Don’t fight it. Follow it.

Embrace the distractions and lean into them.

 

How often do you find yourself sitting down to pray, or in my case, lying in bed, wakeful, in the early hours of the morning, and you just can’t focus?

As you begin to pray, the anxiety, the swirling thoughts and all of life’s cares are so loud that your attention is diverted and your mind starts wandering.

You want to bring your requests before the Lord. You have the best of intentions, but you can’t keep your thoughts from jumping all over the place.

Can I help free you from the burden of feeling like you’ve failed?

I heard something recently that did just that for me.

This speaker said, when this happens, “Don’t fight it. Follow it.”

I know that this sounds backwards and wrong. But it has to do with our thinking.

We are led to believe that prayer needs to be this polished conversation, very eloquent, well-articulated and done in some type of orderly fashion.  

Now, don’t get me wrong, we are given examples of how to pray in the Bible, the most well-known is often called the Lord’s prayer (Luke 11) where the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. There is a lot to be said on this subject that cannot be covered in just one short post, so I will not go into it here and now.

We do need to address God reverently with awe and humility. But as you read through your Bible, you will see prayer after prayer that is prayed in such a raw, unfiltered, heartfelt and sincere way that I find it difficult to understand that anyone would think less of a person that simply pours their heart out to God in whatever words tumble from their lips wholeheartedly, genuinely and honestly.

Let me break this down. This is how it often goes.

When you set out to pray, whether in the night watches, at a prayer meeting or in your daily devotions, you begin to pray about one thing, but your mind suddenly pulls you towards something else.

You sit down to pray about your finances, but your mind starts drifting to the lady you spoke with on Sunday. You begin to pray about your health, but your mind drifts to your child and their lack of understanding of simple concepts in their Math homework that day. You start to pray about a workmate but your mind drifts towards a ministry in the church you are burdened about. You begin to pray about one thing, and your mind takes to you a totally different thing.

What do you do?

You pray about it.

If your prayer about your finances drifts towards the conversation with the lady on Sunday, then pray for her. Don’t fight the drift. Follow it. Pray for her.

If your prayer about your health drifts towards your child, then pray for them. Don’t fight it. Pray about it.

You get where I’m going with this?

What if the very thing that is distracting you is actually the very thing God is inviting you to pray about?

Don’t fight it. Follow it.

Even if it feels random. And unpolished. And out of order. Or small.

Did you know that prayer isn’t about performance? I have heard many prayers in my lifetime that were so eloquent and so well-articulated that they left me thinking that God would hear them above my own. They made my timid, humble mumblings seem insignificant to say the least.

I’ll say it again. It’s not about performance.

It’s about relationship.

The goal isn’t to speak perfect prayers or well-formed sentences. It’s not about perfection, it’s about presence.

The presence of God.

It’s about being in the presence of God. Coming to him, broken, hurting, needing the refreshing and renewal that only he can bring. Bringing our prayers of lament, or sorrow, or heartache, coming humbly before him and finding peace in his presence.

If God is laying something or someone on your heart and mind that is different than what you started out to pray for, then lean into it. Follow it.

I am easily distracted if I am not in my hyper-focused zone. This is most often the case for me when I’m praying. But even my distractions can lead me deeper in my relationship with God if I bring them to God.

As I pray, about everything and anything that comes to mind, I am exercising a muscle. A prayer muscle, if you will. The more I pray, the stronger my focus gets. It may not be where I thought it would go when I started praying, but the more consistent I am with praying through the distractions, offering prayer on behalf of the ones God brings to mind, as they come to mind, the more I exercise the muscle, the more passionate and sincere my prayers become.

As my mind begins to wander, I don’t fight the wandering, I tell God about it. I let him direct the prayer. I let him lead me to who and what I need to pray for.

If I start to pray with my list of requests in hand, and his love washes over me, causing me to pour out my heart in gratitude to him for his greatness and his goodness towards me, I go with it. I lay aside the requests and I continue my prayer of praise. I know that God will bring those requests back to mind when he is ready.

I know that this may seem weird and maybe a little way out there, but I really feel like somebody needs to hear this today.

Somebody reading this needs to experience the freedom that comes when you let God direct your prayers.

He wants the whole, distracted, messy you. Not some polished version of you that is only a façade.

Every one of us has people in our sphere of influence that are unique to anyone else. God will bring to mind people that in the place of prayer, we may see as random and an interruption to our planned-out prayer, but is actually an ordained, divine appointment.

Don’t fight those moments. Use them to intercede for others.

Let the distraction be an appointment.

Embrace it. Lean into it and most importantly, pray about it.

Philippians 4:6-8 - Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.