In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of spending time with God in prayer. He references the story of Peter and how he denied Jesus three times because he didn't pray. The preacher warns against being selfish in our purposes and desires, as it hinders our prayer life. He encourages listeners to cleanse their homes of sinful practices and to prioritize God in their lives. The sermon is supported by Bible verses from James and Psalms.

I'll preach a message to you entitled, Six Hindrances to Prayer. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 12, the Word of God says, For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayer. Amen? See, when you're right with God, God's got His ears open to you. And by the way, He's watching you. Amen? The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayer. Don't ever let the devil tell you, the child of God, that you can't be heard by God. But there's a condition here. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. Did you get that part? See, God's always conditional. Conditional. He said, you come unto Me, He said, I'll save you. He said, you reject Me, I'll send you to hell. God's always conditional. God's Word says in Deuteronomy, I've put before you blessings and cursings. He said, choose. He said, I've put before you life and death. Amen? It's a real tough one, isn't it? Amen? Let's see, which one do I want, blessings or cursings? I think I'll take blessings. Amen? Amen? Let's see, what do I want? Life or death? You know, I think I'll take life. Amen? It's a no-brainer. Amen? It's not difficult, folks. He said, you follow Me? He said, I'll bless your life. He said, you reject Me, it's going to be a bad day. So God's Word says, the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. Literally, God turns His head away from you and doesn't even listen to you. If there's a hindrance in your prayer life, that's what we're going to look at tonight. Let's pray. Father, I want to thank You, Lord, for the Word of God. Thank You, Lord, that You're so fair with us. Lord, when our lives are right with You, Lord, You hear our prayers, You answer our prayers. Lord, You love us unconditionally. Lord, You love us even when we're sinners, Lord, but You don't love our sin. But Lord Jesus, when we are right with You as a child of God, Lord, not only do You hear our prayers, You answer our prayers. And I want to thank You, Lord, for all the answered prayers in my life and the life of these here tonight, Lord. When our prayers were lifted up to You, when we were right with You, Lord, You heard our prayers and You answered them. So Lord, help us to understand that there are hindrances to prayer tonight, and help us to see what they are. And Lord, help us to get our lives situated, Lord, so we wouldn't do anything that would hinder our conversation, our relationship with You. Lord Jesus, thank You for being here tonight. Thank You for Your presence. Holy Spirit, I pray that You'd come into this place and do that which I cannot do. I pray that You would give me the filling, the anointing, the utterance, the boldness and the power of the Holy Spirit of God. I pray for fresh oils tonight, Heavenly Father. Lord Jesus, the Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Lord, 2 Timothy 1-7, You tell me, God has not given me the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Lord, give me power and love and a sound mind tonight. I pray, Heavenly Father, for lost men and women, boys and girls here tonight. The Lord that needs Jesus. I pray, Holy Spirit of God, You'd convict them of sin, of righteousness, of the judgment to come. Lord Jesus, please don't let anybody leave out of here tonight lost without You. Lord, please. I pray for Christians, Lord, that just need a word from You in some area or maybe several areas in this message. Lord, speak to our hearts, Lord. Lord Jesus, speak to our hearts. Let's pray to Jesus right now. Let's pray out loud. Dear Lord Jesus, please speak to my heart tonight. Help me to do what You say. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Now, if you're not pretty close to your husband or your wife, your family, you're going to need to get there, amen? We're not that packed that we can't just move around a little bit, but you'll see why in a little bit. Number one, I want you to see a hindrance to your prayer life. Being selfish in your purposes. Being selfish in your purposes. Write that in your sermon outline notebook or in your sermon outline there. Being selfish in your purposes. That will hinder your prayer life. Look at James chapter 4, verse 1 through 3. The Bible says, What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something, but you don't get it. Amen or amen? There's a reason you don't get it when you want it. A lot of times. You kill and covet and you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. It sounds like a business meeting in some Baptist churches I've seen. You know what I mean, brother? I'll tell you, when a church becomes a house of prayer, it