I pray...and there is no answer...why?

Question

My school studies & grades are declining sharply yet I maintain the same study habits as last year which earned me a 4.0 gpa as a freshman in high school. Yet for some reason, my luck has been failing and I'm getting grades that are below 90-80's. I hate to see my parents disappointed because they had extremely high hopes for me. I also want to be the very best I can be... I've been praying to God to help me concentrate and focus on the task at hand... yet nothing seems to be getting better. I try to maintain a positive attitude, but it just won't last... Is God angry at me? Is this some sort of test that tests my faith? What is God's plan for me? What if I don't like it... What can I do to improve myself and draw a closer relationship with God. I can't seem to listen to him anymore through my ignorance and frustration. What do I do?

Answer 1

God is not upset with you. His answers are answerd in the most mysterious ways. He will give you his answer in precious time.

Answer 2

There are already some really good answers here. Well, I noticed some of the same signs you describe during my third year of college way back when, and later on I found out some family members were struggling with things that I didn't know about. Sometimes you pick up on other people's spiritual vibrations, and that affects you even though you aren't aware of it. Sometimes a new study group or set of people around you can help out with the positive energy thing. For example, if it wasn't for the brainpower of a very nice Catholic girl, I would not have made it through honors calculus. In the meantime, I found out that I have a very right-brained approach to life, and I would never be a scientist or mathematician, so the "hard" classes were also teaching me something about what field I would really be going into eventually (music). It may be that what you are focusing on is not yet completely developed yet. To draw closer to God, it may take a new level of commitment and sacrifice. Try fasting on a Sunday (but drink water, as needed) and do your best to get adequate physical and spiritual rest.

Answer 3

First, now is a great time for you and everyone around you to catch on that you have great value with or without your 4.0 GPA. I'd hate to see you be a nervous wreck all of your life, high blood pressure, etc., always trying to beat your colleagues and friends. (Do you know that the "B" people actually make more money? Thank God for this chance to learn how to relate to them!)

Now, take a deep breath (quit bossing God) and do some serious relaxing. Take some time (at least a half hour every day, and a Whole 24 Hours on the 7th day!) to get to know Him better, not just try to figure out how to push his buttons.

Praise Him. (Psalm 100:4) Ask forgiveness. (James 5:16 ) It sounds as though you may be Jewish. Picture the tabernacle, with yourself entering in, right into where the light and bread are. First you praise God at the gate, then ask forgiveness at the altar, then get cleaned up and improved at the "laver." Now go in, in power! Those "facts" you're learning, many of them are going to change with time. What's valuable now is the Process. You're learning to work with God and reality, and to believe in life and love.

Answer 4

1. Luck is a belief in magia, be careful that you are not intermingle the two.

2. Sometimes the best prayer is to start from another point of understanding, Are we reall gratefu for the good already received?
If so then we must avail ourselves of the blessings we have,and thus be fitted to receive more. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.
Search your heart that you are truly grateful to God for that which you have already received.

3. Remember, that thoughts unspoken are not unknow to God. Desire is pray,and no lost can occure from trusting God.

4. God has already supplied you with all the knowledge you need, the answeres to all your questions are already there for you ......all you need to do is KNOW this for a fact, and avail yourself of Gods many many blessings he still has in store for you.

Then I might add this, you cannot condemn yourself, for in saying such things as, ignorance is to condemn yourself, you are God creations and what did he say of his beautiful, smart, wonderful child....that he created you and saw you were perfect.

Know that God will not angry at you, for he loves you and with that love it come uncondictional. As for the positive attitude, that too is a bit like depending on a souce outside of God, lean wholeheartly on God, know that all the knowledge that he possesses is your to find and to hold too. Pray for the right course, not for your self glorification, or to please mom and dad, pray to please and be the most that your Father in Heaven wants you too be, and know that the pathway he has for you is the pathway you can take with total assurance that it will be for the glorication of Him that made you.

Answer 5

I suggest that you 1) get a tutor and 2) go see the school counselor. You could have depression; it sounds like you do. I doubt the problem is that God's angry at you. You might want to get some extra exercise and eat and sleep well. This sounds more like a physical problem, rather than a spiritual one. Just ask God to give you strength and support you as you seek help with whatever it is that's making life difficult right now.

Answer 6

God hears your prayers. It might not be in His will to answer your prayers right now. I had a point in my life that I prayed for 2 years for God to bring me a boyfriend. And yes I was selfish. God didn't answer my prayers right away. I am glad He didn't. I am now married and have been for a year now. God knows the desire of your heart and knows you want to do better. Just keep praying and draw closer to the Lord while you pray. He might just have a plan for you that you have no idea about right now. Just keep your head up.

Answer 7

Perhaps you have the wrong motive for your prayers.

"What ought to be out motive for prayers? The Bible answers that question plainly and explicitly in I Corinthians 10:31, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Here we are told distinctlythat in everything we do, even in our eating and drinking, the glory of God should be our main object in doing it. If that is true of the simplest duties of everyday life, it certaintly must be true of our praying. Our supreme motive in our prayers should be that God may be glorified by answering our prayers;" (1)

Do this and study his word. A breakthrough will come.

Answer 8

Keep plugging away. The courses you are taking are getting harder and more complicated. Don't panic! My daughter's grades were like yours, she even had one teacher that told her to choose a different college because she wouldn't make it. Today she is a doctor. God is not angry at you and the plan will unfold year by year. Keep your faith. Calm down and put it in his hands. Read the book of Job.

Answer 9

It's highly questionable whether prayer works at all. A new and extensive study of prayer is covered in the current issue of Skeptic magazine.

I would advise you to improve study habits, for starters. Some teachers are harder than others. Some are just plain dag-nasty evil.

Answer 10

You might want to go to a student counsel adviser to help you with the change, in your school curriculum. (tutoring)
Also, think about as you age, you body chemistry changes and hormones can effect every part of our body even our emotional responses to a situation.... even things such as our intelligence that takes concentration... so it may just be a physical response to a natural phase of you body changing...talk with a mentor ie. parent or older friend someone whom may understand where you are in life and what you are feeling... someone to help you keep your goals at this time in your life in perspective... if you don't say where you're having problems you can't expect to be understood...

Answer 11

This has nothing to do with God being angry with you. It sounds to me like you might just need to push yourself a little harder. You say you've maintained the same study habits. But sometimes, to excel, you have to push yourself even harder than you're currently pushing. This means you'll have to study harder and longer. Believe in yourself and compete with yourself. You can do it! Good luck!