You have an enemy of your soul. He is constantly at work distracting you from the rich reward of being One with the God of the universe. He is a crafty enemy; he is a powerful enemy. He is a determined enemy. His strongest power over you is to block your prayer life from being rich and rewarding. He wants you to find prayer boring, distracting and discouraging. He ignores you when you are mindlessly watching TV or obsessively working, but when you become mindful of the powerful connection between heaven and earth, the flaming arrows of satan (Ephesians 6:16) are shot into your mind. The darts he shoots my way do not hurt that much. They feel good. I sit down to pray and spend time with God and suddenly I am lost in thoughts of how I might live in the future, what I will buy, where I will visit, or experiences I want to have. Even my bad thoughts feel good, I feel justified as a victim when I think about the people who have hurt me. Thoughts of God and heaven and praying evaporate into the universe of me and what I want to have, who has done me wrong, what I want to happen. My soul sinks quickly to the world of me.

My enemy is real; my enemy is powerful; but my enemy is not greater than me and Jesus! 1 John 4:4 tells me: “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” I do not have to be overcome by the enemy of my soul. Prayer enables me to overcome this enemy.  

It appears that God has been strengthening His people from the beginning of time by allowing us to face His enemy and ours. It may look as if he (Satan) wins when you read Genesis 3-6 and recognize how quickly a world with sin decompensates to the place that God had to start over with Noah and his family through a worldwide flood. This action of God begins the process of allowing humans to make a free choice to follow His ways or chose to join with the enemy. When the time is right for God to end the coexisting of sin and holiness on the earth, the day of reckoning will take place, and all who are in Christ will be made holy. We all look forward to this day. But today is the day for us to fight against the enemy. Every day that I walk is a new opportunity for me to walk in victory of connecting my heart to the heart of God.  

When I recognize the power and privilege of prayer, I better understand that why the enemy of my soul fights me so much. All that has done for me has been to make me more committed to the fight. I set times of prayer. I am already in the habit of daily devotions, and I always pray blessings over my family before I go to bed. I find other reminders to keep me at prayer. I have bracelets that I wear daily that remind me to prayer prayers of intercession for certain people. I use my exercise time as an opportunity for prayer. I pray for my husband as I fold his clothes and pray while I do tasks like washing dishes or cleaning the house. I pray prayers from my heart and certain written prayers. I join prayer groups and focuses. I pray for people that come to my heart, not knowing why or how specifically to pray. It is a constant fight and the enemy seems to never stop distracting me from prayer. It only serves to remind me that my prayers must be powerful and important, and it makes me recommit to the process of prayer no matter how ineffective I think I am at it.

I have learned to stay on my guard against the subtle distractions. I am in a battle that Jesus has won for me.