There are many areas of failure in getting to prayer.  And so I have done my best to point out some of those areas.  I have found ten different areas of failure; and I have outlined them with the acrostic P-R-A-Y-E-R-L-E-S-S.  I hope this acrostic will help you to remember them.

# 1 – Priority.  We don’t give prayer the proper priority.  The reason of course is that we fail to see the importance of prayer.  Perhaps we haven’t come into a close relationship with God yet, and we don’t enjoy spending time with Him.  Also it may be because we are lazy; we lack discipline; and we don’t take the time to set our alarm clock a little earlier, so we have time to pray in the morning.  Basically, it is just selfishness and sin.

# 2 – Rest.  We aren’t resting in faith.  A second reason why we don’t pray is because we simply don’t believe in Him and that He is willing and able to answer our prayers.  For, as the Bible says in Hebrews 11:6, “…He who comes to God [in prayer] must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

# 3 – Alienate. We alienate ourselves from others.  When we practice separating ourselves from others, when we look out for just our own interests, we become selfish and conceited (Phil. 2: 4), and we don’t think to pray for others, just for ourselves.  But those prayers are not true; they are not valid, because they are with wrong motives (Ja. 4:3) and come from a sinful heart.  However, true and Godly prayers will flow from a person who is like Jesus, who was humble and obedient in His unselfish service to man, even to the point of death (Phil. 2:8).

# 4 – Yield.  We don’t yield ourselves to Him.  Yielding to God means to accept Him, to humble ourselves before Him, to listen to Him, and to obey Him.  And this is exactly what is required in order to pray.

# 5 – Enjoy. We don’t enjoy prayer.  If we don’t enjoy praying, that is definitely a hindrance to prayer.  Some pray even if they don’t enjoy it—but their prayers are out of duty.  Real prayers spring from God-given desire and are motivated by the Holy Spirit.             

# 6 – Readiness. We are not vigilant.  Many do not pray because they are unaware of the enemy and his tactics against us.  Hence, they are oblivious to dangers all around them, and they don’t even think to pray.  They say to themselves, “All is well, what could go wrong,” and they go about their merry way.

# 7 – Love. We don’t love God.  If we are not in the habit of going to prayer every day it may mean that we don’t love God and we are not thankful for what Jesus did for us on the cross.  If that is the case, it means that we love the world and are caught up in all the things of the world.  Therefore, if you sense that God is trying to get your attention and wants you to love Him, think about all the things He has done for you and how Jesus gave His life for you.

# 8 – Evil. We have let the evil things of the world corrupt us.  In order to be able to pray we must be separated from the world.  For as the First Epistle of John states “…All that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 Jn. 2:15-16).  Also, the Gospel of John states, “…Everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (Jn. 3:20).

# 9 – Self-sufficient. We don’t think we need God.  Another reason why some don’t go to prayer is because they really don’t think they need anyone’s help.  They say to themselves, “With enough practice and effort I can do anything; there is nothing I can’t do; there is nothing too hard for me, and I don’t need anyone’s help.”

And the Number 1 reason why we fail in getting to prayer is…

# 10 – Sins. We have unconfessed sins.  All failure is due to sin. We cannot blame our failure on anything else but our own sin.  Your sins and your lack of repentance will definitely harden your heart and destroy your relationship with God.

The above article is an excerpt from this book.