Practical Prayer: Finding God’S Direction

By Jack Kovnas

How do you know what Gods direction is for your life? How can you find and more clearly understand the wondrous plans He has for you? Would you like to uncover the hidden passion thats lying in wait inside of you?

In any economygood or baddo you ever fret about bills and money? Do you experience troubling nagging stressful life issues? Have you been skeptical or had a careless attitude about whether dark, evil forces are real or not? Would you like to encounter a fresh and enlightening simplistic perspective concerning this issue and spiritual warfare?

Finally, here is an inspiring, modern-day true story of discovery that will give thought-provoking insight and answers to these and other important questions and problematic dilemmas. Author Jack Kovnas does not tell you how to pray as much as he shows you through his own teaching examples of actual prayer events.

With deep humility, he candidly reveals how sinfully and shamefully he lived the beginning stages of his Christian lifewithout prayerbut then turned completely around as he uncovered genuine happiness with prayer.

Inside this book you will find a declaration by somebody who learned the value of praying and trusting Godwho willingly gave up house and possessions, and then watched in amazement as they returned.

This informative prayer-ride journey is a testimony to what God can and will do for any and all of us. As Jack humbly and assuredly attestseven though it is his own true life story, every sincere, caring word on each and every page is not about himit is about you!

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not upon thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV)

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 31, 2011
• ISBN: 9781449723828

Jack Kovnas

Jack Kovnas was an accomplished Industrial Photographer and Graphics Illustrator, but upon God’s direction, he left the security of receiving a regular monthly paycheck and, along with his wife, Sherry, humbly learned to be more dependent upon God, beginning a self-employed Christian business. [e-mail]

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Escape

Her name was Satan. No, of course that’s not what everybody at the office called her. She actually had a wonderfully poetic and pretty name, but she herself had been very cleverly disguised. And one of the saddest parts is that she most likely didn’t realize it. When she looked into the mirror each morning to prepare herself for work, she could only see her own reflection, not the invisible dark one standing right there beside her. She couldn’t have the slightest clue the deceiver had taken over to use and influence her as he desired. But he had. And probably no one, especially there in our workplace, knew this horrible incitement had occurred. I certainly had never thought about her that way.

At this stage in my life, I was totally unmindful such a takeover thing could happen. So when I came to work every day, I didn’t have a single thought in my head that any real danger was lurking anywhere within the shadows of my office. Innocently unaware there was a lion cowering about, beautifully concealed and waiting, claws sharp as razors, and daggered teeth, on the prowl and seeking out his next victim.

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Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour

(1 Peter 5:8 KJV).

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I would pretty much just go about my own business, working hard, keeping myself professionally cordial while remaining friendly with everyone I worked with. I, of course, attempted to make a conscious effort to always be respectful to all the women there in every manner of conversation, hence avoiding any misinterpretation that I might be flirting with them. I often talked about my wife, Sherry, my two little daughters, and even things relating to church and Christianity.

In sincerely and genuinely dedicating to live my life, I tried my best to take Jesus with me everywhere. Even at work. I thought of God fairly often every single day. I knew that my coworkers could never see perfection in me, as the Bible tells us, For all have sinned, and come (fall) short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23 KJV). That included me, of course. Oh yes, I made and still make many mistakes. But I truly never hid the fact that I was indeed a Christian, and I valiantly attempted to do whatever I felt was right in God’s sight. I certainly made every effort to stay completely away from the typical office and Company politics or gossiping in any form.

And while behaving myself and working away, she would come out of the darkness and walk across the office floor. Taking each and every stride with natural grace and elegance. And poise. Her thick black hair was always perfectly styled, and every strand glistened naturally as the moving air appreciatively pushed it while she walked. She only wore the most fashionable dresses; faultlessly, however, she never wore any skirts too short or apparel suggestive in any way. You see, Satan knows these things very well as he’s had centuries of practice and is awfully good at what he does.

She radiated from somewhere inside a respectable glow of the higher, debonair, upper class, while at the same time she was lighthearted and magnetically friendly with everyone in the office, including all the men. To any of us, her genial behavior was genuine and could never have been perceived to harbor anything but honor and tasteful richness in her demeanor. High quality, clean and charming laughter would often find her in good conversation. Because of the way she carried herself, it was possible that when she was a little younger, before she birthed a child, she could had been featured as a fashion model. Overall, she was extremely attractive, and her face could still be desirable for the photographic cover of a beautiful young woman’s magazine.

