CHARLO, New Brunswick, August 8, 2023 – The devil works hard to stop us from praying because he well knows the power of prayer.

When we pray, we connect directly with God and give him permission to intervene, which our free will dictates we need to do. We expressly need to give God permission or he will not intervene.

The devil tries to mess with this process so that we don’t go to God for help. He tells us that prayer is useless or that we need to pray what Jesus calls “vain repetitions” (e.g., Haily Mary, Our Father, etc.). But reciting pre-set verses is not prayer. Prayer is simply talking to God from our heart. No recitation is needed.

Prayer is so important that Paul says we need to do it without ceasing. That means we need to keep our personal prayer line to God always open and functioning. Our thoughts should never be far from God. We should defer to him and ask his advice in everything we do. Jesus did, which is why God stated he was “well pleased” with him. If you want God to be pleased with you, too, follow his advice in everything you do, even and especially when God’s advice clashes with that of the world.

I find it very sad when people say they don’t have time to pray. If you love God, you make time to pray. In fact, you pray all day; you’re always in God’s presence. Having your mind on God and the things of God is prayer. You don’t necessarily have to say anything, even in your heart. You just have to know that you’re with God and he’s with you. That’s praying, too.

I have found that the strongest and most effectual prayers come with the least number of words or even no words at all. Paul calls this groaning deep within your spirit. When you entirely throw yourself at God’s mercy or petition his help with complete submission to his will, that’s when God can work the most powerfully through you. I have also found that there are times when I need to get down on my face, not just on my knees – I need to get down on my face, fully prostrate before God. Like Job, we need to be reminded every now and then of our pathetic worminess and God’s utter magnificence. Even though he comes to us as a loving Father, he is the King of kings, Lord of lords, and God of gods. He is the ultimate and perfection of all things good and holy, and nothing happens anywhere without his knowledge and permission. We need to be reminded of this every now and then, so that we know our place in the grand scheme of things, so that we remain humble. God cannot (will not) work through pride.

Yes, the devil well knows the power of prayer. Stopping people from praying or from even wanting to pray is a big part of Satan’s ministry, and he’s been quite successful at it. He’s gotten whole denominations to recite vain repetitions to angels and dead people and to call those repetitions “prayer”, even though scripture warns us not to pray to angels or dead people and Jesus dismisses vain repetitions as useless. The more the devil can dissuade us from praying or get us to pray in ways that are ineffectual or downright blasphemous, the farther away we are from God. Prayer is how we maintain and grow our relationship with our Father. Without genuine prayer, there can be no relationship.

We need to pray all day, every day, like Paul taught us. Jesus was always connected to God through constant prayer, which is how he was able to perform so many miracles. In one of the few instances when he prayed publicly, Jesus said to God that he knows he always hears him and that he was only praying aloud for the benefit of the people around him.

We should also want God always to hear us, like he heard Jesus. He will if we make time to spend time with him every day and do what he advises. Prayer is just talking to God, out loud or silently, and consciously being in his presence. Note that talking also means listening.

The more time you spend with God in prayer, the closer you grow to God and the more you trust and lean on him. The more you trust and lean on him, the greater your faith. The greater your faith, the more God’s Spirit can work through you to move all kinds of mountains. This is the power the devil is trying to prevent you from having by stopping you from praying.

Never let anyone stop you from praying.