won't have this fussing and fighting. Amen? Amen. Then he goes on to say, James goes on to say, he said, You do not have because you do not ask God. You have not, he says, when you ask, you do not receive. See? Amen? And he's showing two different things here. First of all, he's saying you don't have because you don't ask God. A lot of people ask everybody in town, but God. And then when they do ask Him, they're not right with Him. So God's not hearing their prayers. Then he goes on to say, and when you do ask, you do not receive. Why? Because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. God does meet our needs. And He will meet your needs. Amen? But not your greeds. Reminds me about that single girl. She was always praying for her husband. Always praying for her husband. Always praying for her husband. And I mean, every time the preacher gave, I mean, he could preach on tithing. She'd come to the altar and pray for her husband. He could preach on, you know, the second coming. And she'd come to the altar and pray for her husband. I mean, everything. You know, always praying for her husband. Well, one night, the preacher got up, and he was preaching about not being selfish in your prayers. He was sharing this passage of Scripture there. Boy, I mean, he waxed eloquent on it. I mean, he was getting with it. She got under conviction, she said. She'd come to the altar that night. She said, Lord, she said, I realize tonight I've been selfish in my purposes. Selfish about my prayers, and I want to confess it to you and tell you I am sorry. And I'll never pray again that you'd send me a husband. I mean, if you want to send me a husband, that's up to you. But I would pray that you'd send my mother a son-in-law. Now, you can twist it around any way you want to, amen? God knows your heart, amen? Being selfish in your purposes will hinder your prayer life. If it's for your good and God's glory, that usually is the best barometer you can use about praying for something, amen? If it's for your good, amen, and God's glory, then you pray and ask what you will of the Lord. Amen? Because that's not being selfish in your purposes. Number two, being sinful in your practices. Look at Psalm 66, verse 18. Well, we just looked at 1 Peter 3, verse 12. It says, The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, but the ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. That's being sinful in your practices, amen? Look at Psalm 66, verse 18 in your sermon outline here. If I regard iniquity, where? Not just in your head. Hello, not just in your hands. In your heart. The Lord will not hear me. I'm going to tell you something. It don't take much to get out of praying grounds with God. See, the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. See, God knows your heart. If you just regard, in other words, that word regard means to dwell on, to see, and it's just kind of part of you. Sinful practices. Something in your life that you just kind of meditate on, and you just kind of think on, and it's like a claw in your mind. It's a sinful practice. Sir, you got pornography at your house? Well, more than likely, you need to get saved. More than likely, you need a good dose of Jesus. If you get on the Internet, and you surf the web, and you get into porno, and chat rooms, and garbage like that, probably you need to get saved. I would say, more than likely, that's what you need. Because, listen to me, let me tell you something about God. Listen to me, look up here. When you get saved, God fixes you up in a way that you cannot sin and still lack it. The Spirit of God will eat you up, wear you out, and thank God He does. I mean, you just get a wrong thought. You just get a wrong thought. That's the reason, I mean, the Bible says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, if my heart just gets wrong with God. I know God's not going to hear my prayer. You can tell when you're not right with God. You go to your prayer time, you get on your knees, and you start to pray. I mean, your prayers aren't getting any higher than the ceiling, and then you need to pray that Psalm 123 says, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Search me, O God. You see, you need God to search you, because you can't trust yourself. Amen? If you try to weigh yourself up beside somebody else, it won't get it. Excuse me, 139. Here it is in your sermon outline. Search me, O God, and know my what? Heart. See? See, if you regard iniquity in your heart, the Lord will not hear your prayers. That's the reason you have to ask the Lord to search your heart. Amen? Search my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, anything, Lord, and lead me in the way everlasting. I talk to people who say, Well, I'm saved. Well, I just got this little habit. I go, you know, I don't understand that. I say, you sure you're saved? Yeah, I'm saved. I just got this little habit. It's not that big carrying around right here in my pocket. I say, you mean you've been saved? God saved you from hell? Oh, yeah, been