Episode 179 - Prayer's Power in the Face of Evil

The thing we call "success" can actually be the biggest distraction.

If you need a reset, save this - and tag someone who’s been running on autopilot lately.

An hour of personal prayer isn't about escaping life.

It's about getting honest before the pressure turns into pain.

You don't need punishment to wake up.

You don't need chaos to become aware.

You need one quiet hour to check your heart, your choices, and your direction.

The wild part? The more intentional you are, the less life has to hit you harder just to get your attention.

Maybe that's why the real work is so simple - and so hard.

What's one thing you wish you checked in on more often?

#thetrustfactorpodcast #PersonalPrayer #JewishWisdom  #Elul  #MindfulLiving

Transcript

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Maybe at this very minute that you're speaking to your creator, a terrorist, evil designs are being foiled. Why? Because of your uh discussion with your creator, because of you distracting him with the goodness that he prefers over the negativity that has to be implemented in the world. It could be some local street cleaner is speaking to the creator of the world, and because of that, some car full of Palestinian terrorists are being discovered across a checkpoint into Israel that happens almost every day. The media doesn't tell you about this because it doesn't jive with their narrative. You know how often these plots are foiled? Why? Because somebody somewhere is speaking to the creator saying, please Reshem, these are your children. This is your world. Please take care of us so that we can continue to do your work. The Trust Factor is a ticket to a better life. The Trust Factor shows you how to get through the night. Good morning and welcome to another episode of the Trust Factory Podcast. On Sunday, we talked about the perfect child, the picture, perfect child that every parent would only dream of having. Who's that child? The one who doesn't wait to be punished, the one who doesn't think that they're smarter than everybody else. The one who doesn't subscribe to this philosophy of sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission. That concept is a secular concept. It might work here. No problem. There are certain situations when you live in a world that is run by men, by flesh and blood, by corrupt policies and bureaucracy and red tape. I get it. There are many times because you understand that there is a sense of urgency, for example, or because you understand that the powers that be don't understand certain nuances, then sometimes, yes, I agree, it makes sense. Do what you need to do for the betterment of you and your family, especially after you've done the soul searching and it's above board. So then you say, okay, better sometimes to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission because you know that the permission either will not come or it will be delayed and therefore would hinder you. But that doesn't apply here. When it comes to spirituality and your relationship with your creator, it's the exact opposite. Who's the one that Hashem loves? It's the child that keeps coming to him to say, I need your help, I need your advice, I need your guidance, I made a mistake today. I went against your teaching. I did the opposite of what you told me to do, and now I'm suffering as a result of it. I need to change. Show me how to change. That was the loving son we talked about that Hashem says. I wish all of my children were like this child. So as a result of that, it says that one who devotes an hour a day to personal prayer is on an even higher spiritual level than a person who accepts his tribulations, his difficulties, his punishments with joy. How can that be? Because that guy, the first guy, who's that loving son, who's constantly doing the introspection, is not looking for the tribulations. It's great that after you've made mistake after mistake after mistake, and now you realize that you're getting punished and there's tribulations as the result of your actions, and you go, okay, I get this. It's coming from a shem, you're holding on a monster level. That's huge. 98% of the population doesn't operate over there. So that's huge. I don't want to minimize that. But but to bridge that gap, the one that blows that one out of the water, it's not even in the same realm, is the child that says, I'm not interested in tribulations. I want to live a life of joy, of bliss, of purpose, of meaning and understanding. I want all of that every single day. I want to fire on all cylinders. I don't want to keep having to claw myself back up and start relearning things. I don't want to have to lick my wounds. I don't want any wounds, and I don't need to have any. Why? Because I could be proactive. I could do that introspection. That's why it says very clearly, just an hour a day of personal prayer puts you on a higher spiritual level than the vast majority of the most righteous people in the world, because you're not waiting for the tribulations. One measure of self-discipline, it says, is more effective than a hundred lashes. You don't need lashes. You don't need punishment. You don't need pain. You don't need suffering. And it doesn't have to be physical lashes, my friends. This can be you and your relationship with your spouse being on the rocks, the ups and the downs, the fights and the difficulties and the challenges, money and when's it going to come? And how come I can never make enough? And how come I can't make ends meet? And so on and so forth. Why am I always in and out of hospitals? Why this? Why that? Those are tribulations. You want to avoid them. An hour of personal introspection every single day. The other day I was out with a group of friends, and I'm just pointing out a simple observation over here. And you'll notice this if you're like me. Most people, especially the young, but even the old, have not bridged the gap of personal introspection on a minute-by-minute basis. What do I mean by that? Being aware of your surroundings, being in the moment, being in the zone. That is so important. That's the crux of Judaism. That's the crux of Torah. That's what's involved in being a Torah Jew, is that I'm aware, not just of what I'm doing and what I'm learning and my creator, but where am I standing right now? Physically. What am I doing right now? Am I in somebody's way? Am I stopping somebody from moving forward? Literally, physically, I mean. Are you aware of your surroundings? When