Prayer is also not answered because of lust, criminality, jealousy, and false motivation, which neutralize prayer. 

JAM 4:2-3 is addressed to believers: “You lust and do not have [what you want], so you commit murder.

You ask [in prayer] and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on pleasures.” The point is that lust and murder, jealousy and fighting, are the wrong ways to get what you want. 

So the whole system of failure in prayer becomes failure in the PPOG. When the client nation is under the cycles of discipline, prayer for deliverance cannot be answered. This is because the justice of God is going to remove that nation. LAM 3:44 “You have covered yourself with a cloud [negative volition] so that no prayer can get through.” Malfunction of the faith-rest drill in prayer means the malfunction of effective prayer. MAR 11:24 “I say to you, all things for which you ask and pray, believe that you shall receive them, and you shall be given them.” With the malfunction of faith-rest and prayer, your life eventually malfunctions as well.

So prayer is really an index to your spiritual life. If you're not praying correctly or fail in prayer for any reason, that means there's some problem in your spiritual life; there's some kink, syndrome, some form of arrogance, or some problem. This is why many prayers have not been answered for those who are physically sick (JAM 5:15). It is legitimate to pray for individuals who are sick, although many times their sickness is the result of the law of volitional responsibility or divine discipline. In those cases, prayer for the sick will not be answered.

Another reason for failure in the believer’s prayer life is related to concentration, namely the lack of it. In fact, all forms of worship are a concentration test that can be divided into these categories:

a. Concentration on the teaching of doctrine. This reflects your values, your motivation, your spiritual condition, and your spiritual status quo. Bible doctrine must be your number one priority.

b. Concentration in the Communion service. The Communion service is a reflection of the person and work of Christ.

The pattern of concentration in all forms of worship is established in the function of your perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine. If you can concentrate on Bible doctrine in time of stress, adversity, or even in time of prosperity, then you can concentrate in prayer. So there is a direct relationship between concentration in Bible study under the ministry of the Holy Spirit and concentration in prayer under the ministry of the Holy Spirit.