saved from hell. I go, wait a minute. You're telling me God can save you from hell, and He can't save you from a habit? That old dog won't hunt. Friend, you're going to have to tell that to somebody else. Don't give me that malarkey. I was facing 20 years in a federal prison when I got saved, shooting heroin, second all, demoral, two and all, morphine, smoking crack, just anything you could think of to do. And when I got saved, immediately, Jesus cleaned me up. Don't tell me, Well, I just can't put them down. Let me show you how you put them down. You just put them down. Amen? Good grief. So you need to make your reservations for eternity. Amen? Amen? You want smoking or non-smoking? Paid men. They're smoking hell. That's what it says in Revelation. People say, well, does smoking send you to hell? No, it just makes you smell like you've been there. Amen? I'll tell you one thing, it'll ruin your witness. It'll break off your relationship with your Lord. Amen? I promise you. I promise you. And that's just smoking. Somebody says, well, that's not me. You're not talking about me. No, but you're a video rack. If the preacher come over to your house, you'd hide something. You'd hide something. You'd hide a lotto ticket. You'd hide a magazine, a video, CD, something. Yeah, oh, it's getting close to the corn now. You know what that is? That's not being right with God. Hey, this man don't have nail prints in his hand. He ain't God. God is looking at you all the time. When the preacher ain't even in town, ain't even around, God's looking at your life and looking at your heart. So don't plan on getting your prayers answered. Amen? You're being sinful in your practices. Some of you need to go through your house, and I mean have a purging, cleansing, get all that junk out of your house. Get rid of it. I mean, not even allow it on the property. Psalms 119, 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against God. Amen? Number three, secondary in your priorities. Being secondary in your priorities will hinder your prayer life. Matthew 6, 33. But seek ye what? First. It says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. You know what's the first thing you ought to do in the morning? Seek the kingdom of God. Amen? That's the first thing we need to do. Amen? How many of you got up this morning and had an hour of prayer just you and Jesus alone? Amen? Amen? I'll tell you something, folks. It'll change your life. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 26, verse 42-41. And He cometh unto His disciples and findeth them asleep. He said unto Peter, What could you not watch with Me? One hour? He said, What? You couldn't watch with Me one hour? I give you 24 hours in a day, Peter. I just ask you to watch with Me an hour. It's not too much to ask. And by the way, you're the one who gets the benefit. Amen? Crow me. He said, What? You couldn't watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Peter denied Jesus three times because he wouldn't pray. Jesus said, You're either with Me or you're against Me. Amen? If you hadn't been with Him in the morning, you'll be against Him all day long. Just by virtue of neglect. Because you're saying when you get up in the morning, I can make this day on my own. And you can't even make the next heartbeat. I can make this living on my own. By virtue of neglect, you get up as a child of God and you go off to work, go off to school, whatever it is, and hadn't spent time alone with Jesus, you told the Lord, I can do it on my own. You can't even take your next breath on your own. We were talking about it today. I'm telling you, the grace and the mercy of Almighty God is unbelievable. Some people would say, Well, I just don't understand why bad things would happen to some people. You know what I have a hard time understanding? Why God would allow anything good to happen to you. Good grief. Man, we're desperately afraid. We're sinful. I'm going to tell you, without Him, we wouldn't have our next breath. I wouldn't have a crumb of bread. We're blessed. If for no other reason, we ought to get up every morning and just thank the Lord Jesus for all that we do have. I'll tell you one thing it will help you do. If you pull out some of those moans and groans and shove in a couple of hallelujahs and praise the Lord, it will make you get over some of this junk you're whining about. Amen. It will get your attitude right. Number four, being skeptical in your prayers. Being skeptical in your prayers. It will hinder your prayer life. Being skeptical. S-K-E-P-T-I-C-A-L. Skeptical. I would have spelled it S-C, but I got spell checked. I don't know how to spell it. Amen. Being skeptical in your prayers. James 1, verse 5-7. The Bible says, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Does anybody lack wisdom here tonight? Besides me? Amen. You know what I need every day from God? I need His wisdom. Now knowledge, you can get knowledge out of school. You can get knowledge and all that from the world. But only wisdom comes from God. Only wisdom comes from God. That's where Solomon got it and that's where you'll get it. