1. We are directed to watch unto prayer. When you approach the mercy-seat, watch against a careless spirit. Do not allow your mind to be drawn away by anything, however good and important in itself, from the object before you. If the adversary can divert your mind, on the way to that consecrated place, he will be almost sure to drive you away from it without a blessing.
2. We are required to watch not only unto, but in, prayer. Satan is never more busy with Christians than when he sees them on their knees. He well knows the power of prayer; and this makes him tremble.
"Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees."You should, therefore, with the most untiring vigilance, watch in prayer against all wandering thoughts and distraction of mind. You will often experience, on such occasions, a sudden and vivid impression upon your mind, of something entirely foreign from what is before you; and this, we have reason to believe, is the temptation of Satan. If you are sufficiently upon your watch, you can banish it without diverting your thoughts or feelings from the subject of your prayer, and proceed as though nothing had happened. But, if the adversary succeeds in keeping these wild imaginations in view, so that you cannot proceed without distraction, turn and beseech God to give you help against his wiles. You have the promise, that if you resist the devil, he will flee from you. These remarks apply both to secret prayer and public worship.
(Harvey Newcomb, The Young Lady's Guide, pp. 129-130)
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