There are some common ways that the enemy tries to discourage prayer and worship, whether it is accusations against existing prayer ministries or unbiblical mindsets that hinder believers from entering into the life of prayer and worship that God has for them. Thankfully, the truth of God’s word is a battering ram to these lies. Be encouraged today as you read through this list. Satan does not want us praying and worshiping because it is powerful and transformative!
Lie #1: Extravagant Worship Is A Waste
The Truth: Extravagant worship is beautiful to Jesus
Throughout the Bible, extravagant worship is met with pushback. If you begin to pursue God in a more radical way, whether individually or corporately, you will inevitably experience accusations against the wisdom of your choices. Either an internal or external voice will begin to question if the hours spent singing, praying and meditating on Scripture are worth it.
The story of the woman who poured the alabaster jar on the feet of Jesus makes it very clear how Jesus feels about costly, extravagant expressions of worship and adoration. After pouring a year’s salary worth of ointment on the feet of Jesus, the disciples were indignant with the wasteful display. Their accusation is one you may be hearing yourself: “Why this waste?“ (Matthew 26:8). Did Jesus agree that her offering was foolish? On the contrary, he defended her act of worship and said:
“Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.”
Matthew 26:10
Jesus described extravagant worship and prayer as beautiful. Whether it was the woman breaking the alabaster jar or David training 4,000 musicians to minister to the Lord in his tent at Jerusalem or Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet or the 10,000+ choir that sings “holy, holy, holy!” 24/7 in the heavenly throne room, the Bible always celebrates and memorializes extravagant worship.
The religious spirit hates extravagant worship. When David danced and rejoiced and sang on the way to Jerusalem, his wife Michael despised him in her heart. When Mary anointed the feet of Jesus, Judas said they should have sold the ointment. The enemy tries to use “wisdom” to moderate our sacrifice. But the worth of Jesus demands an offering in proportion to His worth — everything! He is worthy of extravagant worship.
Lie #2 : Intercessory Prayer is Striving
Truth: Intercession is partnership with God in prayer
I’m convinced that the enemy wants to hijack the prayer movement by belittling the importance of intercessory prayer. Any Christian will defend the value of prayer, but some believers get a little hesitant when it comes to the idea of intercessory prayer. Despite the New Testament’s admonish to offer God intercessory prayer (I Timothy 2:1), many unbiblical ideas have crept into some streams of the Church that question the value and importance of intercession. Without a biblical understanding of the nature of prayer, it is very easy for people to get turned off to intercession because they mistakenly believe that it is religiously striving in our own strength to get something from God.
True intercessory prayer is not about twisting God’s arm to accomplish our purposes. Intercession is partnering with God in prayer to accomplish His purposes. The key word here is partnership. When we talk about partnering with God, we don’t bring anything to the equation. It is not that God does 50% of the work and we do 50% of the work. God does 100% of the work, but we are his children and He wants us involved. Like a Father who invites his son to “help” him with a home project (which usually just slows things down and causes more problems), God invites His kids to join Him in a global project called “Heaven On Earth”.
God’s invitation to engage in intercession is an invitation to be close to Him, to know His heart and to be co-laborers with Christ (1 Corinthians 3:9) in bringing heaven to earth. It’s not striving at all. God is going to do it; He just wants us to do it with Him. Religious striving is doing things for God. Relational partnership is doing things with God
And how do we do it with Him? We simply ask.
Jesus taught us to pray for God’s kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10). James says we do not have because we do not ask (James 4:2). We are instructed to persistently ask, seek and knock (Luke 11:9). Not decree and declare. Not hope. Not imagine. But ask.
In fact, within the Trinity, God the Son asks God the Father for things. If there’s any place that no religious striving is taking place, it is surely within the heart of God! Yet even within the persons of God, Psalm 2:8 describes the Father inviting Jesus to ask Him for the nations.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
Psalm 2:8
Is the Father making Jesus “earn” the nations by his asking? Of course not. Is Jesus “twisting the Father’s arm” to get His way? That’s ridiculous. This is simply the nature of God and His kingdom. Things happen in God’s kingdom through relationship. Through intercession. Through asking. Through partnership with God in prayer.
Lie #3: Prayer Should Always be Private
Truth: Christianity is meant to happen in community
It is very easy to read the Bible and interpret every instruction or story through the lens of our western individualism. We do not even realize how quickly we apply biblical truth to ourselves, as individuals, rather than understanding the context of the Bible passage. Christianity is personal, but it is not individualistic. We can not follow Jesus on our own. Being a Christian means being a part of the Church. We are all parts of His body, and we need each other.
