why is prayer so difficult?

[existential mabel]

i am not sure if i can post here as yet but i do have a question regarding prayer. i find it so hard to pray. and just cant get beyond the thought that i am talking to myself and anyway God knows all about me so why do i need to tell him? and the thing i need prayer for and have asked other people to pray for me is the anxiety and depression. the locusts have just about eaten their fill of my life. if God cant help with this then at least i can move away and carry on as i am i guess. thanks

Edited February 12, 2016 by existential mabel

[Willa]

Have you ever asked God to forgive you of your sin and received Christ's death on the cross as payment for the death penalty that you deserve for your sins?  He died on your behalf.  Do you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead?  Do you believe that He ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of Father God, and is praying for you?  Do you believe that God loves you that much, that He would send His son to die in your place?  

Do you have a Bible?  I overcame great anxiety and depression but some important things happened in my life.  I knew in my heart I had no hope of heaven.  Only God could help me.  

I asked God to love and forgive others through me.

I came to understand that Christ lives in me by His Spirit, and that He can do through me the things I have no power to do by myself.

I completely surrendered to Christ as my Savior and Lord---all of me just as I am, and not holding any area of my life back.

Then God gave me the tools to overcome.  He started growing love in me for the unlovable by showing me their misery and need. He also gave me tools in the Bible to apply to my situation and help.  One was Philippians 4:4-8  ESV

Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again I say, rejoice!  (It is a decision we make, not an emotion we feel.)

Let your gracious forbearance be know to everyone..  The Lord is at hand.  (He is our ever present help in time of need.)

DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the PEACE of God, which passes all understanding, will (stand) guard (over) your hearts and minds in and through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS.  

 

When you think about those things, and you trust that God has everything under control, the anxiety fades a way.

Having said all of that, sometimes after deaths, divorse or other tragic things in our lives we need short term medical help from a family doctor.  Occasionally counseling from a pastor who counsels with Scripture might help.  But do realize that this, too, shall pass;  there there really is light at the end of the dark tunnel you are in.  

Blessings,

Willa

[Guest Thallasa]

5 hours ago, existential mabel said:

i am not sure if i can post here as yet but i do have a question regarding prayer. i find it so hard to pray. and just cant get beyond the thought that i am talking to myself and anyway God knows all about me so why do i need to tell him? and the thing i need prayer for and have asked other people to pray for me is the anxiety and depression. the locusts have just about eaten their fill of my life. if God cant help with this then at least i can move away and carry on as i am i guess. thanks

I see no one has answered this post yet ,and I understand why .  It would be better if you introduce yourself and maybe ask us to pray for you tellling us why . When we answer and you reply we will get a better idea of how to advise you ,so lets begin again .  You are distressed, and you talk of 'locusts' .??? 

[Reinitin]

5 hours ago, existential mabel said:

i am not sure if i can post here as yet but i do have a question regarding prayer. i find it so hard to pray. and just cant get beyond the thought that i am talking to myself and anyway God knows all about me so why do i need to tell him? and the thing i need prayer for and have asked other people to pray for me is the anxiety and depression. the locusts have just about eaten their fill of my life. if God cant help with this then at least i can move away and carry on as i am i guess. thanks

I'll pray for the anxiety and depression first. It is not really yours it belongs to this world. Father, thank you for our advocate our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus thank you for making intercession on our behalf. Lord your word instructions us to come to you with clean hands and pure heart and make intercession on behalf of all people so I'm following your instruction Lord to ask for this person your peace that is greater then the circumstances troubling their mind. Thank you Lord for taking the burden of the matters that cause the anxiety and worry and giving this person a light in the darkness to see you truely are Lord and you truly do care for us. I have to run some errands. I'll come back and see if I have some insight on why we pray when I get back home. 

