Pointless Prayer: we hear it constantly while heaven closes its ear. Growling, barking, shouting, and hissing in the midnight: all witches and wizards destroyed, principalities and powers bound, and every enemy slain. And at the following power prayer meeting, the identical cycle is repeated: Pointless Prayer.
“And when you pray, do not keep babbling on and on like pagans with meaningless words, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them” –Matthew 6:7,8.
Hearts lusting after prosperity and panting over pornography utter their requests in vain. “When you ask, you do not receive, for you ask amiss with wrong motives; you only want what will give you pleasure” –James 4:3. Tolerating secret known sin renders your every prayer despised in the courts of heaven. “If I regard iniquity and cherish sin in my heart, the Lord will not listen” –Psalm 66:18.
And why would you suppose that God will listen to you when you do not listen to Him? If His Words are not a delight to you, why imagine that your words are welcomed by Him? They are not. “If anyone turns a deaf ear from listening to the Law, even his prayer is an abomination” –Proverbs 28:9.
“‘Since they refused to listen when I called to them, so when they called to Me, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty” –Zechariah 7:13. How would you ever know what the will of God is if you don’t know what He has said? And if you don’t know His mind, you can’t pray in His will. Pointless Prayer.
Bitterness blocks blessing. Malice cuts off mercy. Grudges strangle grace. “Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your sins” –Mark 11:25,26. And prayers of such proud men who regard others with contempt are never heard [Luke 18:9].
And why are you praying at all if you are not caring for the needs of your own household? Do you really think God is listening? No, He is not. You are not even a Christian. “If anyone does not provide for his own, especially those of his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” -1 Tim.5:8. A prayer of repentance is the only prayer that will be heard from such a man.
Many prayers are pointless because the man uttering them does not love his wife. He grants her no honor. He disregards her as God’s given helper. Her weakness as a woman is ignored and unreasonable demands are placed upon her. Rather than being cherished, she is neglected, or worse still, abused and battered. That wickedness cancels any so-called prayers arising from such godless men. Pointless Prayer.
1 Pet.3:7: “You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.” Yes, “So that your prayers will not be hindered.”
Hindrances abound in this most holy work of prayer. All of them revolve around the hub of Self – selfish desires, self-promotion, self-gain, self-comforts, self-righteousness. Self is a sickening thing.
The glory of God is a thing forgotten in the church’s mad pursuit of its own ends. Self-conceived decrees and commands dominate the words of these positively confessed “prayers.” But those are not biblical prayer at all. They are abominations.
And do not deceive yourself that your babbling on in “tongues” will make up for your spiritual lack. It will not. To the church in Corinth who spoke in “tongues” more than any other group in the New Testament, Paul said: “I could not speak to you as spiritual, but as to carnal/fleshly/babes” -1 Corinthians 3:1-3. “Tongues” does not compensate for carnality. In fact, it may only demonstrate your spiritual madness. “So if the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and unbelievers or uniformed people enter, won’t they say that you all have lost your minds?” -1 Corinthians 14:23. Yes they will.
Rather, we are to pray as Christ instructed us in Matthew 6. We are to pray as Jesus Himself did in John 17. We are to pray as Paul did in Ephesians chapters 1 and 3, Philippians 1, and Colossians 1. Do you want to know how to pray? Study these passages well, and follow these Spirit inspired records of what real prayer is, and you will altogether abandon Pointless Prayer.