How to Break the Bondage of Prayerlessness Edit
Benny Hinn
The disciples said to our wonderful Jesus, “Teach us, Lord, how to pray.” I think today we are still asking the same thing: “Lord, teach us how to pray.” What does the Bible say about prayer? God Almighty wants to destroy the power of prayerlessness in your life and in my life because, without prayer, the enemy will cause distraction, trouble, and bondage.
When we are not praying, that’s when we lose strength, when trouble really increases, and things get a whole lot worse. The Bible tells us why prayerlessness exists and the answer also on what to do about it.
How do we experience victory?
It’s possible to experience victory every day of your life. And I’ve seen this happen in my life when I wait upon the Lord.
1) Recharge your soul every day in prayer
Isaiah 40:31
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
This strength does not come over you in one minute or overnight. It’s a process of waiting upon the Lord. And I’ve experienced in my life that sometimes it takes me two weeks to get back to full power. It’s just like a battery. If you lose battery power, you can charge it up for a longer time before it is fully charged. It may take you an hour or two for a battery to charge 100%.
But our spiritual battery needs to be recharged every so often, and we recharge it through prayer. So just like you charge your battery daily for your phone or other things, why not charge your spiritual battery every day? Because daily contact with God is the key. Jesus says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” It is a daily action, and if we neglect one day, disaster and trouble will come upon us.
2) Fight down prayerlessness in your life
Why are many Christians prayerless? This is because of the fall of man. Prayerlessness begin in Genesis 3, when Adam hid from God. Hiding in God is prayer while Hiding from God is prayerlessness. Here, Adam was hiding from the Lord. He was hiding from God because of sin. Sin is the problem. Prayerlessness is the result of sin. And frankly, it’s a disease and a spiritual disease at that. The only way to correct it is at the cross. We have to bring our disease to the cross of Jesus.
3) Maintain the fear of God
What does the word of God say about prayerlessness? Why do people not pray?
Job 15:5
Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
The reason people do not pray is because they lose the fear of God. The minute sin enters into someone’s heart; the fear of God is gone. Adam hid from the Lord because the fear of God was gone. God had said, “Don’t touch the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil,” and when they did touch it, the fear was gone, and they hid from God, and not in God. The minute the fear of God is gone, prayer is dead. When prayer dies, the results are disastrous.
Job 21:14
Therefore, they say unto God, depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’
This is what the wicked are saying. This is what men and women who don’t care about prayer are saying. We as Christians have discovered there is power in prayer, unlimited power. Everything that God is, and everything that God has, He has put at the disposal of prayer. Prayer can do anything God can do. Therefore, if prayer can do anything God can do, then prayer is omnipotent. My prayer for you, as my partner and friend, is that your prayer life becomes strong and mighty because you will experience the power of God in such a way that you will have daily victories.
4) Learn to wait on the Lord as long as you can in prayer
They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings as eagles. They will run and not be weary; they will walk and not faint. What happens in prayer is that the minute you pray, your strength is restored; your battery is recharged. Suddenly, your spiritual discernment is back because it says they will mount up like the eagles. The thing about the eagle is, it stands on the rock and will not release its wings and will not surrender to the wind until the wind currents are right. The minute you pray, you are able to discern what is of God and what is not of God. The second thing is you’re able to surrender to the Holy Spirit. It’s impossible to surrender to the Holy Spirit without prayer. And the minute you surrender, like the eagle surrenders to the wind, you will mount up to higher places of God, and you will be able now to go to those high places of praise and worship where the anointing is powerful.
5) Stay in the high places of God
Deuteronomy 32:13
He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
But where was he? He was in the high places of the earth. It says he made him ride on the high places of the earth. The only way he got to those high places was through prayer. It says they shall run. Amazingly, they run before they walk. Running means, you’ll catch up with God because prayerlessness causes you to slow down, not be able to walk, and not be able to fellowship with the Lord. So, when you are in prayer, you’re able to catch up with the Lord. You’re running to catch up with where God is, and you’re safe under the cloud.
Remember that in the Old Testament, when the children of Israel were following the cloud, those who were in the back were killed by Amalek. So, if you’re not catching up with God, the enemy will destroy you. Those who were way back there could not catch up with God and were killed. We don’t want to be killed. We don’t want to be destroyed by the enemy. So, what must we do? Catch up with God, because that’s where the protection is. That’s where safety is: under the cloud. And it happens only in prayer.
6) Inhale the Spirit and things of God always
Every time you pray, you exhale the flesh and inhale the Holy Spirit. Prayer brings about the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the presence of the Holy Spirit produces more prayer. So it’s like this: when you pray, the power of God is released. And as the power of God is released, more prayer is born. It’s like an eternal circle of power. We pray, the power of God comes, and when the power of God comes, we continue praying.
