“Pastor, while praying, why do I keep getting distracting thoughts? It affects my prayer time alot”
I also had this problem until I attended last Friday’s Mystery Class with Dr Isaiah Wealth. The focus of his teaching was “Overcoming anti-prayer spirits”. That’s right, spirits or forces that do not want you to maintain a consistent prayer life.
I’d discuss some of these anti-prayer spirits, but let me begin by saying a Christian that doesn’t have an active prayer life cannot fulfill purpose. The devil knows this and that’s why he’d do all he can to stop you from praying. Prayer sanctifies our spirit man unto God; the more we pray the more sensitive we’d be to spiritual things.
It is true that faith is all you need to have all your needs met, and faith comes by hearing and understanding the word of God. But what many Christians do not know is that understanding is impossible without a sanctified and sensitive spirit-man. Anytime you read your Bible and you don’t understand, it simply means your spirit-man isn’t charged enough. And the only way to charge your spirit is to connect it to the Spirit of God, and that’s what prayer does, it connects you with God.
Unfortunately, Satan doesn’t want that connection. Thinking about it now, if Satan doesn’t distract you when you read your Bible, it’s probably because he knows you don’t pray. And he also knows that if you don’t pray, whatever you read may not find expression within you. Be careful though, he would also not hinder your prayer life if he knows you don’t study the word. The only time you’d notice a heavy attack on either your prayer or word study life is if you practice both.
Having said that, let me unveil a few of those anti-prayer spirits:
1. PROCRASTINATION
When it comes to prayer, procrastination isn’t a habit, it’s a spirit, and you shouldn’t be gentle with it. This spirit compels you to shift or snooze your prayer time until it is convenient to pray. The shocking part is, even when you’re not doing anything meaningful, this spirit will still have its way. You may be playing games or chatting with friends and still shift your prayer time. The reason why you didn’t pray at the stipulated time wasn’t serious, yet you didn’t pray for that reason. That’s a spirit!
The only solution to it is to discipline yourself. Once it’s time for your prayer, go and pray. Don’t keep your prayer life on hold for mundane things; rather, mundane things should be put on hold for your prayer time.
2. DISTRACTION
This one happens alot during prayers, and I doubt if there’s any Christian alive that doesn’t experience it, even the greatly anointed ones. The aim of this spirit is to remind you of the good things you need to do that you might not necessarily need.
Let’s say your prayer time is 3am, you pray till 5am and then set out to work. While praying, the devil may distract you with ideas of microwaving your breakfast before energy is interrupted (This has happened to me many times). Breakfast is a good thing, but think about it, do I really need to take food from home to have breakfast? Aren’t there reputable eateries around my office? So that’s it, he shows you good things that are not necessarily needed.
The mistake many Christians make at this point is to either shorten their prayer time or keep that thought in their mind until they complete the prayer time. That kind of prayer won’t go far.
The only way to overcome distraction in prayer is to focus on connecting with the Spirit of God during prayer instead of the duration you’ve set. For instance, if you pray for one hour daily and you notice a distraction, take your mind off that time you’ve set and focus on connecting with God first. Until you connect, don’t end the prayer. That way, the distraction will not have a hold you on. (Read my previous articles to learn how to connect in prayer)
3. SITUATIONS
These are things that happen and you have to stop prayer for. They can come in form of urgencies.
The solution to this is planning. Plan your prayer life. Do everything that you know may hinder your prayer time before your prayer time. Many times, the things that affect us are things we had prior knowledge of.
For instance, you knew your husband would have dinner yet you didn’t make arrangement for his food. It’s finally time to cook and then you realize that you didn’t have a required ingredient. Going to the market to purchase that ingredient may eat into the prayer time you’ve scheduled. If you planned to cook for one hour and pray for the next hour before your husband returned, that may no longer be possible if you have to go to the market first. If you don’t want situations to steal your prayer time, plan!
4. TIREDNESS
Most people complain that they’re usually too tired when it’s time to pray. Well, the solution to this is to create a routine for your prayer life. Just as you have a eating or work routine, you should have a prayer routine that nothing should affect. For instance, you can set a routine that prays every six hours, and once your alarm beeps, leave everything you’re doing for the prayer time.
Prayer is not something you do when all your work is done, prayer is something you do before, during and after your work is done. If you wait till all your work is done, you’d be too tired to pray. But if you make prayer part of the work, you won’t be too tired to pray.
If you have to pray in the midnight, don’t sleep on the bed, use the chair instead. Set your alarm, and once it rings, jump into the shower and take a cold bath. Once done, get to your prayer altar and start praying. It’s a routine, and when it comes to routines, we don’t have a choice.
5. FRUSTRATION
This is when your life expectations are not being met. You probably lost a job, a business, or even a loved one. You were denied Visa, or you just suffered denials in different forms. Nothing affects your prayer life more than frustrations and disappointments.
The solution to this is to be dead to self. Jesus was dead to self, and that’s how He was able to overcome. When things happen to bring sorrow to your physical being, remind that situation that a dead person cannot feel sorrow. If it didn’t work, I’d try again later, but it’s not big enough to affect my prayer life.
We must all grow to a point where nothing physical influences our spiritual walk with God. I know it’s easier said, but that’s just the truth.
I apologize, today’s article is obviously longer. I just couldn’t leave anything behind.
I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.
Remain ever blessed, in Jesus name!
#EmekaAnslem