you drive a car, is your head in your lap or are you hyper-focused on a dashboard or something other than your surroundings? Because you're taught when you get your driver's license that you're constantly looking at your mirrors. You know, when you want to be that model driver and you're taking your test, you're supposed to be constantly moving your head. That's what your driving instructor told you, right? You have to look in your rear view mirror and then your side view mirrors, right? You have to look over your shoulder. You're constantly doing that. Why? Not because you're trying to stretch out your neck, because you're trying to be spatially aware. It's very, very dangerous if you're not. It could be a life risk. That doesn't just apply in a car. That applies when you're walking in the street, that applies when you're standing in an islet in a grocery store, that applies when you're talking to somebody at the bank, the teller, that applies to every situation in life. I suggest to you that the very vast majority of humanity are not spatially aware. They're not aware of what they're doing at any given moment and how that might affect their surroundings, including other people, their family members, friends, family, strangers in the store. That person who's constantly aware of other things is the person who is operating in line with Torah values. That's what the book is talking about. The individual who's doing the automatic self-evaluation is aware of the situation, aware of his surroundings, aware of his choices, and is always looking at them physically, emotionally, spiritually. Did I choose right? Am I in tune with what's happening around me? The whole world could be falling apart. You could be getting all kinds of signals to say, this is your problem. Stop doing it. Look here. But you're not. Why? Because you're hyper-focused, and there's a reason for that. Let's get into it a little bit. We'll read and you'll see where that comes from. All those distractions, they're there for a reason. This is not damning evidence. This is not me calling people up, making people feel bad. There is a very good reason for it. Listen, an hour of personal prayer and soul searching is so cogent that it can protect the entire world. Listen to this. Rabbi Nachman of Baslov says, how do we allow God to bring harsh decrees into the world? We must call him away from all of his other tasks. How do you call him away? How do you distract him from doing, God forbid, eking out punishment to people who are definitely deserving of it? We must draw him away from decreeing harsh decrees in the world. We must tell him to put everything else aside and listen to us. We need his attention. We want to ask him to draw him close. When a person wishes to speak to the creator, he sets aside everything else. He stops doing what he's doing and he focuses on you. That's what he says. Evil decrees are set aside at the time. The creator puts everything aside and only listens to the person seeking his proximity. This happens at scale. So the more people who are praying and connecting back to the creator, the more he's busy doing good for them, which means he's less busy doing the bad, the people who are deserving and employing these evil decrees in the world. What does this mean? That any person, man, woman and child, it doesn't matter whether you are the most righteous or, God forbid, the most wicked. You have a right, a right, not a potential opportunity here and there a few times a year. You have a right to be able to speak to your creator, to approach him and speak to him. Not only that, but he'll listen. And it says, who knows? Maybe this very minute that you're speaking to your creator, a terrorist or some tyrant's evil designs are being foiled. Why? Because of your discussion with your creator, because of you distracting him with the goodness that he prefers over the negativity that has to be implemented in the world. It could be some local street cleaner is speaking to the creator of the world. And because of that, some car full of Palestinian terrorists are being discovered, crossing a checkpoint into Israel that happens almost every day. The media doesn't tell you about this because it doesn't jive with their narrative, but all the time you see these online if you're looking for them. Cars being pulled over at these terrible checkpoints that everybody complains about. It's an open-air prison. Oh, really? Well, maybe they should stop hiding in cars with bombs and munitions and arms in order to go and commit terrorist attacks, trying to do everything they can to sneak in, dressing up as religious Jews, wearing kipas on their heads, putting the driver in there, teaching them a little bit of Hebrew, and hoping and praying that they'll get through so that they can come in and slaughter innocent lives. That happens. You don't even hear about it. Do you know how often these plots are foiled? Why? Because somebody somewhere is speaking to the creator, saying, please Hashem, these are your children. This is your world. You run the show over here. Please take care of us so we can continue to do your work. When you're doing that, you're bringing his attention to the good and taking it away from the bad. Could there be anything more meaningful or more ideal than speaking to the king of the world? We're now in Elul, there is an idea that says that the king is in the field. The Melech Basade, the king is in the field. What does that mean? It means if you're trying to get to Donald Trump, you need his ear, and you want to get into his Oval Office, good luck. Most people, their entire life, do not walk anywhere close to the Oval Office. So you think you'll be smart and you'll book a tour of the White House, and when you get there, then you'll get into his office. It doesn't work that way. You could be there as often as you want. You would be extremely fortunate to be able to bump into the president. And even if you did, who says you would have his ear? When is the best opportunity for you to bump into the president when he's traveling between locations, going from destination to destination? I just saw a video the other day of a couple of people. I'm not sure where they were going. A couple of guys were trying to get to a maybe it was a press conference or a rally or something like that that the president was going to, and they couldn't book a flight. The flights were sold out. They happened to run into the president. They had his ear for a minute, and they asked him about going to this event. And