It was also true that a mysterious marriage had been segmented somewhere in her lifetime, but now she was divorced and single. She possibly displayed her confidence so well because of her mental diary of past experiences no other human being might ever know. Of course, everyone was cognizant that she at one time had a husband and even bore a child; she had been around the block someplace. Even though she was never liberal in revealing any specific details of her own personal life, her self-confident awareness and aura was always evident. Sadly, Satan can tempt and use anyone who has been around the block a few times, especially if the person doesn’t know how to keep from being used.

And whenever she’d walk by my desk to deliver office memos, her perfume would usually linger even after she left. It never once dawned on me that any danger at all had just come so near and that Satan himself could be so hard at work, stalking about, right there where I worked. I was content and full of bliss, living my life as a married man to a most wonderful loving wife. And when this other woman would come around, I would always try to be sincerely friendly, and my Christian spirit strived to its utmost to be the proper reflection Jesus Himself might want.

Again, I knew I wasn’t perfect, and I knew that I never could be, but I still refrained from joining in with the orchestra of lifting eyebrows some of my male colleagues conspicuously gave each other as she strolled by. And I certainly strived to avoid gazing, as a few of the other men often did, the back of her as she walked passed.

I would intelligently reason that I was not only extremely happy in my marriage and fortunate to have a great family, but my own wife was also exceedingly pretty, charming, and unquenchably attractive to me. Even though she was a different person than the woman that I’ve been describing, she in no way was any less radiant. If anything, Sherry was and is the most beautiful woman who has ever lived.

But it wasn’t reasoning intelligence that caught me completely off guard and gaited right up to me one late afternoon close to quitting time. And it certainly wasn’t a perfumed smell of reasoning that surrounded me all alone right there in the Company’s vacant corridor. It was Satan—transformed. It simply had to be. Coming up and standing so close, I could almost feel her whispering breath as she spoke. That was way too close, and I had to step back a little. Away from her perfect face and sparkling eyes, as she warmly directed herself toward me with her very personable and enchanting smile.

For a little while, I thought surely she was simply being innocently friendly. She was excited and proud of her new apartment she had just moved into. And she did, after all, attempt to describe it to me. So right at first, I cordially responded with interest, but then the conversation went in a direction that I really didn’t know where it was going. She mentioned I should see her new place, and being sociable I answered, Sure, I might do that sometime.

And then she cornered me with, Great, how about tonight, after work, you can follow me.

Naively continuing to respond in kindness and friendliness, I told her, That would probably be OK, maybe for a little while.

But then, the unexpected of all surprises came seemingly out of nowhere. Even after it arrived, it still took me awhile to understand it all. I received my first real revealing glimpse of the hidden and very clever, deceptive disguise. It was Satan himself who stood there next, telling me that this particular night her ex-husband was picking up her little boy from school, and then leaned over and softly and seductively whispered with a wink, "And since we’ll be all alone, I’ll make sure you get the complete tour of every room."

Unfortunately, before she had made this last decree, I had already agreed to follow her home. As we parted, and I headed back to my office to finish up, it slowly dawned on me, "A tour of every room . . . why, that obviously must mean her bedroom!"

When I reached my desk, I just sat there, dazed, and my head and whole body began spinning. It wasn’t intelligence that was now sitting behind my desk, it was flooding emotion. As I began putting things away, the minute hand on my watch ever so slowly crept its way closer and closer to Five O’clock. Intelligence doesn’t cause sweat on the forehead and palms. And then, further emotions began stirring up a dry throat, I couldn’t swallow! Jack, I thought, what are you getting yourself into?

I began thinking of Sherry, the love of my life, when a different emotional thought of imagination pushed its way in. My conscience stepped back to grab one end of the thick, heavy rope, and it tugged as hard as its strength could strain. What do I do? I’ve already agreed to go over there. Maybe I’m just imagining this whole thing, and she’s just being friendly and wants to show off her apartment for real. No, that’s not right, I reasoned, as I remembered her sensually enticing words, and the little telltale wink her eye had given me. So there they struggled, conscience and emotion, tugging away at each other. With an insignificant pushover referee standing right in the middle, getting shoved around!

