God did not intend for prayer to be complicated. He desires to talk with us, but this is a challenging concept. For many, the idea that an all-powerful unseen God has the time or desire to listen to us is hard to grasp. Maybe we are intimidated by “prayer warriors” around us and struggle for impressive words to say. Alternatively, perhaps we secretly doubt we will get a response. Rest assured, God is not concerned with your prayer performance but with the sincerity of your heart. He knew we would struggle with this, so He gave all believers the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. (Jn 14:26). When we allow Him, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Rom 8:26). When we do not know what to pray we need to lean on the Holy Spirit for help.

      Another thing that makes prayer difficult is that Satan constantly seeks for us to “be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Cor 11:3). Thrasher notes that “The devil is called a thief, and he has robbed many of us in our generation of our most precious commodity – time.”[1] Many things demand our time in this life, our jobs and our families, for example. These are good and godly things that require our time. Thrasher refers to distractions from the devil, such as television, compromising websites on the internet, and even some types of music. These things fill our minds and time with thoughts not of God to keep us distracted. We would do well to step away from these things and spend more time in God’s Word and quiet conversational prayer.

Have a blessed day and week ahead,

Pastor Michael

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[1] Bill Thrasher, A Journey to Victorious Praying: Finding Discipline and Delight in Your Prayer Life (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2003).