Prayer and Temptation
James 4:7: Submit yourselves then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Welcome back to another inspirational moment from historical Christian romance novels.
Prayer is our open line of communication to God. How often do you use it? Do you have a healthy prayer life? When do you find yourself turning to God in prayer?
I was recently challenged by our pastor when asked these questions. It’s easy to fill our schedules and push our prayer time to the back burner. In some cases, it becomes non-existent. When we pull away and stop communicating with God daily, we drift away from Him allowing temptation a foot hold.
Prayer not only connects us with God, but the power of the Holy Spirit.
In the novel Falling for the Cowgirl, Jericho pushes Ivy away to resist temptation and turns to prayer.
Her frigidness would keep him cooled off, and that's what he needed. That, and a good dose of prayer for resisting temptation. (p. 78 Falling for the Cowgirl by Jody Hedlund)
If you’re like me and need to reboot your prayer life, I have a few suggestions for you.
1. Start with setting aside 15 minutes a day to read your Bible and pray.
2. Write your prayers down in a prayer journal.
3. Find a quiet space to spend time in prayer.
There are a couple of books on prayer that I would suggest for you to read. These books helped breathe new life into my prayer life.
1. Praying for Your Elephant: Boldy Approaching Jesus with Radical and Audacious Prayer by Adam Stadtmiller.
2. Just Ask: The Joy of Confident, Bold, Patient, Relentless, Shameless, Dependent, Grateful, Powerful, Expectant Prayer by J.D. Greear
I will leave you with this final thought: When temptation strikes lean into Jesus. He will give
you the strength you need to resist!