Suddenly and alarmingly, a loud and somber bell started clanging away. Maybe I’d better not take any chances and just not go over there! And then my racing mind recalled a Scripture from the Bible: God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape (1 Corinthians 10:13 KJV).

As I sat there with time running out and thinking how heavy this burden was becoming, I remembered the one action that had not let me down over the last few years—prayer! So I bowed my head and clenched my eyes tightly, and I prayed, Lord, You gave your Word that there is no temptation beyond which any of us would have to endure, but You will make a way for our escape. Lord, just in case she does have the wrong motives, I need a way of escape right now! I really don’t want to go over there, please help me. Thank you.

After I finished praying, I sat back and reasoned, OK, Jack, you’ve taken this off your shoulders and given it to God. And my anxiety settled down a little. I had the calming sense that it wasn’t my burden any longer, and I had passed the entire responsibility of it on to Him. This heavy weight felt as though it was, in fact, somehow truly gone, but I didn’t understand how or why.

In the meantime, I slowly and methodically continued to tidy up my desk when, startlingly, the phone rang, and my heart jolted and my body actually jumped as if it had been hit with a lightning bolt! Strangely, when I answered, it wasn’t Satan this time. He had fled to somewhere else, who knows where he went? Jack, I’m so sorry, something has come up. My ex just called to tell me he has to work late tonight, and since he can’t pick up my little boy from school, I’m going to have to. Jack, is it OK if I show you my apartment another time perhaps? Again, I’m really sorry.

After I hung up the telephone, I couldn’t move for a while. My body was drained and numb, and I just sat there completely stunned. And I felt that invisible, swirling breeze of yet another answered prayer. I thought by now I would have got used to it, but I hadn’t. Every single time God answered one would be just as wonderfully amazing and exciting as any of the ones before.

However, this particular prayer was different from any of the others that I had experienced. All the ones before were usually concerned with requesting advice for wise direction (open and closed door questions—which job to take, what house to buy, etc.). I had never before caught the glimpse that Satan himself could be so beautifully deceiving, as a roaring lion so magnificently disguised, and who could personally single me or anyone else out as an intended victim.

And I had never before realized, until almost by accident, this extraordinary application of praying—the powerful, effective weapon of prayer that I always had within my grasp, but just didn’t know it. "Would God be able to deliver me anytime from any temptation from the prowling deceiver just by my asking Him to?" I now suspected that I had happened on to something.

When I got home that evening, I went straight to my Bible’s Concordance to look up Scriptures that discussed temptations. And there it was, written as clearly and simply as it could possibly be. Jesus Himself told His disciple Peter to Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41 NIV). That verse of Scripture may as well be saying, "If you don’t pray, you will fall into temptation, which is Satan’s den of sin! A black place, enveloped in guilt and pitch darkness—where God would never be."

Checking further, I came across the well-known Lord’s Prayer. Jesus said (in part): This, then, is how you should pray . . . . And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (Matthew 6:9, 13 NIV). I pondered for a moment, "Would this include delivering us from anything within the realm of sinful nature (Galatians 5:19-21): desiring to hurt someone, gossiping, harboring pride, losing tempers, chasing lusts, etc., virtually any or all sinful temptations that we might have at any given time?"

All I knew for certain was that God had truly made a way of escape from a trap that for a horrible anxiety-attack, sweating moment, I didn’t know what to do. But for many years afterwards, I still didn’t quite have what I now consider to be the proper day-to-day handle on this deliverance from evil stuff.

That shadowy figure Satan, who I mentioned was standing right beside my female coworker and tempting her, well, he is always about. Or at least one of his followers is. Right this second someone dark is lurking around every last one of us. Including me, of course, and yes, even you. Later, I’ll come back and talk about this subject at greater length and how it is extremely important and relevant to practical prayer in our everyday life.

Chapter 2

Bob and Kathy

I was working at the same Company late one evening. Everybody else had gone home, and except for the occasional creaking sound of a window or ceiling tile, the whole sixth floor of my office building was eerily empty and quiet. I was in an exceedingly great mood as everything was working out so perfectly in my life, it was simply incredible. I felt so close to God I sensed that I could almost reach out and touch his warm nearness. Without a doubt, I knew He was with me all the time, anywhere and everywhere I went.