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. What is that? That's praying. Give it to all men liberally. Amen. Amen. Liberal ain't a bad word if you use it right. Amen. See, God's liberal. He gives liberally. He loves liberally. Amen. He gives all men liberally. I love what O.E.V. Hill said about liberals. He said, A man don't believe in the virgin birth. Black Christian. I love to hear them preach. He said, Don't call him liberal. Man don't believe in the miracles of the Bible. He said, Don't call him liberal. He said, God's liberal. He gives liberally, loves liberally. He said, A man don't believe that the Bible's an inerrant, infallible, inspired word of God. Don't call him liberal. He said, This is the Southern Baptist Convention. He said, Call him what he is. He's lost. Friend, I'm going to tell you something. You don't believe in the virgin birth. You can't even believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. Friend, You're not even right about salvation. You haven't even got the first base. People that believe the Bible's been inspired in spots, and they've been inspired from spot to spot. Good grief. I believe from kibber to kibber. Amen? I think maybe the maps might be inspired. I don't know. Amen. Well, they're not. But the Bible says every word's inspired. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. To give it to all men liberally. You know what he'll give you liberally? Wisdom. Isn't that good? To know that God will give us liberally all the wisdom we need concerning every situation in our life. And look here. And upbraideth not. Now that's a neat word. I don't know whether some of you seminary students know what that's all about or not. But I got one of those Greek deals on my computer, and I can check up those words. It's neat knowing Greek and Hebrew words. That word upbraideth not means God will never put you down. It goes like this. It'd be like I'd call Brother Rick and say, Brother Rick, I need some directions on how to get over here. I appreciate good directions. I really do. But let's say I'd call him up a week before the revival and say, Brother Rick, give me some directions. Yeah, you sure can. You just take 30 west, and you get off there at Spur 341, and you come to that first left, you take the left, and you first right there on Service Road and everything, and then you come right there on the left. I'd say, okay, I got it all right. Then I'd call him back the next day. I'd say, Brother Rick, we're still excited about coming. Boy, I can't wait to come. God's going to move and have the prayer revival. Thank you, Jesus, and everything. And by the way, I know you gave me the directions how to get there yesterday, but could you give them to me one more time? I seem to have done something with them. Okay. You take 30 west, and you get off at 341, and you take first left, and then first right, and you drive up there on the left. Okay, got it. Then I'd call him back the next day. So, Brother Rick, boy, I tell you, good to talk to you, Brother Jack. What can I do for you? I just need to ask you one other thing. You know those directions you gave me yesterday and the day before? Could you give me the directions one more time? I hate to ask you. Now, if he was going to upbraid me, he would say something like this. Well, you're about a thick-headed rascal, aren't you? Why don't you get yourself a pencil and a paper and write it down this time, and keep it, put it in your pocket. That would be upbraiding me. If I was to ask for directions over and over, he would have upbraided me. Let's read it again. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not. I love that. See, God knows we're about half goofy. Amen? He knows we haven't got it all figured out. Amen? Oh, Gideon, you know, he kept putting out fleeces before the Lord. Lord, are you sure this is the way to go? I don't know. Man, sometimes we have to have a lot of convincing, don't we? And sometimes we look back and we see that God was showing us all along, but, you know, God just... That's okay. That's okay, son. Let me ask you something. If your son, your daughter, come to you and said, Daddy, Mama, I respect your opinion so much and your knowledge and your wisdom, and I've got a serious decision to make here, and I just want to know, would you please give me your advice of what you think I ought to do in this situation? And if you would, as best I know how, when you give me your advice, I'm going to follow it to the teeth and to the best I can. What would you do after you got up off the floor? I'll tell you what you'd do. Man, you'd search out the best source you could and get the best advice you could. You wouldn't put them off. You'd want to give them the best advice you could. You'd just be happy that they asked, wouldn't you? You know what? God is just happy. It just brings joy to His heart and His life to know that you wanted His opinion. Amen? You know what the Bible says. God inhabits the praises