be impossible to go to church Sunday mornings and get encouragement from being around others. Even if you cannot make church every Sunday invest in a good devotional or even watch a live-streamed recording.
Other people might be addicted to drugs, alcohol, or simply just living in sin. Number one when you want to ask something from God in prayer you need to not only ask for forgiveness of your sins but for guidance of becoming better and not to continue your sin. Refer to Psalm 119:113 “Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get domination over me.”
When going into prayer you may want to eliminate distractions as much as you can. For instance, put your phone on mute temporarily. Just your notification sound might cause you to lose focus. See Psalm 119:37 “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give my life in your ways.”.
It is also important to pray specifically and fervently. You will also not only want to pray for yourself, but also other people. Maybe someone you know lost their job or has cancer. Or simply just pray for God to give guidance to our government leaders and protect our military.
Continually working on your prayer life will help you in your walk with God in the long term. Though what you want may not be according to his plan or may not happen when you want it to. It is important to not get discouraged but continue to keep praying consistently and be open minded to what God is trying to show you.