The bible says we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers (Ephesians 6:12). Let’s see how this scripture affects the prayer life of two fictional characters, Tunde and Ngozi.

“Keep him from praying and we can keep him defeated. Let’s distract him with some ‘good activity’”.

Tunde starts reading a good Christian book when he feels the Spirit asking him to pray because His breakthrough from addiction has been made available at that very point in time. He justifies his decision to read the book citing the fact that is Christian after all and is teaching him more about the faith. He in effect stands God up and misses out on his breakthrough. The demons are glad to have distracted him. They were scared at the thought of seeing him on his knees because they know that they cannot stop God from answering so their best bet is to stop Tunde from asking.

‘Let’s keep her from praying and seeking God’s will for her concerning marriage. Let’s distract her with more male attention’.

Ngozi has been preparing an atmosphere of intimate conversation with God in prayer. She is ready to pour out her heart to God concerning Wale and Emeka. She is torn between both guys. Suddenly her phone rings and it’s neither of them. It’s Bola, the coolest and most ‘complete’ single guy in church and the latest to show interest in her. Her heart skips a beat and in her excitement, she forgets all about her planned conversation with God and turns to conversation with Bola who only further adds to her confusion! Meanwhile, God is frustrated because He was about to reveal his plans for marriage to her but Ngozi has just missed that opportunity and prolonged the entire process unnecessarily.

Protect your prayer time because it’s precious to God. It’s when He gets to catch up with you. Don’t deny Him that pleasure because you may be denying yourself much more than you know. The demons know this and work overtime to derail our prayer lives. Don’t give in! Keep praying without ceasing!