When prayer is a struggle

Hey beautiful people, I hope this post meets you well? As you know I love to share from personal experience, which is exactly what I’ll be doing today, and the chosen topic of focus is prayer…. Prayer is one of the KEY aspects of the Christian faith as it is how we communicate with God. Now I’ll be very honest with you and say that there have been some periods in my life where having this frequent connection with God has been EXTREMELY challenging for a number of reasons, one of which I will explain later on in this post. Lack of harmonious fellowship with God or simply struggling to connect with your Heavenly Father can really get you down in the dumps. I know that such times can be very frustrating which is why I’d like to share some tips with you on how to get through such daunting periods during your faith walk! Also don’t forget that you’re in good company as some of the disciples fell asleep when Jesus asked them to pray with Him (Matthew 26:40). Don’t beat yourself up to the point where you completely distance yourself from God because you’re disappointed in yourself for not praying as you ought to. Simply keep on praying! Pray even when you don’t feel like it.

Lately I’ve repeatedly experienced a sense of heaviness within my soul which made it very difficult for me to pray. My mind felt distracted, I’d find myself lost for words as my brain seemed fogged. I decided to share my dilemma with my mum who also stated that she has experienced such feelings before too. She was able to advice me to lift up a song of praise during such moments and encouraged me to listen to godly music. I cannot stress the importance of selectively sharing your struggles with others enough, as they may be able to help/encourage you. Never hurt alone! Sharing my struggle was a great blessing for me. I personally believe that God can speak to us and encourage us through people as well as through the Bible and nature etc.

Now I’d like to focus on praise for a bit, because I believe that many of us underestimate the power of songs of praise. Singing onto God is also a form of prayer (warfare), it’s a powerful way in which we can bless and worship God, and in doing so we are also blessed by connecting with the King of all kings! Let’s take it back to the Bible which I always LOVE to do, we have an example of praise being a strong weapon during the time the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho and the walls fell down (Joshua 6:1-20). Praise your way through when you don’t have words to say, which I’m sure happens to every believer as Paul stated the Spirit helps us when we don’t know what to pray for (Romans 8:26 ~ ‘And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words’). Praying in tongues helps me a great deal when my mind is lost for words or when distracting thoughts come my way. I know that some believers don’t agree with tongue speaking, but I’d like to encourage every believer to be open to the Holy Spirit, allow Him lead you in prayer (worship).

Finally let me share some biblical reminders as well as some useful tips on how I gear myself up to pray even when I don’t feel like doing so! Here it goes….

1. Our prayers don’t have to be long and repetitive, it’s a heart matter! Quality over quantity. Matthew 6:7 ‘When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again’.

2. Setting aside a specific time in the day to pray helps one form a pattern which they are more likely to stick to! As mentioned before you don’t have to pray for hours and hours, instead it may be easier to pray 2 to 3 times a day for a shorter length of time. For example in the morning, afternoon and evening. God understands that we have our earthly responsibilities and can be busy, but we should still set aside time to speak with Him! Let’s take Daniel as an example, he was made ruler over the whole province of Babylon (Daniel 2:48). He was a busy man dealing with national affairs, working alongside the king. Yet he still found time to pray 3 times a day (Daniel 6:10)! I personally love to pray multiple times a day, as sometimes you just NEED to, especially after encountering a rude individual or to help calm your nerves after multiple cars dangerously cut in front of you (people I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds this SUPER ANNOYING 😀).

3. Something which I find very interesting is that Jesus taught His disciples how to pray (Luke 11:1), He never taught them how to preach! It shows me that prayer is very dear to our Saviours heart and that anyone and everyone can learn how to pray! All we need to do is ask for God to give us the right words to say at the right time!

4. Prayer is something which must be done on a DAILY basis not left to every other day or once a week! The Lord’s Prayer reads ‘Give us this DAY our daily bread’ NOT week or month! (Luke 11:3 Give us each day the food we need). We need some Jesus all day, everyday 😀.

5. Don’t ever forget that prayer is a form of communication! This means prayer involves listening too, we don’t have to do ALL the talking! So have a notebook and pen ready or you can always use your phones note app. This is so you can write down anything which God drops in your heart so you don’t end up forgetting! Beware to turn off your phones notifications or to put your phone on plane mode if your using your phone to make notes in order to limit distractions.

6. Identify any prayer hinderances. In my case working a lot of night shifts (unsociable hours) had a knock on effect on my mood, I felt tired, unwell and exhausted which I’d say had a big impact on my prayer life. Try not to over work and if needs be cut down on your hours for the sake of your physical/mental health and for your family!

7. Use the bible to help you pray by declaring Gods written word over your life! Reading the Bible helps us know God better! And I believe when you know someone better you communicate with them better!

8. Find yourself a prayer partner, or attend church prayer meetings. I believe this is important because corporate prayer is very empowering. Sometimes we just need that extra support and a good way to get that additional help is to pray with others if we struggle to pray alone!

Thanks so much for reading, if you made it to the end well done as I know today’s post was a little longer than usual, but I felt I needed to go into a bit more depth regarding this topic! Prayer is such a vast subject to discuss and I’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg, but I pray that you’re all blessed by reading.

God bless and have a wonderful week.

Love from the

Christian Lady After Gods Own Heart.