it turns out that the president invited them on Air Force One to fly to this event. Do you understand? Your best opportunity to get to your creator's ear is when he's traveling, which means when he's coming down to us now, he's in closer proximity. That's what it says throughout the month of Alula. Shem is closer to us. So it's much easier for you to get him now that he's in the field and have his attention. Who wouldn't want that? Imagine that the leading and most prestigious matchmaker in the world, the one who puts people together that are rock solid, and you're looking for a mate, and now you have an opportunity for an hour conversation to put your best foot forward with this matchmaker. Who wouldn't take it? Imagine getting an hour's opportunity to sit with Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, a trillionaire, the first trillionaire on planet Earth. You can now have dinner with him for an hour. Imagine that. Some other billionaire who's there to help you. Who would be too lazy to meet such a person? Imagine giving a sick person the opportunity to seek the advice of the world's leading doctor. You have somebody who, God forbid, a billion times has brain cancer, and now you're dealing with the number one brain cancer surgeon on planet Earth, and you can speak to him and pick his brain and get every single bit of information that you need in order to survive. Who wouldn't take that opportunity? Hour of solitary personal prayer is an hour with the all-powerful king and the master of the world, physician of all flesh, in whose loving hands are life, livelihood, and soulmate or anything else that we need exists. Speaking to the creator is one-stop shopping for all of our aspirations. You don't need to go to the billionaire for money, you don't need to go to the doctor for healing. You don't need to go to the matchmaker to find yourself a spouse. You need to stop one hour a day and connect back to your creator and ask for all of the things that you need. And wait. Just because you don't get them doesn't mean that he's not listening. It means that the answer is for now, no. It's not something that you need right now. We've talked about this. If I gave you the money today, it would sink you, it would cause more harm than good. If I gave you a spouse today, you wouldn't have the opportunity to develop your character to the point that it needs to be before I set you up for the rest of your life. So keep working on yourself. There is a time and place for everything. Have patience. These are the things that you tell your children. If you're a good parent, these are the things that you tell your kids. When your kid tells you that he wants to be a millionaire, you say, okay, God willing, one day you'll be a millionaire. I want to be able to buy this, that, and the other thing. One day you'll have money and you can decide what you want to buy. Have patience. Everything comes at its time. That's exactly what we have to operate like, even though we're not children. We forget these basic principles. We do, because we start to achieve, we start to earn, we start to be the maker of our own destiny, so to speak, in our own eyes at least, especially when we're being diluted by the environment around us to think that it's all us. And so we forget that we're not entitled to everything. And now is not the right time for everything. That everything comes in its time. So why? Why does this happen? Why isn't everybody there talking to their creator? That's the obvious question. If it's so amazing, if it's the secret to success, if he has everything and all we need to do is ask, then why isn't everybody doing it? And why are there so many obstacles to something so beautiful and so natural? And just to give you an idea of what the answer is, it's the evil inclination that exists in order to sink us. He is our nemesis, our archenemy. He is the one that we need to fight every single hour of every single day. And he's been around a lot longer than we have, and he's seen many stronger than we are, including people like King David. Why do you think God loves King David's Psalms so much? He says, totally, Torah Pika, he says, your Torah, the poetry and the love that comes out of your mouth, if you read Psalms of Ratehilim, it's packed full of love letters to a creator. It's it's King David, the most powerful man, running around with a monster army slaughtering anybody in his way, puts all that aside and becomes completely irrelevant and lowers himself and pleads and begs and says to Hashem, I can't do anything. I'm nothing without you. Dust and ashes, what am I? Zero. I can't function without you. That's why Hashem says, Your Torah is beautiful to me. It's more precious than any other material item in the world. It's the evil inclination he plays on everybody, King David and everybody else, including me and you. That's his job. He knows that it's the ultimate expression of a Munna and the fulfillment of our very purpose on earth. And his job is to stunt your growth and to make sure that you do not achieve that purpose. He knows that a person who performs daily personal prayer will overcome the obstacles and difficulties of life in this world. And for that reason, the evil inclination does his utmost to weaken a person and discourage him from doing any solitary personal prayer because he knows that this is the key. Because he knows that this is your road to success. He wants to divert your attention and he will do everything he can to make sure that you're not paying attention. He'll inundate you with work, he'll make you a multi-billionaire, he will give you all of the attention, the fame, and the fortune. He will do everything that you need to distract you from doing the things that you should be doing that are going to give you real, meaningful, lasting success. That's his job. He's good at it. But we can be even better, and we'll talk about that tomorrow. Have an amazing day. Thank you for spending time with us on the Trust Factor Podcast. If you've heard something today that moved you, save this episode and share it with someone who might need to hear it. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming conversations that challenge, empower, and uplift. And if you're on social media, connect with us. Leave your thoughts, drop a quote that resonated with you. Hashtag the TrustFactor Podcast. Until next time, keep growing in your trust and keep living with purpose. I'm Jesse Revivo, and this has been the Trust Factor Podcast. Thanks for listening.