And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint – Luke 18:1
When we establish a prayer lifestyle, it would eliminate a lot of the mental and emotional anguish we go through. This is why the adversary will influence you to do everything except pray.
Prayer to a believer is like Clark Kent entering the phone booth and coming out like Superman. Prayer is a weapon, praise is a weapon, gratitude is a weapon. God has given us these spiritual tools to use to fight against the adversary in minds, emotions, family, and whatever he tries to attack. The Father has given us a weapon to use against the attack.
The most effective weapon is prayer; prayer keeps us connected with the Father when we have a consistent prayer life. Praise tells the Father how great He is, wonderful and marvelous, mighty and great God. God likes to hear praise just like we like people to praise us for the good things we do, and He deserves much of praise than we do.
Gratitude lets Him know we appreciate things He has done and will do. We have to stay connected to the Father in order to fight the good fight of faith. Satan’s goal is to attack you with thoughts and emotions. The majority of the emotional feelings we have are from influences and thoughts he has bombarded our minds with.
Satan knows who he can bully and those he can’t; and those he can, he has them on an emotional rollercoaster. One day, you’re happy; the next day, you’re sad and don’t know what to do. Anxiety or depression has set in because you have not guarded your mind with prayer. Prayer is a protective covering for the mind and heart.
The importance of prayer is not being emphasized in churches as it should be; that is why you have a lot of churches full of people needing deliverance from lying, gossiping, faultfinding, finger-pointing, adultery, fornication, alcoholics, drug addictions, and so many other worldly things.
If prayer is emphasized, people would not be in so much need of deliverance because they have a connection with Jesus and the Father. Never get so busy that you don’t have time to pray or read God’s Word; when you do, you’re letting down your guard.
You’re a spiritual being, and your fight is in the spirit realm. You can’t sing or dance your way to victory; it only comes through prayer and your faith in God. People who don’t have a consistent prayer life don’t have faith, and if so, one minute they believe, and the next minute they don’t. Prayer builds faith, and faith moves the hand of God!
You’re consistent prayer life will assist you in putting on the armor of God; the armor God will take you to victory in anything that comes against your mind and emotions. When you pray, you have a refugee, a secret hiding place from the influences of attacks.