prayer battles

[>> Hannah <<]

has anyone ever experienced or does experience prayer battles?

by this i mean, when you pretty much cant pray because everytime you do, whilst you sending your prayer up, you get an argument, a voice, a contradicting sentance straight back...

for example

heavenly father lay your healing hands upon X ease there pain...

i will hear a voice saying, there gona die anyway...

for example..

lord, forgive me for the sins i have commited today

and the voice will say who you trying to kid your not really sorry...why you wasting ur breath

for example

Lord, guide me today let me be a witness to you in all i do in word, thought and deed

and the voice says you know your gona fail...

Due to this i avoid praying, but when i do so i feel like im fighting a battle as though i have the devil sitting in my brain...

what is this voice...

the devil cant hear my prayers when there spoken in the quietness of my thoughts

also if i do pray afterwards i feel so guilt ridden for the sins i have commited and so guilty for asking for his help when i fail so much.. that i end up self harming...

does anyone really struggle when praying, with thought battles?

[tah]

Yes Hannah,

But I have learned that when a thought comes to me to kick it out..

Have you heard this ...

our minds are lie runways at an airport..

we cannot stop a plane from approaching but we do not have to let it land..

If you stand fast and continue the good fight the thoughts don't come near as often or near as fast..

When I was a teen I had a struggle with something that has never been forgotten..

It was a battle of my mind whether I would accept a thought as mine or rebuke it..

I was at that time not walking with the Lord but living my own way..

I had a terrible thought...it hit me continually moment after moment after moment after moment and I became so frightened that God was going to send me to hell for sure for having such a terrible thought..

for days I kept telling it to go away I don't want this..

I woke up one day and I was free of it..it had gone away....

had I not fought tooth and nail the enemy would have gained ground in my life...

and our carnal mind is at enmity with God...put on the mind of Christ and stand there...

fight the good fight Hannah...keep praying...You will reach the surface .....

You will experience freedom...

[Amhis]

does anyone really struggle when praying, with thought battles?

I have had a similar problem to yours. Not quite like you but the same general idea I think. Mine was the fear of thinking a blasphemous thought about the Holy Spirit. Although I have never had a bad thought like that, something in my mind wanted me to. I would always rebuke it in Jesus' name! It bothered me a lot. I would think, what the heck is wrong with me to have a weird fear of something like that. I kept praying that the LORD would take it away. Although I still fight it sometimes. God made me realize that I could not possibly think a blasphemous thought like that and the problem has all but disappeared. It just took much prayer for GOD to take it away and give me peace about it. HE gave me the strength to know that I could never think a bad thought.

I just love the LORD SO much that I had a fear of doing or thinking something wrong I suppose, and this was the results of it. I can't say if it was the devel's doing this or not, but it sure could have been, but I have the victory though the LORD!

[dakota190]

Hannah,

yes this happens sometimes, not as much as it used to. when it does, i bear down and continue praying, sometimes i will stand up and walk and pray and just talk to the Lord. like i said it does not happen as often as it used to. i struggle daily with somethings, and somedays in my weakness my flesh argues strongly with me. sometimes when i have a really hard time praying or just need more strength in my walk. i will open the Bible to Psalms and find one that inspires me, most of them do, and read it aloud, sometimes really loud, not yelling but with exuberance, then after i feel my spirit grow stronger, i will pray again. it may sound a little strange, but try it sometime.

God Bless!!!

Edited May 26, 2006 by dakota190

[>> Hannah <<]

Hannah, I do not believe your battle is directly with the devil either because as you have already said, you are praying silently so how would he know your thoughts? It sounds more like a battle between your spirit and your flesh. You know that prayer is a good thing and something God wants you to do. At the same time, your intellect is having a problem believing that God will answer your prayers. You also seem to be struggling with the question as to your own sincerity when you are praying for forgiveness for something. There is nothing abnormal about having such struggles, but it is obvious it is not something to be taken lightly since it is greatly hindering your spiritual growth.

The best thing I can tell you is that the Bible counsels us to take every thought captive to the pulling down of strong holds. When such thoughts come, recongize they are lies and cast them away. Next, the Bible says to renew your mind by the washing of the water by the Word. Set aside time each day to read the Bible. Perhaps when you are going through one of these struggles and cannot pray through, you could spend time reading the Bible, maybe in the Psalms. Then try praying again and see if that helps.

God bless.

what you have said has really helped me thank you