“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and NOT LOSE HEART…” ~ Luke 18:1

“For I want you to know what a great CONFLICT I have for you…” ~ Colossians 2:1

“Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always LABORING fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” ~ Colossians 4:12

“…who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement CRIES AND TEARS…” ~ Hebrews 5:7

Prayer is not the last resort of the weak-minded, it is the inner refuge of indefatigable men and women who know how to wait before their infinitely wise and mighty God.

The great struggle in prayer is not between God and you, as if you were straining to wrest some meager token from a stingy deity. Because of His unreserved love for you, your Father knows what you need before the thought is framed in your mind or any word leaves your lips.

No. Your battle is not with God.

But the moment you set out to go to God in prayer, all hell breaks loose. Distractions will come. Interruptions. Discouraging thoughts. Powerful emotions that posture as the truth but act as blinders to it. Instead of finding rest you seem to incur greater distress in your soul. Your path to Him lies submerged beneath a swirling eddy of anxiety. Your praying seems useless beneath the smothering effects of your circumstances.

And all the while, He is still there, He hears you, and He loves you.

It bears repeating: your battle is not with God.

Your battle lies in shutting out the mad noise of the outer world…

• slipping into the secret place and sacred space of your inner world…
• to lay down your worries and weights and terrors at His feet…
• to move over and surrender the controls…
• to let go of your fiercely-held “maps” to your happiness…
• to enter the sanctuary of His Presence…
• to simply be with Him…
• and to discover He has been seeking you for this relationship all along!

The noise of battle ends in the loving Presence of the all-sufficient King and the infinitely satisfying Savior… Jesus!