of His people. You want to find out God's address, where He lives, where He inhabits? It's P-R-A-I-S-E. Amen? You come and you praise the Lord and say, Lord, I just praise You. I praise You for Your wisdom, Your discernment, Your understanding, Your knowledge. I praise You, Heavenly Father, for all that You give me. You're going to think I'm goofy, right, man? I'm about to tell you. I did it today. I thought it was cool. Went and played nine holes of golf over at the Air Force Base. And I did real good. I told Brother Rick, I said, man, it's one of those days you wish somebody had been with you so you could have just kind of... Not really. I never show off playing golf, I promise you. But I prayed for discernment all the time, wisdom all the time and everything. And I lose balls all the time. I mean, hit them in the wood, hit them in the creek, ain't nothing new to me. Well, I'd hit this one ball, it was right up into the sun and everything, and it was a good ball. I mean, brand new and everything, and I know it didn't go out to where I couldn't find it. I mean, it was possible to find it, I just couldn't tell it. And so I'm in the car, and I'm driving along up there, and I said, I just can't find it. I just said a little prayer. The Bible says pray about all things. Amen? Not all things, whatsoever you ask in prayer you shall receive. That's what the Bible says in Matthew. All things. Amen? I don't think anything's too big for God or too little. People say, well, I don't want to bother God. Well, since when did you get big enough to bother God? Amen? You're not going to bother God. Good grief. Lord, give me the discernment to be able to find this ball. I mean, immediately, there it was. I don't know. I think God is in the details as well. Amen? You see, let me tell you something that brings joy to the heart of God. You know, when the Bible says pray without ceasing, somebody told me this week, he said, you know what I found myself doing? During the day, and you'll notice this when you start having an hour alone with the Lord every morning, you'll start noticing yourself so much more during the day just lifting up prayers, just a little one's here, a little one's there, and just, Lord, show me what you want me to do on this. Where do I need to go on that? All women ought to pray before they go into Walmart. Amen? Amen? Amen? And all men ought to pray before they go into Home Depot. Amen? Pray! Pray! I really got to pray before I go into Home Depot. I can empty the account right now. Give me 30 minutes. I might count these empty. Amen? If I wanted to. No. I got plenty in there I could buy. Pray about all things. All things. If any of you lack wisdom, let a magical God that gives to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given to him. He didn't say He might give you wisdom. He said He will give you wisdom. But let him ask in faith. Amen? Amen? I mean, if God is your Father, amen, that means you can trust Him. Amen? You might not be able to trust your earthly Father, but I promise you one thing, you can trust your Heavenly Father. Amen? But let him ask in faith. Nothing wavering. For He that wavereth is like the wave of a sea driven with the wind and tossed. It's like a picture of a wave coming in and crashing on the rocks and it's coming from this direction and that direction. And I mean, you just can't tell which way it's going to come from next. It's got an undercurrent to it. It's not consistent. That's what the word here is. For He that wavereth is like the wave of a sea driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. I hate it when I pray and believe God for something. He comes through. I'm surprised. You know, God says, you pray, you ask. Folks, I'm going to tell you something. God is a God we can trust. Hebrews 11, verse 1 says, Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. Did you know faith is substance? That's what the Bible says. Faith is substance. If you have something in your life that is of substance that you need, if it's for your good and God's glory, if you'll pray and believe, God will provide that need. Amen? Amen? He may not provide it the way you had mine, but He'll always do better. If it's not exactly the way you had mine, it's always better. Amen? Matthew, the Word of God says, ask anything in my name and I'll do it. Mark 9, verse 24. You might write that in your Bible there in the edge of it. Here's a story about a man. Jesus told him he was going to heal his child. And the man said to him, he said, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. How many times have you liked that? Lord, I believe that you can do it. Help my unbelief that you will do it. Well, number five. Being stubborn and forgiving other people. Being stubborn and forgiving other people will hinder your prayer life. See, an unforgivable spirit is unforgivable. Amen or Omeg. Matthew chapter 6, verse 14. Look at what the Word of God says. Jesus is speaking here. