A few years ago, I found myself in a tough spot and decided the best thing to do was to be upset with God, and to stop praying. For close to two years, I only prayed when I had to, at church, and even then, I knew in my spirit that I was disconnected from God, and those prayers were less of prayers and mere words I was forced to speak.

I felt empty. I gained nothing from this ‘rebellion,' and when I look back, I see that besides the days being more difficult, my whole outlook on life also changed. I lost my faith, and my ministry. 

My expectation during this period, was that God will come down and force me to pray and come back to my senses, but guess what, He didn’t. Not because God doesn't care, but because He doesn’t force His will on us.

The worst thing to do, is to not pray in your time of trouble. We tend to isolate ourselves from family and friends when we’re going through challenges in life. We want to be alone to deal with what may be going on, and then we also sometimes, consciously or unconsciously withdraw from God.

In our time of trouble we become more vulnerable and are easy bait for the enemy.  Without knowing, we allow the enemy to stroll into our lives and take front and center stage, bringing down our spirits, making us dwell on the negatives and encouraging us to think that even the possible is impossible - all because we disconnect, and stop praying and talking to our Father.

Our weakest moments are when we need God the most, and so our prayers shouldn’t stop then. We need strength, which prayer can give us. We must continue to pray and war in the spirit; we must commune with God, and not sever the cord holding us to Him. We must draw from Him to be able to face our challenges with the confidence and assurance that He is working things out for us.

We must vow to pray and to remain connected to our source no matter what. It’s not always easy to pray in the midst of problems, so before they even show up, we must prepare ourselves - mind and spirit to never cease praying just like Paul reminds us in his letter to the Thessalonians (1 Thess 5:17).

Don’t give up on prayer. Prayer works, I’ve experienced it and I want you to! May the spirit of God help you to always pray your way though every situation. 

Love,

Alice