Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Praying in the Spirit makes us alert and vigilant to the vices of the evil one. A constant conversation with the Lord makes us spiritually alert to the schemes of the devil as his strategies have not changed from the beginning of time. For we are familiar with his evil schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11b). Even the atheist and the agnostics know that sowing sinful seeds will yield sour fruits. A thief will one day be caught in his shameful sins. We cannot plead ignorance for silly choices. It is good to be innocuous but ignorance and spiritual drowsiness is dangerous. Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity — Martin Luther King Jr.
Statistics say that about 10% to 20% of all road crashes are fatigue-related. It only takes a moment to go off our course and crash into another vehicle. Likewise, it doesn’t take long to go off track in our spiritual journey. Lack of prayer discipline and slackness in our prayer routine make us vulnerable to spiritual attacks. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). The infidelity of David was merely because of spiritual lethargy. One day, late in the afternoon, David got up from his nap and went to the palace roof (2 Samuel 11:2). David should have been at the evening sacrifice worshiping the Lord. May the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice (Psalm 141:2b). But he was on the rooftop sleeping and sagging into sin. Prayerlessness led the legend into licentiousness and ultimately turned them into a lethal murderer.
The devil is prowling to pounce on those who sleep, slack or slop in their prayer life.
Pray in the Spirit:
1. Sleep: Physical fatigue is not a valid reason to miss our prayer routine. Our regular prayer routine makes us alert through the day to continue to be in a mode of prayer. Those who sleep-in and make excuses allow the devil to move-in and ravage their life.
2. Slack: Slackness is a trap of the devil to deceive our character and destroy our conduct. ‘If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy.’ — Corrie ten Boom. Many miss a regular prayer routine as they claim that they pray when they brush, bus and brunch, however those who slack and do not have a dedicated time of prayer will not be charged to pray in the spirit 24/7.
3. Sensitive: Our sensitivity to the spiritual realm will be blinded if we don’t pray in the spirit; whereas praying in the spirit keeps us spiritually sensitive and resistant to the temptations and traps.
Praying in the Spirit makes us spiritually sensitive, vigilant and resistant to the demonic traps.
Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.
Prayer: Dear Holy Spirit, help me to resist laziness, sleepiness and slackness and be spiritually sensitive. Amen.
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