James Aladiran: ‘The more entertained you are in the flesh, the more bored you will be in the spirit’

The leader of Prayer Storm on wimpish prayers, speaking in tongues with his ten-year-old and the incomparable joy of learning to commune with God

James Aladiran looks at me expectantly. “Have you ever spent three hours praying, looked at the time and it was only 15 minutes?” he asks. I smile nervously, not wanting to admit that, despite my best intentions, my experiences of prayer are usually the exact opposite.

Interviewing Aladiran is in equal parts intimidating and inspiring. The half-Nigerian, half-Ghanaian missionary kid who was born in Liberia and moved to the UK aged 17 is everything you’d expect from someone who runs a prayer movement. He spends the half-hour car journey to school each day praying in tongues with his ten-year-old. He unapologetically teaches his children that too much TV dulls the spiritual senses, instead encouraging them to spend time with Jesus every morning before brushing their teeth. And they all actually do it. When I ask him why we find it hard to sit still in the presence of God, he doesn’t pull any punches. “Prayer can be challenging on our flesh,” he tells me. Even church leaders mistake a few minutes of “wimpish” prayer for an actual prayer meeting, he says.