Christian Pure

Prayers to Remove Obstacles and Blockages, with What the Bible Says About Them

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • The 1928 Book of Common Prayer’s collect for the Fourth Sunday in Advent asks for help when “we are sore let and hindered,” for in older English “let” meant to hinder.
  • There are short prayers for a stalled plan, for money, for stuck papers or court cases, for opposition, for a relationship that cannot move forward, for obstacles of our own making, for long waiting and for a closing door.
  • The Bible shows obstacles coming from other people (Nehemiah 4:8), from Satan (1 Thessalonians 2:18), from God’s direction (Acts 16:6–7) and from sin (Isaiah 59:2).
  • Nehemiah prayed and set a guard while the wall was rebuilt, and it was finished in 52 days (Nehemiah 4:9; 6:15).
  • The Catholic Catechism reserves solemn exorcism to a priest with the bishop’s permission, and it says psychological illness is a matter for medicine (paragraph 1673).

A prayer to remove obstacles: “Lord, you see what stands in my way better than I do. If it comes from you, give me patience. If it comes from other people or from the enemy, go before me and open the way. If it is my own doing, show me and help me change. Amen.” The Bible tells of obstacles coming from all four of those directions, and the people in its pages prayed about them and kept working at…

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Bibliography (Click to show)
  • Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Ezra 4:5, 24; 5:1–2; 6:15; Nehemiah 4:8–9; 6:15; Psalm 13:1, 5; 18:29; 37:5; 139:23; Proverbs 21:1; Isaiah 43:19; 45:2; 59:1–2; Habakkuk 2:3; Zechariah 4:6–7; Matthew 6:11, 13; Acts 16:6–7; Romans 1:13; 1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 12:7–9; Ephesians 6:11; Philippians 1:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:18; Hebrews 12:1; James 4:7, 13–15). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
  • The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Prayers and Thanksgivings, “Direct us, O Lord,” p. 49; Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, p. 95. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
  • Luther, Martin. Small Catechism, Appendix I, “Morning Prayer.” In Concordia Triglotta: The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921. https://archive.org/details/concordiatriglot00unse
  • Lasance, Francis Xavier. With God: A Book of Prayers and Reflections. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1911. “Prayers Ordered by Pope Leo XIII to be Said after Every Low Mass.” https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/With_God/The_Holy_Sacrifice_of_the_Mass
  • Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. Paragraph 1673: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P58.HTM; paragraphs 2851–2852: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PAC.HTM
  • “Let (n.).” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/let

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