The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16
There are many reasons why we may hesitate in our practice of personal prayer and in taking time to pray with other believers. Let me suggest two of them - busyness and identity.
Being ‘so busy’ that prayer is shelved for a more convenient time, is a common excuse that stops believers praying. The high level of engagement that our careers, family, education, and social life demand, can interfere and allow precious little time for prayer. Maybe we need to do some personal evaluation here. This is how: R.A. Torrey discussed the issue: “We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; many services, but few conversions; much machinery, but few results.”
Then there is the reason of our identity! I honestly believe some believers ‘feel’ they are not worthy enough or holy enough to offer up prayer to a holy God. They seem to think that prayer is only for the ‘more perfect’ person to be engaged in - so they shut down.
Thomas Brooks a puritan of bygone era saw it this way: “God’s hearing of our prayers doth not depend upon sanctification, but upon Christ’s intercession; not upon what we are in ourselves, but what we are in the Lord Jesus; both our persons and our prayers are acceptable in the beloved” (Eph 1.6).