Devotional - April 4, 2004

It was becoming irritating. Every morning when I arrived in the Prayertower office, an Instant Message would be on my computer screen inviting me to look at porn. At first, I systematically deleted each message they were no temptation to me. But then, I began to pray for the person who sent it. I knew the name was probably fictitious, but God replaced my original anger with compassion and each annoyance was now a reminder to pray. Strangely, the occurrences slowed to the point I've not gotten a porn message in weeks.

In Proverbs, Solomon took notice of the same phenomenon. I'm certain there was a battle declared and a line drawn each time I received one of each porn message. Would they entice me? Possibly, but not if I allow God to open and respond to my mail.

Every day God teaches me new things about prayer as He teaches me new ways to pray. And the more I do it, the things that used to irritate me are now provide opportunities to pray at the same time spiritual warfare is ensuing.

I've also found the more I'm "tested" like that, the more intense my prayer becomes. It seems the longer the Enemy stirs up a fight, the more persistent my praying becomes and the more persistent it becomes, the more God answers and builds my confidence to pray harder. I don't pray to lessen my battles any more, I want to pray because that's where the battle is being waged.

The disciples wanted Jesus to teach them how to pray. They must have been intrigued about the way He went about praying. One side of them wanted to learn his secret, the other wanted to know his power. In Luke 11, they learned it wasn't just about attitude or words, but also about persistence.

Are you praying in a way God is pleased with you? Have you found a peace that comes by spending substantive time in prayer? Is your prayer life generating results? Are you driven to know God's heart so you can pray more effectively? If not, maybe you need to ask Jesus to teach you how to pray.