The Principles of Prayer XLVIII

 God will not look down on you for praying in a broom closet, just as He will not allot extra brownie points to someone praying from a gilded stateroom. He won’t dismiss you offhand for having a five o'clock shadow, or having bread dough under your fingernails, because the wife asked if you could help her stretch and fold it minutes earlier, nor will He show special favor to someone with perfectly manicured nails in a tailored suit.

The things that draw the eyes of men, the things that impress and cause others to see you in a certain type of way, neither move nor impress God. It’s the manner in which we approach Him, whether our hearts are humble and contrite, whether we desire to know Him for the sake of knowing Him, or feign interest in hoping to get what we really want, that God sees and weighs.

You don’t learn to swim by reading about water. You don’t learn to pray by reading about prayer. Reading about the effectiveness of prayer and how others who practice it have grown through it can motivate you and inspire you, but to know these benefits for yourself, you must actively pursue it with fervor and focus.

That prayer works is an undeniable reality. It is a proven thing. That there is no barrier to entry when it comes to prayer is likewise a truth that we cannot deny. You don’t need a degree or a high school diploma to pray. You don’t need to complete a course or workshop to qualify for spending time with God. All you need is the willingness and desire to lay all else aside and pursue Him. Knock, and He will open. He will not turn you down, or tell you He can squeeze you in for five minutes in three months' time.

Whenever, wherever, each time you come before God in prayer, He hears, and He sees.

This morning I woke up early. By early, I mean before 3 am, and since I usually allow myself to sleep in until five or so on any given morning, I consider it early. I tiptoed into the kitchen, brewed myself a cup of coffee, then tiptoed back to my office, ready to spend some time in prayer without the distractions of a bustling household, hungry children, or traffic noises from outside.

What I was reminded of as I began to pray is that there are two types of distractions that are equally detrimental to a focused and effective prayer. There are external distractions, such as phones, alerts, bells, whistles, ringtones, and various other things; then there are the internal distractions, the ones that occur in one’s mind.

The external distractions are easy to free oneself from, often with the push of a button or an off switch, but the mental distractions are far more challenging to unburden oneself of, because you can’t walk away from them, and it takes practice to be able to switch them off at will.

It’s amazing how many things your mind starts to ponder and dwell on as you begin to pray, things that had not crossed your mind until that particular moment, and when this occurs the first thing we must do is identify whether it’s a distraction, or an urging of the Holy Spirit to pray for a specific situation or a specific person.

Not everything that crosses your mind is worth dwelling on when you enter into prayer, but some things may be no less than a nudge of the Spirit to direct you on what you should be praying about, or who you should be interceding for. Whether taking a Bounty, wrapping it in a crepe, dipping it in batter, and then deep-frying it might be the next big thing in over-the-top state fair fare is likely just a garden-variety distraction. Remembering someone you’ve had on your heart, and feeling the need to pray for them, likely isn’t.

It is our duty to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. What this means is that when a thought arises unbidden, we do not dwell on it or become preoccupied with it, but filter it through the prism of the mind of Christ and determine whether it’s worth continuing to think about.

We’re always thinking about something. Our minds are like flowing rivers, and occasionally, a thought gets snagged on a rock or a shallow spot and ceases its natural flow. Usually, what gets snagged isn’t something worth devoting endless amounts of time toward, but something trivial and not worthy of contemplation. It’s our duty to shake it loose and let it go on its way rather than grow fascinated with it when there is no spiritual benefit to doing so. How many times can you patch a shirt before it becomes a whole new shirt? Who cares? Is it really something worth researching and trying to figure out? Obviously not, but we go down rabbit trails more often than we’d like to admit, and find ourselves squandering time we could have put to better use.

Prayer is one of the handful of things the enemy is actively trying to keep us from pursuing consistently because he understands the power of prayer more thoroughly than most believers. He understands that the more we pray, the stronger we become, and the stronger we become, the easier it is for us to resist him, rebuke him, and walk in the authority rightly ours as sons and daughters of God.

The enemy is not bothered by half-hearted, lukewarm, situational, or casual Christians. Powerless believers, lacking in authority and spiritual grounding, or those with a stagnant prayer life, pose no threat to him. What he loathes and fears in equal measure are those who walk by faith, and do not lean on their own understanding but submit to God’s will in all things.

If you feel like the enemy is targeting you, if at every turn there is an obstacle you must overcome, if the attacks come swift and sure without reprieve, know that you are on the right track, and the enemy sees you as a threat.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.