Job 21:16
Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
1 Corinthians 9: 27
But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have, preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
It’s possible to preach the gospel and see the sick healed, and people set free, and wonderful things happen, and yet lose at the end if you become prayerless. The Lord made that very clear. He said many will come in that day saying, “Lord, Lord,” and I will say to them, “I never knew you.” How is it possible that these people were able to cast out demons and see people healed and wonderful things happen through their ministry, and yet the Lord would say, “I never knew you”?
The key is found in 2 Samuel 1, where David talks about Saul and says that when Saul lost the anointing, it says it was as though he had not been anointed with oil. In other words, the minute a person loses the favor of God, it’s as though he was never His. God looks and says, “I never knew you,” because the moment the anointing departs, the Holy Spirit is gone from that person’s life. It’s possible for that to happen because it happened to Saul and others in Scripture. Judas was another one. The minute the anointing is gone, God looks at that person as though he was never His, and as though they were never used of God.
2Samule 1:21
O mountains of Gilboa, may you have no dew or rain, no fields yielding offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.
What brings about this disaster in people’s lives is prayerlessness. The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 26, that as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.
7) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you
2 Chronicles 26:5
And he sought God in the days of Zachariah, who had understanding in the visions of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.
For God to make us prosper, it’s our decision. You and I have to draw near to God before He will draw near to us. We make the first step, and that first step is the tough one. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 9:27, says, “I’ve got to bring my body under subjection.” The word subjection in the Greek gives the idea that the flesh is fighting. To be put under subjection, you have to use force. You have to struggle with the flesh, and that happens daily. But it gets easier as you keep praying every day.
And the worst thing you can do for yourself is neglect prayer. The price of neglect is very high because when we neglect time with the Lord, everything suffers. We suffer spiritually. We suffer emotionally. We suffer physically. Our family suffers, our home suffers, and our future suffers, as everything goes wrong, everything suddenly falls apart, and the enemy becomes strong. The frightening part is when we lose strength because of prayerlessness, the enemy will gain strength against us. And then we are back in prison. We’re back in bondage.
8) Go down on your knees daily; your life depends on it
Prayer is the key. Truly, there is power in prayer. It’s time to go back to those quiet times with the Lord, daily on your knees, playing worship music in the background as you’re entering in.
Job 21:16
Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
So, the first thing that people lose is counsel. They are not able to make proper decisions because now prayer is out of their life.
Job 21:17
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
In other words, there is no light in their life. Think about people walking in darkness. When there is no prayer, there is no light. And then it says how often destruction comes on them. So where there is no prayer, there is no protection. As it says, destruction comes on them. That means no protection.
Job 21:18
They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
This means they are have no preservation. They’re not kept by God. The Bible says that God will keep you as the apple of the eye. He will not be able to keep you unless you pray. Prayer releases God to protect you. we limit God when we don’t pray. Literally, we limit his power when we don’t pray
Job 21:19
God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
God lays up the wicked iniquity on them and their children. So not only is he suffering, but his own children are suffering. There is no forgiveness because of no prayer. No prayer means there will be judgment on that family. Pray always, even if it’s only half an hour a day. I suggest one hour every day. That’s my advice to you, because Jesus said, “Could you not wait with Me one hour?” An hour a day will do the job. If you can spend more time, please do it, because you will just be flowing a whole lot easier the next day and for the week.
9) Endeavor to pray in the morning
When you’re waiting upon the Lord, you’re increasing strength. So you’re receiving more strength if you wait for an hour or two hours rather than half an hour. But it’s up to you. And I know you have work and responsibilities, but please take time in the morning, and do it in the morning, because evening is just not the right time, as your body is worn out. God wants the best of your day, and the best of your day is in the morning. And that’s why David said, “In the morning, Lord, you’ll hear my voice.”
Job 21:20-21
His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
So, think about no blessings or mercy on that man’s life because he’s not praying. His own descendants are now also suffering, with no blessings on his children. So, there is no mercy or blessing on him, and no blessings or mercy on his family, because he has not prayed.
Prayer
Precious Jesus, we come into agreement right now. Lord, I pray that Your anointing will be released right now upon Your child who is reading this note. Place that holy desire in them to pray and seek You. You said if you seek Me with all your heart, you will find Me. Precious Lord, let that be a reality in every life, in Jesus’ name. I pray that this season will be our season of prayer and miracles in Jesus’ name. I also pray that healing will come right now. I rebuke sickness, disease, infirmity, and pain, in Jesus’ name.
