I used to feel silly praying.
{clears throat}
Dear God, it’s me. So yesterday I had a few things that were heavy on my heart…
Do you ever feel silly praying?
If Zack + I are praying together in the evening, we pray out loud as a couple. But when it’s just me + the LORD talking, it sounds a bit different. I pray quietly in my heart. It seems more intimate that way, like I can really take my time + clear every last ounce of weight on my shoulders.
…but you already knew that. You ask us to come to You with open hands, to give you the yucky stuff, to make room in our lives to receive your blessings. So this heavy on my heart thing, I felt like I was alone in the situation and it was hard. I mean, I know you were with me, but physically on Earth, I felt alone. Do you think I handled it the right way?
Sometimes when I pray I spend more time giving thanks.
Other times when I pray I ask God for things. Umm, like very specific things.
I used to feel like it was weird to ask for something specific {will God think that’s rude?}, but after I spent some time reflecting on this + seeking counsel from others I realized that doing so is such a good way for us to know if God is answering our prayers.
Does what I’ve sent to God through prayer seem to get easier? Harder? No change? Do I feel contentment?
And then there’s the question, am I being quiet enough during my prayer time to really hear God?
{pauses to let the weight of my feelings fall off my shoulders} You LORD, more than anyone else, knew I was going to feel this way. And I also know You know how this heavy on my heart thing will dissipate. And LORD, that is such a relief. I sit here before you and give you my hard heart things.
Prayer is an opportunity to come before the LORD with a humbled heart.
“For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted,” Luke 18:14b NIV
And a humbled heart is birthed by spending time in prayer.
“Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly. A heart at peace gives life to the body, but even rots the bones,” Proverbs 14: 29-30 NIV
Thank you LORD, ohhhhh thank you thank you, for this life you have given me. Thank you for giving me a heart that cares. Thank you for opening it up to love others fierce. And thank you for patience. But may I request something from you? Please send an extra shot of patience if you have a spare laying around. I think I’ll be needing it.
Tagging along to Raechel’s post on Thursday, I really don’t think God sits in Heaven with a checklist of how we pray, how often we pray, or how long our prayers are. I think we are the ones who add a checklist to our lives, and specifically to our prayer lives. {Goodness, I love a solid checklist, I’ll admit it.}
God wants us to speak to Him, to be in communion with Him, to call on Him as a friend.
And He also wants us to spend time enjoying the quietness of life, so that we can discern when our prayers are being answered.
Also God? Thank you for letting me be me.
Amen.
What does your prayer life look like? Is there something with prayer you struggle with? Do you feel like you are in a good place, when you come before the LORD to pray? Share with us below!
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31 thoughts on "on prayers, a humbled heart + discernment."
I feel that I dont have a peaceful place to be able to talk to God because I am forever distracted by my children. When I do want me time someone is always crying or arguing.. I mean the list goes on. I can be at work and I can never get a peace of mind. The only time I may have is in the car when i am at peace for prayer and to reflect on me.
So incredibly glad I found this site..I have felt for the longest time there was a void in my life. yet I coud not figure out what it was…I have a wonderful husband, two beautiful daughters, a new house….what could I possibly be missing?? I felt that God had been trying to "work" on me and I continued to push him aside for my busy life, what others may think, because I was ignorant to his Word…Not anymore, I am ready and willing to commit and learn…I am so excited for this new journey I am beginning and so glad I have found all you wonderful ladies!!
I journal my prayers – it keeps me focused in a way that just praying in my head or out loud can't do. Plus, I always feel so weird when I pray out loud and I'm the only one around! Lately I've seen my prayers becoming more blatantly honest in my journal – spare, "this is the way it is and yeah I know I'm wrong but what do I do?" type of things. I think this is a good thing.
The quietness of life…I do need to spend more time there. Thank you for this, and thank you for facilitating this awesome site and following to read truth. It's an answer to prayer in itself.
I love reading everyone’s comments and sharing. Don’t come up here enough although am participating in the plan. I love all the suggestions and that pray acronym. I have trouvle getting alone and quiet with God as well. I also sometimes feel awkward and unsure what to say to God ssometimes. My mind tendsn to go blank. Going to try that pray acrohnym and other suggestions.
I just have to say that I can't tell you all how blessed I feel having found this forum. I am loving having a group that I can check back in with & read over their thoughts after reading through the same Bible Study. I'm at a point in my life where I just really really needed this & I can't get over the confirmations the Lord has provided to me through the last few days. Especially today's. Things get tough in the business of our lives, but when we take the time to realize we can just "chat" with God at any time, which is usually what I end up doing throughout my entire day, it's such a comfort. Not to say i don't set aside my time to Praise, Repent, Ask, Seek (that was the acronym I learned & like to loosely go by), but just knowing the Holy Spirit is right there any time I am ready to accept & talk & be guided, is amazing.
