AVOIDING THE PLAGUE OF PRAYERLESSNESS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1ST, 2025
THE URGENCY OF THE END TIMES MANDATE
SCRIPTURE: “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;” (Luke 18:1, KJV)
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Sin makes a person feel unqualified at the place of prayer.
INTRODUCTION: THE PROPHECY OF THE TURNAROUND
Beloved, you are welcome to the month of November. Indeed, God has been faithful in all ramifications throughout the past months. The previous ten months were a testimony to His sustaining grace, but the Lord declares that this final quarter shall be your season of
Get ready to shed tears of joy. This month, the supernatural intervention of God will be so undeniable that people will look at you and wonder how it happened, in Jesus’ Name. But to step fully into this prophetic promise—to secure victory over the agenda of the enemy as we approach the end of the year and the culmination of the age—we must master the essential tool for conquest: prayer.
The central theme of our study today addresses a severe spiritual crisis: The Plague of Prayerlessness. Jesus Christ Himself warned us about the conditions of the end times. He posed a critical, faith-testing question in Luke 18:8b: “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”
The truth is, the devil has deployed every imaginable weapon to attack the prayer life of God’s people. He knows his time is short, and he knows the destiny of a man is directly proportional to the intensity of his prayer life. If he can disconnect you from the power source (prayer), he can derail your prophetic destiny.
Jesus’ instruction is simple, yet demanding: “…men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). If we are commanded to always pray, we must identify and demolish the spiritual and psychological weapons the enemy uses to create this plague of prayerlessness in our lives.
I. THE MANDATE AND THE WARNING: ALWAYS PRAY, NEVER FAINT
The parable in Luke 18, featuring the persistent widow and the unjust judge, was spoken for one explicit purpose: that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. This single verse contains both the Divine Command (Always Pray) and the Spiritual Danger (Fainting).
A. The Meaning of “Always Pray”
To “always pray” does not mean you must be physically on your knees 24 hours a day. It means maintaining a constant spiritual connection and a disposition of heart that is ready to converse with God at any moment. It is living in the atmosphere of prayer, where communication with the Father is the norm, not the exception.
The Apostle Paul reinforced this: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). This constancy is the maintenance system for your spiritual life. It keeps the spiritual engine running, ensuring that when a crisis hits, you are already connected to the power grid.
B. The Spiritual Disaster of Fainting
The consequence of prayerlessness is fainting (Greek: ek-kakeo). This word means to lose heart, to be utterly weary, to become discouraged and give up. The prayerless man is the one who:
- Loses Perspective: He stops seeing his struggles through the lens of God’s power and starts seeing God through the overwhelming lens of his problems.
- Loses Momentum: He gives up just short of the miracle. The persistent widow received justice because she refused to faint. Fainting is the devil’s goal, because if you faint, you concede the battle.
- Loses Faith: Jesus links prayerlessness directly to a loss of faith in Luke 18:8. When prayer stops, faith atrophies, making you vulnerable to the end-time agenda of doubt and despair.
II. THE PRIMARY ENEMY: SIN AS THE CONFIDENCE KILLER
The first and most destructive force the enemy employs to make people prayerless is Sinfulness. Sin is not just an immoral act; it is an organized attack on the three pillars that support a dynamic prayer life.
A. Sin Attacks Our Love for God (Coldness of Heart)
Matthew 24:12 says, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
The first casualty of sin is love. A thriving relationship with God is built on love, which naturally expresses itself in communion (prayer). When sin enters, it acts like a spiritual refrigerant, cooling down your passion for the Lord. It replaces genuine intimacy with guilt-ridden formality.
A person whose love has waxed cold finds prayer to be a burden rather than a delight. The motivation to seek God’s presence diminishes, and the once-vibrant prayer time becomes a hurried obligation, eventually leading to abandonment. The plague of sin kills man’s love for God and for fellow men.
B. Sin Attacks Confidence and Boldness Before God
Sin makes a person feel unqualified at the place of prayer. This is a devastating, psychological weapon deployed by the enemy, the Accuser of the Brethren.
When sin is present, the voice of the Holy Spirit’s conviction is distorted into the devil’s condemnation. The voice of the enemy whispers:
- “Who are you to pray for seven hours when you committed that sin yesterday?”
- “Your words are hitting a brick wall (Isaiah 59:1-2).”
- “You are a hypocrite; God won’t listen to you.”
