Ephesians 6:18 (KJV) Praying always with all prayer and supplication
in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints;

Ephesians 6:18 (TNIV)And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds
of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on
praying for all the Lord's people
If we look at the above scripture (I liked both translations) we notice something unique from the Apostle Paul's statement that praying in the spirit and praying in all occasions is not enough we need to be alert ( Watching thereunto)

Now I hope that I'm not reading anything into this but it seems as though Paul is suggesting that something is ( may) happen while we are in prayer that is antagonistic to the state of prosperous prayer. This verse would say to me, that we must have the spiritual discernment to correctly recognize the wiles of Satan in our prayer!

OK I'm not crazy; let me have a few minutes of your time to better give my arguments.

Prayer is a service, that we do to achieve many things. We speak the will of God in prayer, get to know God though prayer, confess our sins to God though prayer, even thank God for his blessing and tender mercies, loving kindness, salvation, forgiveness of sin, and his son Jesus Christ through prayer. But most importantly we develop or strengthen the relationship we have with God through Prayer.

But Satan seeks to maneuver other things in our life in front of prayer, and place prayer on the back burner. Even things that may appear to be for the edification of God's kingdom can interrupt the time we have for prayer. We find it easy to be enthusiastic when it comes to making it to Christian concerts, and ministry meetings, bible study, Sunday school, and even Church, but something always comes up when it time to pray.

Faced with all the tribulations of life we say "This is the type of thing that only prayer can solve" yet we talk more about it, we worry more about it, we contemplate more about it, we scheme more about it, we seek after our own solutions more about it, we do all these thing more than we pray about it. Basically we put everything in front of prayer. Prayer is always last on our list of things to do.
Sadly, not one of us can say we have gone to God enough in prayer. We all have committed the sin of neglecting prayer, and sought our own devices to answer our problems. We all have placed prayer on the back burner for something else more important. But really what more important than prayer?

It is God's will that we pray, and we say we love the Lord, we say we place Christ as Lord over our lives, but we fail to make time to commune with God. Even, Billy Graham spiritual advisor to many presidents, whom have arguably preached the word of God to more people than anyone else on this planet. As of 1993, more than 2.5 million people had stepped forward at his crusades to "accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior at his revivals. Even this great man of God has admitted to being so motivated with doing the Work of God that he has forgotten to do the Will of God! Now don't go around telling people I said Billy Graham don't pray, the point I'm trying to get across is that we can put things, even the things of God ahead of the Will of God.
The South African Minister Andrew Murray wrote "If we do not set a given time to pray, we will not pray" I would add also that we pray that out prayer time is never snatched away by the manipulation of the Devil.

But it is not just the prayer time that we must be watchful of. Often times when we are on our knees Satan seek to take control of our very thoughts. A mind that was perfectly clear of outside thoughts is now while we are in prayer being interrupted with thoughts of Monday's meeting at work, or the phone bill, or even weather we've forgotten to turn off the lights in the basement before you came up to pray. This is just another way the Devil seeks to prevent you from spending time with God. This is how he, Satan, intercepts your supplications for the healing of Sister Jones at church, or the request of the salvation of a family member or friend on drugs. You see a prayer heard by God is a victory for you and a testimony of God faithfulness, so when your drop down on you knees to pray you become enemy of the devil, and he will do all he can to make you fail at prayer.

So is there any thing that we can do to fight these devices of Satan against us? Yes, pray, her are some suggestions that may help you to combat the Devil.
Set a Time to Pray

Set a time to pray two or three times per day, and let nothing come between your prayer time not even the works of God. Even though you have a set prayer time you should still pray whenever you have a few minutes to yourself. For instance while waiting for a bus, you can pray, or sitting in the doctors office waiting for your name to be called are both excellent times to pray.


Stay Single-Minded
Before you pray, pray that God will keep you single-minded, that your prayer will not be obscured by any of the Devil's devices. And when or if your prayers are interrupted by disturbing thoughts, weakness, or just human junk, speak them out or your life. In Matthew 16:23 when Simon Peter tried to convince Jesus not to take up the cross, Jesus answered "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." (TNIV)This allowed Christ to remain single-minded toward the things of God. Remember that the mind is the Devils play-ground; he attacks us in the mind causing us to question our faith, and even intercepting or interrupting our prayer with God. So before you pray put on the Helmet of Salvation so that the mind is protected against the evil devices of the enemy!