Bible Study with the Cincottis – Hindered Prayers – 10/18/2026
Today’s Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti.
Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: Hindered Prayers
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Hindered Prayers
“Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth.” Ps. 54:2
Before we start, let’s define our terms. Prayer, as we understand it and as Scripture portrays it, is a means of nurturing an intimate relationship with God. It’s spending time with Him and engaging in conversation. These are vital components of any relationship. This conversation takes on many different dynamics, which we will discuss. It’s important to note that prayer is not an effort to convince God, inform Him, or twist His arm to do your will. Mostly, it is a method to know His will so that we can walk in obedience.
Hindered prayer is a disability to hear from God. Many would wrongly identify it as prayer that doesn’t go our way. Remember that our intention is not to get God to perform our will, but to hear His voice so that we may know His perfect will in the personal circumstances of our lives.
There are many examples of prayer in Scripture, which we will look at in order to further understand. For starters, we will look at “The Lord’s Prayer,” which Jesus gave to His disciples and us in Mt. 6:9-14. The first statement is an identity statement about God. It’s important to know who we are praying to. “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” Father is the source, the progenitor. He is the source of all things seen and unseen. Col. 1:16: “In Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers…” Heaven is where He dwells, which is not so much a place that we are separated from, but another dimension that we can interact with in the present, though not fully. “Hallowed be Your name” is a statement of character.
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is a prophetic word. This is totally coming alongside God’s perfect will and giving it a voice. It is a declaration of truth.
“Give us this day our daily bread” could have multiple dimensions. It’s an awkward statement because Jesus said, “your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask Him.”
Mt. 6:6. “Bread” could refer to the hand of your enemy, or simply your daily provision. Those provisions are not just as meager as food, shelter, and clothing. We also need the provision of His peace, His presence, His grace, and mercy. If we are locked in on the first part of the prayer, we are far better poised for this.
“And forgive us our debts (trespasses) as we forgive our debtors, (those who trespass against us)”. This is not a quid pro quo with God. Our value was settled at the cross, and we were forgiven when we received Him as our savior. Indeed, that is what He came to save us from: the bondage of sin which brings forth death. Because of our restored relationship and our “born again” experience, we are considered righteous before God. This is the only way we could even come before Him in prayer. It is a declaration of our need to walk in forgiveness of others. Jesus set the standard when He said of His executioners, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Lk. 23:34
“And do not lead us into temptation” is another confusing statement if not properly understood. James says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” Js. 1:13. So how can we reconcile these two truth statements? What if this statement read more like, “lead us away from temptation”? This is certainly more consistent with Scripture, which goes on to say, “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.” I Cor. 10:13
“Deliver us from evil” is just what He does. God is in the deliverance business. II Cor. 1:9,10 says, “…but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us, in whom we trust that He will still deliver us…”
This prayer is a collection of truth statements, and we must always be careful to tell the truth when engaging with a Holy God. Otherwise, our prayers will be hindered.
Getting real and honest with God is an important component of this conversation. He already knows the hidden issues of your heart, so you might as well fess up. Being confessional in prayer is often overlooked. Before we begin our laundry list of requests, it’s probably wise to clean house. In other words, get the debris out of the way that is hindering your conversation. Imagine that you begin your prayer session with a request but have an unresolved sin issue. God is going to interject with, “Let’s talk about that sin that is causing division in our relationship first.” Let me emphasize that apology is not confession. In his book, Living Fearless, Jamie Winship says, “I was a police officer for several years back in the 1980s. When I arrested somebody, I would bring them in and ask for a confession. I didn’t ask them for an apology…Confession is telling God the truth about what you really believe about Him, yourself, and others. It’s the greatest act, a sacrament. God loves honest confession. Confession is the beginning of genuine transformation. If you don’t tell God your truth, how can He enlighten your reality with His truth?”
The three classic Scriptures that speak directly to hindered prayer are I Pe. 3:7, Js.4:3, and Dan. 10:12,13. It’s wisdom to unpack them so that we might better understand the problem.