This assault destroys the boldness necessary for effective prayer. The Bible states in Proverbs 28:1, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.” The wicked man runs from the presence of God; his lack of prayer is a form of spiritual flight.
This explains why a person living in deliberate sin cannot sustain a fiery prayer life. You can hardly hear a drunkard saying, “I did an all-night prayer last night,” except an all-night of alcoholism. You can rarely see a practicing prostitute saying, “I did seven hours of spiritual irrigation praying in tongues.” Why? Because sin attacks your boldness at the place of prayer, making you feel perpetually unqualified.
C. Sin Brings Separation Between Man and God
Isaiah 59:1-2 clearly states: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”
Sin erects a wall between man and God. This separation is the final stage of the attack on prayer. Even if the individual tries to pray, the lack of communication creates frustration. It is like trying to make a call with a bad connection—you hear silence, you get frustrated, and you eventually hang up the phone. This sense of futility causes the person to give up on prayer entirely, solidifying the plague.
III. THE FUEL CRISIS: WORDLESSNESS AS A DRIVER OF PRAYERLESSNESS
The second great force the enemy uses is Wordlessness—the lack of the Word of God (Scripture) in the heart of a man. If sin is the enemy that disables the prayer vehicle, Wordlessness is the absence of fuel that prevents the engine from starting.
It is important to know that the Word of God is to prayer what wood is to fire (Proverbs 26:20, Leviticus 6:12). Without fuel, the fire dies.
A. The Word Provides the Premises of Prayer
Effective prayer is not rambling repetition or a list of desires; it is praying the promises of God back to God. You must have a premise upon which to anchor your request.
- Hosea 14:2 instructs us to “Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.” The “words” you take are the Word of God.
- John 15:7 says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
No Word, no effective prayer. If you don’t know what God promised, you don’t know what to pray about, and your prayer becomes guesswork, leading to frustration and, inevitably, prayerlessness. The Word provides the legal, divine basis for your petition.
B. The Word is the Fuel for Faith
The Word of God fuels our faith, causing us to turn to God in the first place.
Romans 10:17 teaches, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” And Hebrews 11:6 reminds us that “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
If there is no Word, there is no faith. If there is no faith, there is no confidence that your prayer will be heard and answered by God. Nothing will drive you to turn to God in prayer because the engine of assurance is stalled.
Wordlessness equals prayerlessness. Therefore, it is critically important to charge up your Word level in order to charge up your prayer life.
IV. SECONDARY DRIVERS OF PRAYERLESSNESS: MODERN WEAPONS
Beyond sin and wordlessness, the enemy employs cunning, secondary weapons that are particularly effective in our fast-paced, modern age. These forces slowly erode consistency, leading to the plague.
A. The Tyranny of the Urgent (Busyness and Distraction)
In the end times, Jesus warned of the danger of hearts being “overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life” (Luke 21:34). The “cares of this life” are the weapon of busyness.
The devil doesn’t always stop prayer with a sudden blast; sometimes he does it by a slow drain of time and attention. He floods your schedule with things that are urgent but not important. The emails, the meetings, the social media scroll, and the constant pursuit of professional advancement become a Tyranny of the Urgent that crowds out the time for the essential—communion with God.
The result is fragmented attention. You try to pray, but your mind is rushing through the day’s to-do list. Prayer becomes a mechanical process, lacking the focus necessary for breakthrough, leading to discouragement and the eventual thought: “I don’t have time for this.” This is the slow fade into prayerlessness.
B. Spiritual Weariness and Discouragement
This connects directly to the warning in Luke 18:1: “not to faint.” Spiritual weariness occurs when a believer prays consistently but does not immediately see the desired result.
The enemy uses disappointment as a spiritual narcotic. He points to the unanswered prayer, the lingering sickness, or the sustained financial hardship, whispering: “It doesn’t work. God doesn’t care. Why bother?”
This is why persistence is the key virtue in the parable of the widow. The purpose of God’s delay is to test the quality of our faith—whether it is dependent on the circumstances or anchored in the Character of God. Prayerlessness is the consequence of believing the devil’s lie that God has tired of you, or that He is unable to deliver.
C. Wrong Motives and Praying Amiss
Sometimes, people become prayerless because they confuse prayer with a spiritual mechanism for satisfying selfish desires. James 4:3 warns: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
When prayer is primarily motivated by greed, envy, or self-centered ambition, and those prayers are not answered (because God is a good Father who will not indulge harmful requests), the individual assumes prayer is ineffective and stops trying. True, powerful, and effective prayer is centered on the Kingdom agenda and the will of God, not merely on personal comfort.