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. You know what that means? That means you go to your prayer time, you ask God to forgive you, if you've got an unforgivable spirit against someone, forget it. God's not going to even get you on praying ground. You're not even going to get on praying ground with God. There's people in this church, no doubt, they've got people that you need to get right with. You know what you're doing? You're hindering your prayer life. You're hindering the movement of God and the work of the Holy Spirit of God by having a bitter spirit, unforgivable spirit. You say, well, I got done wrong. No, don't you look up here. I'm going to show you who got done wrong. Jesus got done wrong. You know what He said on that cross? Father, forgive. The only one that had all the right and all the authority to say, I don't forgive, was Jesus. And He said, Father, forgive all of them. They don't even know what they're doing. It's going to be a great day when Baptists learn how to pray that prayer. Somebody do you wrong? Somebody do you wrong? I'm going to tell you something. I have had victory with that prayer right there. Somebody doing you wrong? God says bless those that curse you. Pray for those that despitefully use you. You know, Jesus, when He was on the cross, He didn't even open His mouth about your sins. The Bible says He went as a lamb before His shearers. Duh! So that He opened not His mouth. That's what Isaiah says. Who are you and who am I? Hold bitter grudge against anybody. We're sinners. He was a sinless. He was the spotless Lamb of God. If anybody could have said, I won't forget you. He could have, listen to me, He could have brought up any one of your dirty rotten sins that you've ever committed. And everybody in here sinned. Everybody. Saved or lost. We're all sinners. Some saved, some lost. He could have brought up any one sin. And those Roman soldiers would have taken Him down off that cross. And He would have not been the Savior of the world. But He died for all the sins. So, get over it. Amen. Just get over it. Go to people and tell them you're sorry. Go to people and tell them you forgive them. You say, what if they don't forgive me when I tell them I'm sorry? You've done all you can do. Amen? Then you've done what God told you to do. Then it's on them. See? What if I go to them and tell them I forgive them and they turn around and tell me, well, I didn't do nothing to you. Give you one of these. You've done what God told you to do. Amen? You say, well, all I can do is tell you that that's what God told me to tell you, that I love you and I forgive you. And they go on. Then you can be on praying grounds. Amen? You won't have your prayers hindered. Some of you got phone calls you need to make when you get home. You got siblings, brothers, sisters, family members, somebody maybe not even living in this town, but in your heart, you're not right with them. See, I can just get so mad at that bus. Something breaks down. I take it. Get it fixed. I forgive it. Amen? But you let somebody, you let flesh and blood cross me. If I so mind to, son, I can let a root of bitterness get inside of me, well up, and I mean I could let it go for a long, long time. And you know what? That whole time, I'm not even on praying grounds with the Lord. I'm going to tell you something. My prayer time, my relationship to my Lord means way too much to me than let somebody, anybody, I don't care who, get between me and my relationship with Jesus. And sometimes over the stupidest little old thing, I mean nothing thing, I don't care if it's a big thing. It ain't bigger than God. Amen? And I'm not going to let it come between me and my Lord. The Bible says don't even let the sun go down on your wrath. Get it right, because you're going to have to have prayer time tomorrow morning. Amen? And if you want to have your prayers heard, you're going to have to forgive other people. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 11 through 12. Boy, this Scripture frees me up. Woo! When the first time I really got a hold of it, or it got a hold of me, really. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 11 through 12. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood. I'll never forget, as long as I live, when that verse just became born in my heart. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. My battle today is not with you, not with anybody in this world. My battle is with the devil. Look here. