For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

Along with our spiritual and physical struggles in prayer, there are also the mental and emotional struggles. In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, the Apostle Paul points out that the mind is the spiritual battlefield. The “imaginations” to be “cast down,” “the [true] knowledge of God,” which is concealed by lofty arguments and popular opinion, and our “thoughts,” which need to be brought “into captivity…to the obedience of Christ,” all have to do with our minds. We lose in spiritual warfare every time we lose the battle of the mind. 

Whoever gets the attention of our minds gains the ascendancy in our lives. Our diligence against worldly and demonic distractions is therefore imperative to the concentration and contemplation our prayer lives require. In our daily devotions, our minds will be frequently deluged by the devil with distracting thoughts, none of which should be allowed by us to redirect our focus away from Christ.

How often does the phone or doorbell ring the moment you start to pray? How often do your kids or grandkids start acting up the instant you cry out, “Abba, Father”? How often do you step into your prayer closet only to have your mind flooded with thoughts about all of the things that you need to be doing? Is all of this simply coincidental? Or is it possible, at least some of the time, that something sinister and diabolical is abreast?

Don’t kid yourself; the devil often tries to distract you in prayer with outer things and inner thoughts. Phones, doorbells, kids and grandkids are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all of the outer distractions at the devil’s disposal. And when it comes to prayer-distracting inner thoughts, the devil is literally limited only by the limit of your own imagination. How diligent, then, must we be in the disciplining of our minds and emotions, lest we be distracted in prayer, our foremost spiritual discipline?     

“I have so much to do today that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer.” (Martin Luther)