V. THE CURE: RE-IGNITING THE PRAYER FIRE
To escape the plague of prayerlessness and access your November turnaround, you must take decisive action to restore the integrity of your spiritual connection.
A. Deal Decisively with Sin (The Repentance Altar)
Since sin is the number one cause of prayerlessness, the cure begins with radical honesty and repentance. Prayer is not effective until the matter of sin has been dealt with.
Acknowledge and Confess: Do not minimize, justify, or hide sin. Acknowledge it instantly and confess it to God (1 John 1:9). Repentance is not just feeling bad; it is making a decisive choice to turn 180 degrees away from the practice.
Restore Boldness: Once confessed and repented of, you are cleansed by the blood of Jesus. The devil is a liar! Do not allow him to condemn you. Stand on the righteousness imputed to you by Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21) and assert your boldness as a lion at the place of prayer.
B. Charge Up Your Word Level (The Fuel Reserve)
To combat Wordlessness, you must saturate yourself with Scripture.
Consistent Study: Give yourself to the consistent study of the Word. Don’t just read it; meditate on it. Highlight the promises of God—promises for healing, provision, protection, and peace. These promises are the premises for your prayer.
Speak the Promises: Let the Word move from your mind to your mouth. When you pray, do not pray your problem; pray the promise. For example, don’t just pray, “Lord, help me pay this debt.” Pray, “Father, I thank You, for my God shall supply all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). This is praying with faith and authority.
C. Establish a Non-Negotiable Altar (Consistency)
Prayer is not about emotion; it is about discipline.
- Pray Even When You Don’t Feel Like It: Feelings are unreliable. Prayer is a divine duty and a spiritual discipline. When you are tempted to skip, remember the instruction: not to faint. The feeling of spiritual hunger or desire often comes after you start praying, not before. You start the engine with discipline, and the fire is kindled by the Spirit.
- Build Your Altar: Create a consistent time and place for prayer—a non-negotiable appointment with God. Whether it’s 15 minutes or 3 hours, be consistent. Consistency maintains momentum and starves the plague of busyness.
D. Praying in the Spirit
The greatest weapon against spiritual weariness and ignorance is praying in the Holy Ghost (praying in tongues).
Jude 1:20 instructs, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.
When you pray in the Spirit:
- You bypass human limitation: You pray the perfect will of God (Romans 8:26-27).
- You build up yourself: It charges your spiritual battery, countering weariness and distraction.
- You maintain fire: Praying in tongues keeps the spiritual fire burning, ensuring the wood never runs out.
CONCLUSION: YOUR PROPHETIC BREAKOUT
As we move through November, let this be the month you break free from the hold of spiritual lethargy. The enemy’s agenda is to make you prayerless, wordless, and faithless. Your agenda, decreed by God, is a drastic and total turnaround.
Receive the grace to pray fervently without ceasing. Do not let sin steal your boldness or wordlessness steal your fire. Every hold or grip of sin on your life be broken today in Jesus’ Name!
You will not faint. You will pray, you will conquer, and you will testify. Get back to your altar. Charge up your Word. The breakthrough is waiting for the persistent.
ASSIGNMENT(S):
- Avoid the life of sin. Say, ‘No’ to any invitation to sin; that is an attempt to cripple your prayer life.
- Give yourself to the consistent, disciplined study of the Word, specifically writing down three promises to pray daily.
- Pray fervently at a set time every day, even when you don’t feel like praying.
PRAYER:
Lord, I receive the grace to pray fervently without ceasing. Baptize me with a dimension of hunger for You that cannot be conquered. Lord, let Your fire consume every form of prayerlessness and distraction in my life. I command every dead potential to rise and live now, in Jesus’ Name.
FOR FURTHER UNDERSTANDING, GET THIS MESSAGE: AVOIDING THE PLAGUE OF PRAYERLESSNESS
DAILY BIBLE READING: John 10-12
QUOTE:
Prayer is not effective until the matter of sin has been dealt with. – Dr Paul Enenche (Culled from the book, Principles and Power of Prayer)
AMAZING FACT: Oysters can change gender depending on which is more advantageous for mating. (Let us maintain our spiritual gender—a relentless warrior in prayer—for our advantage in Christ!)
PROPHETIC DECLARATION/WORD:
Every hold or grip of sin on your life be broken today in Jesus Name. I command the Spirit of Supplication and Fervency to rest upon you NOW!