What if you stumbled across some correspondence between two demons? Might sound kind of odd, but basically a series of letters written from a malevolent spirit, long experienced in leading people toward destruction, giving advice to an understudy of sorts. 

I’m on a C. S. Lewis kick lately if you couldn’t tell (my last blog was on the Great Divorce) and I recently finished reading the Screwtape Letters. Each chapter is basically a fictional letter written from Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood. Wormwood has a “patient” - an unnamed human that he is in charge of setting on a course to hell. 

Several things in the book convicted me deeply. Screwtape would often note two different ways to be a Christian. One way would be entirely displeasing to the demons, because it was, of course, very good. Another way would still look and feel like Christianity, but would actually not be threatening at all to their demonic purposes. 

Usually as you’re going through you can kind of guess which is what, and I’ll admit generally patting myself on the back as I thought, “Ok, well, I’m doing a good job on that one” - until I got to a letter on prayer… 

The senior demon notes that there are multiple ways Wormwood’s patient could engage in prayer. One is “entirely spontaneous, inward, informal…” It’s “devotional in mood,” where an individual “composes his spirit to love” and attempts to assume “a sense of supplication.” Screwtape notes that this type of prayer can happen at almost any time, anywhere throughout a person’s day. 

Upon hearing this description, I began to congratulate myself - “Well, I’m nailing it again. I’m doing what the demons don’t want.” And, I expected the senior devil to warn his intern to keep his patient from praying like this at all costs, but that was far from the case. 

Screwtape says to Wormwood, “This is exactly the sort of prayer we want.” OUCH! He goes on to note that this type of prayer contains no “real concentration of the will” and doesn’t engage one’s “intelligence” at all. 

If you were at the Refresh Conference and heard James Aladiran’s talk on prayer you’d make more than one connection with Screwtape’s advice. Mr. Aladiran warned us against ineffective or weak prayer. He reminded us that Jesus told us to say or speak our prayers. Sure, God knows your heart, but it helps (in several ways) to speak our concerns out to Him.

Screwtape went on to advise Wormwood to keep his patient focused on himself - how he felt, what he needed, wanted, etc. To keep an individual’s prayers from being effective, the strategy was to keep him distracted, feeling uncomfortable, and by all means don’t let someone decide to regularly pray for specific things for specific people. 

I was very convicted. In a devotional sense, I feel like I’m praying throughout any given day. I’m often placing my heart before God. Asking Him to examine a feeling or a train of thought I’m having. Seeking forgiveness. Or placing my own worries and anxieties before Him. All of that is great - but it’s just one aspect of prayer. 

What I heard from Aladiran’s talk and Lewis’ book was a clear call to pray for others’ specific requests regularly, verbally, and intentionally. In response, I’ve been attempting to set aside some committed weekly time to pray for others that I have on a list. 

Personally, I resist “list” type things as I tend to think of them as being merely religious or rote. And therefore, somewhat less than genuine. However, I am now convinced that sentiment has just been an excuse to not do the work of regular prayer. I’m just a few weeks into trying this out, and I’ve got to tell you - I’m loving it! 

Have you read the Screwtape Letters? If not, I highly recommend it unless you want to avoid getting convicted on a number of things, like I did!