The first one speaks of a discord, on the natural plane, in our most intimate relationship. How can God intervene where there is no agreement? The verse reads, “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that our prayers may not be hindered.” Jesus said, in Mt. 18:19, “if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” This speaks to the power of agreement. The Peter passage goes on to say, “Finally, all of you be of one mind…” vrs 8. God doesn’t partner with confusion. The Holy Spirit moves in the midst of righteousness, holiness, humility, and agreement in a righteous cause. The Spirit fell, in Acts 2:1, when they were all in, “one accord”.
The James passage is very bold: “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend in on your pleasures.” Js. 4:2,3. Here, James highlights two issues in prayer. The first is that we do not even bother to pray. How often do we charge ahead in our own strength without even inquiring of God? Then he goes on to say that when we do ask, we ask amiss. In this case, there may be agreement in prayer, but if the objective is unrighteous, then how could we reasonably expect God to move on our behalf? Don’t bother praying with a small group of thieves as to when you should rob the bank. We will know if our cause is righteous if it aligns with God’s word, but even then, not everything in God’s word aligns directly with every present circumstance.
Finally, in our Daniel passage, we see how Satanic activity has hindered prayer. It is something of a mystery how this happens, but we get a glimpse in ch. 10. The angel Gabriel says, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words (prayers) were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood (hindered) me twenty-one days…” vrs 12,13. In this passage we see that Daniel’s prayer was heard and answered, but somehow, due to spiritual warfare, the answer was hindered from reaching Daniel. Paul said, in I Th. 2:18, “Therefore we wanted to come to you – even I, Paul, time and again – but Satan hindered us.” And he said, in Gal. 5:7, “You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” So, hindrance can come from external forces including spiritual.
This information should help us to govern our prayer life. If our prayers are not answered as we hoped, then we need to apply discernment as to why and to make necessary changes. A good starting point is to ask God, “who gives to all liberally and without reproach…” Js. 1:5. That would be an excellent prayer!
Hindered Prayers Addendum
“The carnal mind is enmity against God…” Rm. 8:7
In truth, hindered prayers are what our pastor Jeff Haynor calls soulish prayers. These are prayers that are conjured up and led by our mind, will, and emotions. This is to say, what Pr. Tom Loud, author of Unlocking Kingdom Power, identifies as our carnal mind. When praying from this spectrum, we are engaging resources like sentimentality, knowledge, self-interest, pride, craftiness, talent, and the like. We may actually have a pretty good track record, because our creativity is a gift from God and a characteristic of His likeness, but we will never have certainty with this mechanism and never have perfect success as Jesus did.
Paul gives us some insight into this in I Cor. 2:6-16, select passages: 10 “But God has revealed them [hidden wisdom which God ordained vrs. 7] to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God….12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God…14 But the natural man [carnal] does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Our natural man, also called carnal or fleshly, is joined to the natural world. Our soul gets to choose, or discern, whether to listen to and take instruction from our new creation man, that is, our spirit man, who is in communion with God, or from the natural world around us.
Paul says, in Rm. 8:5-8, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” James puts it this way, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Js. 4:4
What does all this have to do with our prayer life? Much, indeed! If our soul is exclusively gathering information from and therefore making decisions based in knowledge, or circumstances, or worldly information, or worse yet, from a position of fear, shame or guilt, then our prayers will be in accordance with that realm. But if our prayers are generated by the Holy Spirit, seeing beyond the natural and into the spiritual, then we have a direct connection to God and a perfect agreement with Him. Our spirit man, while in communion with God, hears from the Holy Spirit and instructs the soul, which likewise instructs the flesh. This is what Jesus was operating in when He described: “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” Jn. 5:19
Hindered prayers, therefore, are actually hindered by our carnal mind. This applies to prayers for healing, deliverance, or any other aspect of kingdom authority. When our carnal mind kicks in with sentimentality, fear, knowledge, pride, etc. then our results will be meager at best. Rob Reimer, in his book, Spiritual Authority, says, “Spiritual authority is rooted in identity, expanded in intimacy, and activated by faith.” This is the process for unhindered prayer.
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