The devil has no defense against our praying. The more we pray, the less he can do in people’s lives the less he can blind and control. His only defense is an aggressive offense against us to keep us from praying. He influences us by talking to us, and when it comes to praying, he and his demons speak a lot to persuade us to make prayer a tiny part of our lives. We hear them in our thoughts, and the sheer volume of all the thoughts on why we don’t need to pray persuades us to settle for short token prayers that require minimal sacrifice. Many factors determine the level of power we have in our praying, but nothing is as essential as simply the time we give in our praying. We have been conditioned to see prayer as merely asking for something, and God either does it, or He doesn’t, like, “Please pass the potatoes.” Prayer is a supernatural battle against the forces of darkness, and if we are going to win, we will have to persevere.

This next week is JBC’s “Five Days of Prayer.” We pray from 5:00 am to 10:00 am every morning, Monday through Friday, and from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm every evening, Monday through Friday.

Many people will think, “I only need to pray for one hour next week.” Where do you think that thought came from? Others will think, “Plenty of people are praying; I don’t need to go.” Where did that thought come from? Or how about this one? “Prayer intimidates me; it just isn’t my thing.” I bet you can’t guess where that one came from. And the most prevalent, “I am just too busy or too tired, or too something.” I lose card games to my grandkids, I lose softball games to other teams, and I lose arguments with my wife, but I am not going to lose to the devil and his demons; they aren’t going to push me around. I will pray, and I will pray a lot, and I will be a force against the kingdom of darkness so that God’s message of grace can spread rapidly to many people.

How about you? Are you going to win or lose?