We are leaving in a few weeks for a cruise in Alaska. I am so filled with excitement to see and feel the wonder and awe of God's creation. The problem is…I feel a need to find the same awe in the world around me, it is all God's creation. I feel plauged by this, why is it that I can find that kind of peace while watching the waves at the ocean, listening to the wind in the trees while on mountain tops, watching blooming flowers in the open desert, and the twinkling of the night sky, but I cant find it in the every day blessings of my intimate little world.
As I learn more every day about prayer I am continously humbled by how truly blessed I am to have a God who loves me so very much, that wants me to have a relationship with him, who has given me the people and things that make my life, mine (even the trail of Ants accross my table…) I pray that we all can find the courage, to commune with our Maker, as we are, where we are at, with humble hearts full of praise!
I personally feel weird praying out loud. I think sometimes I just pray with my heart or just talk to God in non-complete sentences so saying it out loud just feels weird.
It may also have something to do with not liking to speak in public….like when we are in a bible study and kinda going around the room praying, I feel like I'm praying for the benefit of everyone else and have a hard time focusing on praying to God.
I agree completely. I feel like its for everyone else too. It turns an intimate conversation into a show.
Yes! I'm so glad I'm not the only one!
Me too… I don't like public speaking in general & I really really really dislike praying out loud in front of others. It feels really fake for me personally. Especially if it's a written prayer that I'm having to follow… I'm sure others can pray out loud & have it still be real, but for me, it's not.
I have a hard time trusting God with the prayers I speak. I am in the midst of some life choices that I know God is in control of but have a difficult time leaving them at the feet of God. I want to continue to worry about them, try to figure them out, even to the point of continued frustration and bitterness. Today’s Scripture (Eph 4:31) #detoxforthesoul reminds me that all those things are toxic to my life. I know what I have learned from God’s Word about anxiety, patience, and joyfulness; I must be willing to apply what I have been taught (Prov 28:9 #prayer #day5 #shereadstruth).
I am so thankful the Lord placed #shereadstruth in my life
I think I struggle in the opposite way…I don't have trouble talking to God inside my head, but praying out loud…I can't seem to form a coherent thought! It's like I forget who I'm talking to, and I'm more concerned about what the people listening are thinking of me than the fact that I'm talking to God. I try to avoid praying out loud as much as possible as a result, but I would like to be able to pray out loud in a group setting, like the youth group my husband and I work with. If anyone has suggestions for me, I'd love to hear them!
Yes, camps, vacations……….are all fun. The Lord blesses with these wonderful times to grow and see His beauty of creation. However, as my son said when he came home from camp one time. He had no idea that it would be such a "let down" when he came back to real life. You have a week of everyday filled with activities geared to help you grown and have fun. Then you come home and……….you are on your own. But NOT so. That is where we as Christians step it up and disciple and help those that have come from a "high" and keep them high!! That is our job here on this earth is kick in the gates of hell!!! Kristi=I encourage you to keep on keepin' on. Don't get discouraged=for that is what satan wants. Get involved in a good youth group or Bible study and meet someone to help you along. I will be praying for you Kristi. Hang in there.
Yes, I agree. Definitely agree with your son, although I did not mean it in a way that it is not fun anymore, I can just tell that as you grow older Satan find many more things to tempt you with and the world becomes a harsher place – or at least I feel like as your eyes are opened as an adult. When I was a kid I feel like I was sheltered to a lot of situations/experiences. I definitely agree it is out job on earth to kick the gates of Hell and keep each other positive and atitudes thankful, humble, excited, etc. Thank you for your encouragement. I have actually not been attending a church for about 6 months because well I'm not real sure why, but the church I was attending the singles group (I'm 25) was very conservative and judgemental so it was hard for me to feel like I could be open and vulnerable and real. SO now, probably in the last two months, I have been attending a church with my family, but its still hard to feel like I am connected to a group of people.
While I was in college, I was apart of a youth group and was in many Bible studies – I was disconnected for about a year and then got hooked up with some bible studies at the church I was attending before the one now. Anyway, definitely been a rough couple of years. Thank you for the prayers, bet you didn't know you were going to open that can of worms haha. Thanks again!!
Nancy, I love your ACTS and FROGS – I'm going to use them!!! THanks for sharing.
Ps. I am new to this blog – so thankful I found it and so thankful for people that are open to sharing their real thoughts and feelings about things, especially since I do not have a lot of Christian friends and I don't feel safe to openly chat about these things with other people.
Man, I just want to say that when youre attending youth camps and church when youre younger being a Christian is FUN! It looks like a lot of fun! No one told me it was going to be SO hard (how naive, right?) LOL does anyone else get me????
Having a busy home with children and phones ringing and what else can make it difficult for us moms to settle in and have our quiet time with our Lord and Savior. It is something that I have to do though. I usually arise early (5:30ish) and have my quiet time then. That is the only time the house seems quiet!!! I try also to go by ACTS: A=Adore C-Confess T=Thanksgiving S=Supplication. I end my time with FROG: F=forever R=relying O-On G=God!!!!!!!!!!!
