Hindrances to Prayer (Praying for rain! United prayer)

• ‡ We pray in unbelief. Jas. 1:6, 7; Mark 11:24
• ‡ We pray according to our own will. 1 John 5:14
• ‡ We seek the gift rather than the Giver. Jas. 2:23
• ‡ We pray prayers to feed our own lusts. Jas. 4:3
• ‡ We live in disobedience. Isa. 59:1, 2; Ps. 66:18
• ‡ We give up in prayer too easily. Luke 18:1-8
• ‡ We are judgmental toward others. Luke 6:37
• ‡ We are not able to forgive. Mark 11:26
• ‡ We have unresolved quarrels. Matt. 5:23, 24 
• ‡ We turn a deaf ear to those in need. Prov. 21:13
• ‡ We lack honor in our family. 1 Pet. 3:7
• ‡ We have not learned to abide in Christ. John 15:7

“When we do not receive the very things we asked for, at the time we ask, we are still to believe that the Lord hears and that He will answer our prayers.
We are so erring and shortsighted that we sometimes ask for things that would not be a blessing to us, and our heavenly Father in love answers our prayers by giving us that which will be for our highest good - that
which we ourselves would desire if with vision divinely enlightened we could see all things as they really are.
When our prayers seem not to be answered, we are to cling to the promise; for the time of answering will surely come, and we shall receive the blessing we need most. But to claim that prayer will always be answered in the very way and for the particular thing that we desire, is presumption. God is too wise to err, and too good to withhold any good thing from them that walk uprightly. Then do not fear to trust Him, even though you do not see the immediate answer to your prayers.” Prayer, p. 102
“As activity increases and men become successful in doing any work for God, there is danger of trusting to
human plans and methods. There is a tendency to pray less, and to have less faith. Like the disciples, we are in danger of losing sight of our dependence on God, and seeking to make a savior of our activity. We need to look constantly to Jesus, realizing that it is His power which does the work. While we are to labor earnestly for the salvation of the lost, we must also take time for meditation, for prayer, and for the study of the word of God. Only the work accomplished with much prayer, and sanctified by the merit of Christ, will in the end prove to have been efficient for good.”  The Desire of Ages, p. 362