Bit of an issue?

Question

I used to pray every day as a child, but stopped doing it in my early teens; now that I am in my late teens I've returned to the faith. The problem is that I cannot establish any real connection to God through prayer. I believe that He exists, but it feels pretty much like I'm talking to a wall. Does anyone have some advice?

Answer 1

I will pray for you. One thing that is helpful is when I begin praying, I just spend some time quietly trying to prepare myself for an encounter with God. Just open your mind and your heart. Prayer can be a wonderful thing. The holy spirit is the one who intercedes for us. Pray that the holy spirit would convict you of sins that haven't been made known to you and pray that the spirit would guide you as you pray. My other advice is to really get into the word and study it. The more you learn about Him, the more rewarding your prayer time is because you get to know the One you are praying to and talking to. I also love to worship before I pray. Just sing a song you know and really think about what it's saying. God wants to speak with you and He will...just pray. There is no one way to do it. It's a unique relationship you have with your Creator. Just praise Him for who He is and let him know you love Him. He knows what is in your heart. I'm praying for you. God bless.

Answer 2

Praying alone is like being all alone to. Think of your prayer life, as if this was your private time with the Lord God. When you can, try to be at a church with other believers to possibly hear other prayers and testimonies. It of course is normal in Christianity to not hear an answer to prayer, just your own inner voice. If we got a reply, many could not handle it. Your faith is knowing that you do pray in Jesus name and you believe. No one knows the will of God in your life, what you pray for today may never be addressed in a visual way, but that doesn't mean your prayer was not heard and it wasn't answered.

Answer 3

I understand the frustration you feel. I have been a Christian for many years. Many times when we feel we have hit a wall there is usually some unconfessed sin that God wants to deal with. Sin in an unconfessed state hinders our prayers. Quietly sit and search yourself. Press in, keep pressing do not give up. Read the word of God and get the word of life in you. You can even pray the scriptures if you don't know what to say. Open up to Psalms and pray the words out loud for you life. Humble your self as God does resist pride. Trust me He knows we are humans and there is nothing so bad you can't tell God. I will pray for you, I have been there too.

Answer 4

ACTS- this acronym is used to help form prayers.
A- Adoration: acknowledge God and who He is, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Friend, my Lord, stuff like that
C- Confession: any sins? ask for forgiveness from Him, by confessing your sins, and ALSO telling Him you'll repent of them (do them no more)
T- Thanksgiving: Thank God for all the blessings you have, for everything He has given you, or for anything in general he has made
S- Supplication: anyone who needs prayers? (spiritually or physically sick or traveling)
also, 1 Thess. 5:17 says "Pray without ceasing." this should help. also, Daniel prayed three times a day, even though he was thrown into a fiery furnace for disobeying the king, and he still was saved! basically don't let yourself talk to a wall, if it helps, write your prayers like you're writing a journal to yourself. then you can read it later if you need to, or it might not feel like a wall so much anymore! =)

Answer 5

You do not truly believe in what you are doing!

Do you live your faith? Do you read about it both historically and from the Bible?

From the Bible point: GOD gave Humans a free will! Not even thru prayer will GOD make someone love someone else! That takes away the free will of the person!

Neither did GOD make humans love HIM, again, that would take away the free will. Neither does HE run behind us cleaning up the mess we make, that would imply that he mad a mistake when He created us.

Every situation on earth exists because, humans with their free
will chose to create what ever situation. TOO, humans can change it.

GOD hears your prayers, He answerer's them with HIS solution, not necessarily yours, in His time, not necessarily when you want it.

If GOD answered every ones prayer, regardless of merit, when people wanted it, then humans would not do anything for themselves, too, they would make a bigger mess than we now do!

Answer 6

What religion are you? Prayers tell on you. The way you pray has a lot to do with yourself and your repentance. Say what you feel in your heart and communicate with God as if He were your close, personal friend. That's what I do.

Answer 7

Aside from prayer, where else around you do you see God? Do you see Him in the world around you, or is He more of an "uninvolved" third person? I find sometimes that if I stop working so hard on doing certain things "because I'm supposed to" and focus more on remembering why I was drawn to my faith in the first place, that I find it easier to re-connect.

I don't know if it works that way with Christianity.

Answer 8

Prayer is a two-way communication... have you ever tried listening. I'm not talking about some ghostly voice, but God often communicates through the church, the bible, even friends and family. The Bible says the reason you don't hear is you don't belong. I'm not suggesting your not a believer but you do need to figure out how best to listen to God. I believe He is answering your prayers and trying to communicate.

Answer 9

Many times we want to feel God in our lives to give us the assurance that He is with us. The bad part about that is we tend to go by feelings and they change like the weather. God never Changes. I would start by reading the book of John in the New Testament. When you read it ask God to show you thing about Him. The more you spend time with God the more you will know and not feel that He is in your heart. John is the best place to start that relationship with God. I am praying for you.

Answer 10

Think of prayer as an actual conversation between God and yourself. Tell him the truth of your heart and you will recieve the answer he tells you.