I think sometimes we ourselves make prayer more complicated than it has to be. I know I have been personally guilty of this. I heard a preacher say once, "Your prayers do not have to be lofty to reach God's ears." It seems a lot of us fear we are saying the wrong thing, and I honestly do not believe that is possible when we are talking to our heavenly father. God desires to hear from us. Wether you write them, sing them, do it silently or speak it out loud, all God wants is to hear from you.
Mere, I loved that PRAY acronym, I’ve never heard that before! Especially how the last part is “yield”. What a great posture to close a prayer, kind of a “palms open eyes up surrender” mind-set. It gives me the sense of God being in control of my actions and thoughts. Thanks!
A lot of the time I journal my prayers too. It helps me to stay focussed and I like having a book I can flip through to remember where I was, what I was thinking, what I was talking to God about – and how He answered. I feel really awkward praying out loud – I used to be super invovled in youth ministry and it was second nature to just pray out loud but since I've been away from it for a few years, I even feel awkward praying out loud in front of just my husband. Like I'm saying the wrong things or something ….
I've settled into following a sort of outline or easy acronym when I pray (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield). I know it's not something I HAVE to do, and if for some reason I deviate from the "plan", it's no big deal, and God certainly does not care. That said, I find that it helps me from just rattling off a list of things that I want God to do for me and/or for others, and to change my focus during prayer from me to God.
Also, I write down prayers in a journal rather than praying silently. For me, that's what works best (especially in the case of having a 2 year old and never knowing when you may be interrupted). But, there's no right way or wrong way to do it!
I'm a HUGE acronym fan! HOPE= Hold On Pray Everyday is my favorite right now. I LOVED your PRAY one & am going to use it each time I pray :) I too have a prayer journal. I love looking back over the years & seeing how God answered my prayers, especially when He answered them beyond belief! I have a lounge chair in my backyard that I retreat to, to have my prayer time. Now that my boys are older, they know when they see me out there that I'm praying & not to disturb me.
One of my favorite additions to my prayers is meditation. I'll talk to God first (which I agree feels super awkward & silly at times). A lot of times journaling helps me; I've always felt more comfortable writing so I guess it's only natural that I'm more open & honest when I write God a letter. Meditating after I pray really helps me to still my mind, heart and soul and just listen to what He's telling me. It's soo easy to just rattle off a laundry list of needs/wants and even throw a few praises in there and then check out without listening for a response. I've also found that since I've started meditating nightly I hear His voice more during the day too. It's like I tune in to the right frequency before I go to sleep. When I wake up, I'm still tuned in.
I struggle with feeling like I'm bringing a laundry list of needs to him. The back of my prayer journal has an entire page of things/ministries/people that I'm invested in and want to pray for daily but that is a lot of asking! I'm trying to just remind myself that it is one way to pour out myself for the benefit of others and God doesn't see it as me being greedy but as a sacrifice of love for those He's put in my path.
I spend some time in NY in the summers and am always with people while I'm there. One thing that works for me when I can't have alone time is to journal my prayers. It helps focus my attention and if I get distracted, I have a record of where I was at before the distraction. Because of this, God and I have had some pretty incredible conversations when I'm completely surrounded by people on the subway. It feels so intimate.
Getting alone with God and praying (thanking Him, praising Him, asking for help for others and for direction in my own life) is fairly easy for me. In fact I consider interceding through prayer on someone else’s behalf to be one of my spiritual gifts. It is when I am asked to pray in a group setting that I become tongue tied and start stumbling over words. I am worrying more about whether or not I am sounding eloquent enough rather than just pouring my heart out to Him. (We all know those women who seem to pray beautifully, words rolling effortlessly off their
tongues!)
On another note, my friend and I recently joined your study and we are having some confusion on how to join a community and also on where to read the daily posts. (or is there only a weekly post?) From reading some of the comments, it looked as though a few others were confused as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated. We are enjoying your study. Thank you for starting this!
A friend passed this along to me and I am grateful. I needed to hear this!
I think my biggest struggling is just finding a quiet place to be still and not distracted by anything and everything. I, like you, feel like i pray often in the midst of other things but i hardly feel like i can get away from the hustle and bustle to really just be in God's presence. I tried to do this while house sitting this weekend for a friend. She has a nice back yard with a pool so i took advantage of this scenery and took out my Bible and began to read and pray. But my friend lives on a busy street so i was distracted by all the traffic. I know that God hears me and sees me struggle through my quiet time but i believe that I NEED more out of my quiet time with the Lord.
I have struggled with this. I always feel like I'm rambling on & on & not saying the right thing. I feel like I have to pray reeeeally slowly in order to FEEL it enough for him to hear. I wonder if I'm speaking from my HEART enough or if I'm just thinking in my head. I have found that one way that helps me feel like I'm really talking to him is picturing the Holy Ghost being with me all the time, hanging out next to me… but when I'm praying, the Holy Ghost is HUGGING me, surrounding me. Like, "I'm right here, you can talk to me". Just thinking of it this way helps me, even if it's really weird.
I love this picture of having God's arms wrapped around me as I pray. I usually picture Him on His throne. Thanks for sharing this. It is a game changer!