Letter 4

I have heard it said many times that the Devil fears a Christian on his knees. I believe that statement to be true.

It seems that between Letter 3 and 4 something has happened significantly because “Wormwood” did not properly deal with the person’s desire to pray that he is in charge of. The goal according to Screwtape, is to try to keep a person from praying at all but if you can’t stop him the least you can do is misdirect the prayers so they become pointless. At least then the person feels good about the fact they “prayed” and the “demons” feel good because nothing happens with those request. To misdirect them you must weave selfishness into their hearts (which is easy to do) without them knowing they are being selfish or get them to focus on an object to pray too that makes them feel like they are talking to God because of its presence. If they persist in the desire to pray let them learn “parrot” prayers. Prayers that people always say to their kids before bed, or get them to learn a “blessing” prayer they can repeat before each meal. Misdirected prayers are useless, prevents christians from praying bold prayers and hinders them from furthering their relationship with God.

I don’t know about you but I’m praying that none of this will be able to work on me. I have two struggles really when it comes to praying and maybe a 3rd. I do not think I am structured enough when I pray. I never want to go as far as parroting a prayer but as the same time a prayer should have a focus and a logical progression of thought. We are after all talking to the most powerful Being in the universe. The second struggle is with meal time prayers… it is easier to say a rhythm and rhyme sort of prayer than it is to take the time to actually pray for something before the meal. The last is from time to time I forget to pray and then get jarred back into it because a crisis has occurred. So, why mention these? Because misdirection is really something that happens and the enemy is good at it. So, watch out for it in your life.

Finally, this last thought has nothing to do with praying but it is something to chew on. Screwtape says “It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out”. Scary…

Well, I need to end this blog because up there I said finally…

Awkward…

I know.