However, this particular evening I was in a somewhat different frame of mind, even more uplifted than usual and giddily spiritual, and out of nowhere I decided to say a somewhat different prayer. One that I had never said before. As I sat behind my desk, I prayed so very hard to be used as God’s tool to minister to someone that very night—somebody, anybody, in any dire need.

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"The LORD hath heard my supplication;

the LORD will receive my prayer"

(Psalm 6:9 KJV).

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When I was done, I sat back in my chair actually expecting someone to be standing right there needing help. But there was no one. I got up to get a cup of coffee in the break-room, anticipating there might be somebody around that side of the office in need of assistance. No one was there either. Nobody else was on my floor, not a coworker, not a janitor, not anyone. The only living, breathing person in the entire place was me. I returned to my desk to continue working, but I still kept an ear out for any sound of somebody, anybody, walking near.

Oh, it was an hour or two later when I began to get hungry, and I decided to drive to a nearby restaurant for a supper break. I hadn’t forgotten that prayer, so as I climbed into the elevator, I eagerly suspected there would be someone else on it. But it was empty. And when the elevator bell dinged and the doors opened, I stepped out and looked around. While walking all the way through the fairly large building’s spacious lobby, and then across the parking lot, my eyes scoured in every direction—nothing.

I was serious as I really believed I would run into some person who needed help.

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If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer (Matthew 21:22 NIV).

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But there was no other entity. Not a living soul was to be seen anywhere. OK, I thought, maybe there will be somebody at the restaurant. I was really ready.

Perhaps it had come across my mind that since God had done so much for me, I wanted Him to know I was offering myself whenever or wherever He might want to use me. But I also remember feeling a sincere desire to share with others the wonderful joy that I had found. I wanted people to be truly happy, and I knew throughout my whole being that connecting with God and Christ Jesus was the ultimate treasure for living the most marvelous life. By doing so, the God of hope would fill them with all joy and peace as they trust in him, and they would overflow with hope (Romans 15:13 NIV).

When I pulled into the parking lot, I checked all around for anyone, even someone stranded or who had car trouble—again, no one. Nor did anything unusual occur in the restaurant, nor after I finished eating and went back to my car. I was alone again in the elevator, and the entire office still had only me to rustle through its silent, still air.

When I reached my desk, I sat down and thought about my prayer and the fact that nothing had happened. And I began to feel a bit silly. What’s the matter with you, Jack? I embarrassingly thought to myself, "You shouldn’t be telling God when you want to do His bidding. Let Him decide when He wants to use you."

After sitting there for a while reviewing everything, I prayed another prayer telling God how sorry I was for trying to force this issue that night. But I also added that I was always available any time He might need to call on me, and to please make me aware of when that occasion might arrive. And then I pretty much forgot that whole business and went back to concentrating on my job.

Another hour passed by, and I began making good progress on my work. I reached a point that I needed to retrieve an important reference from my wallet. While digging around for it, I came across a telephone number, which, quite honestly, I didn’t even know was there. It was Kathy’s! Kathy was a good friend of mine back in Ohio, a preacher’s daughter, and who was sincerely one of the kindest and most precious, caring individuals I had ever met. Whenever she came around, she would seem to glow with goodness. Kathy loved God wholeheartedly, and she seemed to always find a way to talk about Him whenever she could.

It had been several years since Sherry and I had lived in Ohio, and thus several years since I had seen or heard from Kathy. I certainly didn’t know if she would still be living at the same place, or if that phone number could even reach her. But the Company I worked for had a Watts Line, and because its monthly cost was a flat fee for unlimited long distance calls, I decided to give it a try.

As I dialed the number, I thought about everything I was going to tell her, especially about my recent prayers, and how much God had helped and given Sherry and me solid direction in our lives. I couldn’t wait to give her the news that we were venturing into a Christian-oriented business, with the goal of using it as a ministry. Kathy was very spiritual and always an encourager in such matters, so I was excitedly anticipating the slightest chance that she might still be there, and we could catch up.

I could hear the phone ringing on the other end and then, Hello. It was Kathy! I knew her voice anywhere.

Kathy, it’s me . . . Jack!

There was a pause, and then in a slow and uncharacteristic mellow tone, Oh, Jack, is it really you?

"Yes, Kathy, it’s me. It’s been so long since I’ve talked to you. How are you,