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. You want to get mad at somebody? Get mad at the devil. Wear yourself out. But don't take it out on people. Because your war is not with people. Your war is not with flesh and blood. It's against the devil. Number six. Spouse problems. Spouse problems will hinder your prayer life. Spouse problems will hinder your prayer life. Look at what 1 Peter 3, 7 says. Likewise, you husbands... The Lord always goes great to us. Amen, guys? You husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not...what? hindered. The Bible says, Husbands, dwell with your wives according to knowledge. Amen? If you know something is going to hack your wife off, don't do it. Amen? Don't go there. Use your head. Amen? Now, I'm learning some things. Fifty-three years old, you can learn some things. Amen? And wives, if you just know... You know what I'm talking about. Try to keep peace in the family. Dwell with one another according to knowledge. Use your head. Use your head. I have couples come into my office, and they get in arguments over the stupidest things. Use your head. Dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor to your wife as unto the weaker vessel, and being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered. Look at Psalm 34, verse 3. I love this. This is the first time I've put this in a Sermon Outline notebook. O magnify the Lord with me. Amen? Let us exalt His name together. I was going to do a deal for an illustration tonight, but I didn't make it to the store and get them, but I'm going to get me two magnifying glasses. I saw Don Miller do this, and I really like it. He had one magnifying glass, and it was showing how... You know, if I was to take one magnifying glass right here and hold it up to something, it would really magnify something. But if I was to take two and put them together, guess what? It magnifies it twice as much. Amen? The psalmist said, O magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. You know what a husband and wife ought to do all the time? They ought to pray together. They ought to magnify the Lord together. They ought to exalt His name together. Families that pray together stay together. You can't be right with the master if you're wrong with your mate. I know husbands and wives that they never pray together. They never pray together. I tell you, my wife and I, we are on our honeymoon. I was telling her the other morning we were out there in the bus, and the kids hadn't gotten up yet, and the sun was just coming up, and we were just laying there in bed talking, and I said, Honey, I love you so much more now than when we got married. It's not even funny. I said, I love you. I mean, my wife. Man, I love my wife. And she said the same. I'm motioning, and I hope she didn't say it just because I said it first. But I really believe, we are, we're happier than we've ever been in our lives as a husband and wife. And one of the reasons is we've learned the secret. Praying together. We magnify the Lord together. We exalt His name together. And that's the way it ought to be. Families that pray together, stay together. I'm going to ask you to do something tonight. In a minute, I'm going to ask every husband and wife to come right down here. If you're single, you get somebody to pray with. You ladies, y'all get together in a group, y'all pray together. Your husband or your wife's not here, you find somebody else to pray with, whoever. I don't want anybody feeling left out. If you have children here, I would suggest you come down here, and you daddies, pray over your family. And what I want you to do is I want you to pray out loud where your wife can hear you. Where your children can hear you. And when your husbands get through praying, get your wives to pray. Thank God for your husbands. Thank the Lord for your husbands. Ask the Lord to help you to be a more submissive wife and to love your husband and encourage him. Husbands, you pray. Thank God for your wives. He's given you. Ask God to help you to be a better spiritual priest in your home and your family. Families that pray together, stay together. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, tonight we come to you in the precious name of Jesus. I'm asking you to be with this invitation. Lord, I pray that you'd bind Satan away from this place. I pray for many women, boys and girls here tonight that don't know Jesus. Lord, I pray that they come and trust you as their Savior. Lord, we love you so much. Thank you for families here tonight, Lord, that are coming in just a moment, building their house on solid rock. Lord, the psalmist says, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Lord, tonight, build homes and families closer together than they've ever been before. May altars be established in homes and families here tonight. Lord Jesus, please, have your will and your way in the life of every man, woman, boy and girl here tonight. Heads bowed and eyes closed. Your husband and wife, do you have your children here? I'm asking you right now, just get up from where you are and come on. Come to the altar. You get your wife, you put your arm around your wife, sir, you pray and you thank God for your wife and you ask God to help you to be a better prayer warrior, a spiritual priest for your home and your family. Thank God for your children. Ask God to put His head protection around them. With every head bowed, every eye closed. If you don't have someone to pray with, feel free to come up here. Don't want anybody to feel left out or you want to get with somebody else. Maybe there's somebody in this room that you need to go and get something right with, whatever it may be.