When you read Paul’s epistles, remember that they were written to local church communities. When Paul says things like pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), be anxious for nothing but instead pray (Philippians 4:6), pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication (Ephesians 6:18) — he’s writing to groups, not individuals. These were instructions that local churches needed to obey collectively.
When Jesus left his disciples and ascended to heaven, he told them to wait and pray together until the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Church was born out of a ten-day prayer meeting. And I don’t think the upper room was meant to be a good story, but also a prototype for how the kingdom of God expands into cities and nations.
“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.”
Acts 1:14, 2:1
The early Church followed Jesus together, and one of the key ways that did this was through corporate prayer. A quick read through the book of Acts makes it clear that prayer not only birthed the Church but it sustained the Church in those early decades.
Obviously, our personal time alone with God is vital. Jesus taught us to go to the secret place and pray (Matthew 6). We need to take responsibility for our own relationship with God. But we are not alone. We are called to follow Jesus together and to pray together. We need more families praying together. We need more prayer meetings and prayer rooms. The corporate prayer meeting has become a lost art in most churches. Even houses of prayer, which are focused on hosting multiple prayer meetings each week, are notoriously under-attended. The enemy wants our prayer rooms to stay empty, but Jesus wants His house to be a house of prayer.
Lie #4 : Repetition Is Religious
Truth: Repetition can be an expression of faith and a doorway into encounter with God
One thing you will find in communities that are pursuing extravagant worship and prayer is a lot of repetition. Inevitably, songs will be stretched out with choruses and bridges that are sung over and over again to fill the hours of prayer and worship. Not only will there be a lot of repetition within a prayer meeting or a worship night, but houses of prayer that are hosting meetings multiple times each week will offer the same prayers and songs to God every day.
What is the point of this repetition, and didn’t Jesus tell us to not offer repetitive prayers like the Pharisees? Let’s examine what Jesus actually said:
And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. Matthew 6:7-8
Matthew 6:7-8 [NKJV]
Jesus does condemn vain repetition, but this does not mean that any repetition is wrong. The important word here is “vain.” The context of this verse shows that Jesus was condemning the hypocrisy and religiosity of the Pharisees who are praying publicly and repetitively in order to impress others. A few verses earlier Jesus describes them praying “standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets”.
The issue was not repetition, the issue was their hearts. They were not trying to commune with God in His word and cultivate an intimate relationship with their Father. They were self-righteously performing their ritualistic prayers to be seen by men. The ESV translation renders “vain repetition” as “empty phrases”. They were saying a lot of words, but they were not truly praying. Their self-centered religiosity was being rebuked, not the fact that they repeated themselves.
When we continue to examine Scripture, we find loads of repetition of worship and prayer. In the heavenly throne room, the heavenly beings are singing “holy, holy holy” to the Lord day and night (Revelation 4:8) — and Jesus told us to pray for heaven to come to earth. Jesus also encourages his followers to be persistent in prayer (Luke 18:1-8) — to ask, seek and knock (Luke 11:9). The Psalms tell us to meditate on Scripture day and night (Psalm 1:2), which inevitably includes speaking, writing and singing the truths of Scripture. When we sing the same songs and pray the same prayers, the revelation found in God’s word goes beyond surface level. Repetitive worship and prayer, based in God’s word, facilitates our roots going down deep in God, keeps us in the conversation with Him and acts as a battering ram to the strongholds of the enemy.
Lie #5: Too Much Worship & Prayer Hinders Evangelism
Truth: Real ministry to the Lord fuels powerful ministry to others
One accusation that is levied against the prayer movement is that Christians are hiding out in prayer rooms, ministering to God, at the neglect of other important ministries such as evangelism and missions. However, the Bible does not see various expressions of ministry at odds with one another. In Scripture, prayer, worship, evangelism and missions flow together to facilitate the coming of God’s kingdom to the earth.
When Jesus looked out to the harvest field of souls that were far from God, his heart began to break. Yet, his first response wasn’t organizing an evangelistic campaign. He said the harvest was great, but the laborers were few, therefore the disciples needed to pray for the Lord of harvest to send laborers into the harvest (Matthew 9:35-38).
In fact, true worship and prayer will fuel ministry to others. As John Piper has said, “Worship is the fuel and the goal of missions.” Spending time with Jesus awakens our love for Jesus, connects us to His heart for the lost and propels our zeal to reach those far from Him. When it comes to worship and missions, it’s not either/or, it’s both/and. We minister to God and minister to others.
I think of this like a slingshot. As we press into God’s heart through prayer, the slingshot is pulled back. The harder we press into God, the further we will eventually be launched into God’s purposes for our lives. God loves people more than we do! And if we connect to Him, He will lead us into love for others.