[FresnoJoe]

6 hours ago, existential mabel said:

i am not sure if i can post here as yet but i do have a question regarding prayer. i find it so hard to pray. and just cant get beyond the thought that i am talking to myself and anyway God knows all about me so why do i need to tell him? and the thing i need prayer for and have asked other people to pray for me is the anxiety and depression. the locusts have just about eaten their fill of my life. if God cant help with this then at least i can move away and carry on as i am i guess. thanks

Beloved, Because He Adores You

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

He Loved You

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:15

So Call

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Romans 8:15

And Be Blessed

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21

Love, Your Brother Joe

[Marilyn C]

13 hours ago, existential mabel said:

i am not sure if i can post here as yet but i do have a question regarding prayer. i find it so hard to pray. and just cant get beyond the thought that i am talking to myself and anyway God knows all about me so why do i need to tell him? and the thing i need prayer for and have asked other people to pray for me is the anxiety and depression. the locusts have just about eaten their fill of my life. if God cant help with this then at least i can move away and carry on as i am i guess. thanks

Hi mabel,

Nice to meet you & share my thoughts on prayer. Praying, talking to God helps US to hear out own hearts. We need to get thoughts spoken so they are not a jumble of random words. So speak out those sentences or even just one. It takes time to build a relationship of trust & God knows all about you, but is not going to manipulate you. It is a relationship step by step.

So, as I said, start small, one sentence today, a few tomorrow. You`ll begin to see what is in your own heart & then after a while you`ll see what God is revealing to you.

Be patient, be expectant, God is careful.

Marilyn.   

 

 

[angels4u]

On ‎2‎/‎13‎/‎2016 at 1:44 AM, Marilyn C said:

Hi mabel,

Nice to meet you & share my thoughts on prayer. Praying, talking to God helps US to hear out own hearts. We need to get thoughts spoken so they are not a jumble of random words. So speak out those sentences or even just one. It takes time to build a relationship of trust & God knows all about you, but is not going to manipulate you. It is a relationship step by step.

So, as I said, start small, one sentence today, a few tomorrow. You`ll begin to see what is in your own heart & then after a while you`ll see what God is revealing to you.

Be patient, be expectant, God is careful.

Marilyn.   

 

 

Marilyn did you mend to say God is faithful?

[existential mabel]

hello Thallasa thankyou for your reply

I have had anxiety and depression all of my life. My life is just so broken I cant fix it. And I have tried many things. Had people praying for me for the anxiety and depression. Have had healing prayer also over a period of 11 months but it just hasn’t lifted and that was 8 years ago.

 I am unable to hold down a job. And yet a support worker said to me on Friday that he could see nothing wrong with me. Because I didn’t neglect myself and I can communicate well. And later once I got back to my flat I was in utter despair because that just confirmed to me that nobody is able to understand me.

 I need prayer but why do I keep asking for prayer?…I have lost hope a long time ago and really if it wasn’t for my parents then I would probably taken things into my own a hands long time ago. I cant see a future. I live on my own, in an existence I call my life. It’s a kind of suffocating blackness.

 The locusts (anxiety & depression) for me have stripped away any meaningful life. Friendships, relationships, ability to work, ability to better myself with education at college (dyslexia due in part to severe lack of confidence. The dyslexia is with regards to comprehension. In that I find it hard to process what I hear and read. And this explained why I very quickly get information overload. With the spoken or the written word).

 I’ve done my best to ignore it. Which in the real world if people see that i have anxiety/depression then I loose out. Because inevitably the mask slips. So for the most part rather than experience the pain of constant rejection I spend large amounts of time on my own and loose myself in various distractions.

 I have a frequent fear of becoming homeless as my situation could so quickly change and in one sense that would be helpful because I will know what I will do. Because then I really will have absolutely nothing then.

 

S0rry that it is all s0 negative.

[existential mabel]

Hello Marilyn   and yes that is helpful,” Praying, talking to God helps US to hear out own hearts.” My head is so congealed with so much negative stuff. Each day I for the most part fake the positive. But I haven’t managed to get to the bit where you make it.

Mostly it is emotional turmoil/numbness and it doesn’t have a language of words. That’s the flip side of the coin of finding prayer so difficult. How many times can I say “LORD I am depressed/anxious.” Does screaming into a pillow count as talking to God?!

My parents were always too busy or too tired to ever listen to me. And so I grew up with no emotional support and I had to be everything to myself. And that is the biggest difficulty in letting that go.

[FresnoJoe]

Praying~!

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. Jeremiah 17:14