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I went to pray tonight in interseccory prayer and when I tried to pray I was at a loss for words and I told God in exsaperation I just do not know what to say to you, how to react to you, how to beleive in you when you don't answer prayers that are important or even urgent in matter. What do you do when this happends to you as a beleiver in God.

Note: athiests I have nothing against you put please dont be mean and tell me that there is no God and that God is a fairytale.

I need answers to help me through this time I have been going through 8 months now.

2007-09-10 17:49:54 · 31 answers · asked by encourager4God 5 in Society & Culture Religion & Spirituality

I do pray, I read my Bible, I have a personal relationship with God but I feel I am treated very impersonally by God.

2007-09-10 17:50:39 · update #1

31 answers

a couple of things here might help

just because you don't feel connected to God doesn't mean He isn't connected to you. don't rely on your feelings.

is there any unconfessed sin in your life, anything you need repent of and bring before God?

write out a list of who and what you want to pray about. this can help guide your thoughts and prayers.

find a simple passage in the Bible and pray about that, thank God for little things first to start with.

it may help to get away and out and about away from the house for awhile and shut everything else out.

Prayer is such an important part of life and I'm glad to know someone else has these issues from time to time. Be assured that God knows what you need before you ask Him and we have an intercessor, the Holy Spirit, who prays for us when we don't know how.

2007-09-10 17:57:25 · answer #1 · answered by Gruntled Employee 6 · 3 0

I went through the same thing not to long ago. I felt at a loss, I knew there was a God, but it seemed He did not care or I didn't deserve his love. I didn't want to pray at all. I guess you could say we were not speaking. I found what started me on a healing path was to start over from the beginning of my relationship with God. I went back to the very beginning. For me it was baptism. For you it might be something else. It's been about a year and a half since I was in that dark place. Now I feel so good about God he has helped me to overcome many things. Even though I am still not pregnant and that was what started my decline. I just needed to find out for myself that He does care and he knows what's best for me even if I don't. I hope this helped in some way and good luck!

p.s. Another thing that helped me a lot was my friend told me sometimes the miracle you get is not the one you expected.

2007-09-10 18:06:53 · answer #2 · answered by aimeeme_g 5 · 2 0

Hello dear! I hope I can help you. Everyone has doubts at times and questions their faith. I have before. This is simply the enemy whispering things in your ear!
There are some verses I like to repeat during prayer to reassure myself or if i have any doubts that God is hearing me so i know that He listens and answers.... John 11:41-42, Proverbs 15:8-29, Psalms 10:17, 18:16, 34:15-17, 66:19, 116:1-2.
I hope this helps. God led me to a site on the internet that gave me thos verses and i had no paper so I wrote it on a paper plate yesterday and felt Ii had to keep it to help a person. God has answered your prayer in finding help and Ii am glad that He used me to help you! Good luck and God bless you dear!
Go to google and type in Hear Gods Voice. The third link from the top is an awesome help!The woman's name is Kathy Logan she gives all the advice! And will send you e-mails everyday if you want!

2007-09-10 18:22:24 · answer #3 · answered by jenn h 2 · 3 0

You've probably heard this already, but it's worth repeating. God has a plan, His will goes beyond what you feel are urgent matters. God is not being mean, or indifferent towards you, He feels your pain but when things must happen they must happen. Every night I thank God for UNANSWERED prayers, because I know that at times they probably gave way to better things.

I don't know how much this will help you. You just need to pray, and ask God to help you and love Him come what may. Read the Book of Job when at a loss.

And lastly...DON"T take the advise of giving God a peace offering. And do not make a deal with God, promising Him to do X for Y, that is called tempting the Lord, just love Him no matter what. Your reward will come in heaven.

2007-09-10 17:56:39 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 4 1

One of my favorite Christian teachers, Joyce Meyer, pointed out in today's t.v. show that when we feel the worst is usually when we're growing the most spiritually. Growth can (unfortunately) often be painful and unpleasant.
http://www.joycemeyer.org/

I don't know what you're going through right now, but I have been going through some things for years now, as I'm sure many people have. I've seen some fantastic blessings, and some disappointing things that just seem agonizingly slow, like "God, won't this ever change?!"

I don't understand right now what God is doing, but I know based on past experience that in the future I will look back and see how God has worked in my life. Just like Moses didn't see God coming, but he saw Him after He'd been there.

An excellent devotional to read when you're going through hard times is "Streams in the Desert" by L.B. Cowman; get the updated edition in today's language edited by James Reimann.

I first learned about the book from another Christian who was sharing how, immediately upon her marriage, her husband was terribly ill and in hospitals for years before he died, and they never really got to make a normal life together. This book is what she turned to for comfort during those extremely painful times.

Sometimes life just doesn't make sense, and God answers "no" or "not yet" and we don't understand at all. What to do then? Joyce Meyer points out that trust requires unanswered questions in order to exist. God wants us to trust Him.

Keep praying and sharing your heart with Him honestly. He can take hearing all that you're feeling. Just keep the lines of communication open. When you feel empty inside, pray about that. When you need Him desperately, keep praying.

God will answer you eventually. When Lazarus was dying, Jesus stayed where He was and did not go to help. Later He raised Lazarus from the dead, and many believed because of this. God does not let us suffer without purpose. Entrust everything to Him.

Every tear will become a pearl of glory, if not in this life, then in the life to come.
Romans 8:18 NIV reminds us:
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

Psalm 56:8 NLT says:
"You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book." God knows intimately every tear you shed.

God's love is close to you even when you feel far away.

http://www.fathersloveletter.com/flltextenglish.html

2007-09-10 18:29:27 · answer #5 · answered by Rella 6 · 1 0

Do not worry, You are doing fine. Some, like You have to go through the baptism of fire early. Have You lost your Faith ? No, for You still hold on to it.

It is in deed frustrating when You pray for something that is important and nothing materialize. Been in your shoes and hated God for that. But We still hang on, are we really a fool. A part wants to let go but another won't. A fight between ourselves. If We were to give up, what hope is there left, so we wait and hope the promise of prayer in the name of the good Lord is true. Waiting and waiting until We do not know what is real and what is not. It is so stressfull.

Why God,?...... Why do you treat me so unkindly. Why are You so partial.... I hate You... Why give me Hope and believe in your promise... I Hate You..... I Hate YOU.... Am I not Your Child or do I belong to Satan.... Why? why? why do You reveal Yourself to me.... Answer Me ! ... You Fuc**** GOD. Just because You are God, You can do what You like ...... Sound familiar to You? I said or cursed God of the above. That was the time, pain and frustration to the extreme, makes me say those words.

Can You see the answer of my swearing? God reveals the real me. I don't love God at all although I am a born again Christian. I want God only in HELP.

You will know your answer also if You hang on to your fragile Hope.

Hang On Brother, for God is TRUE.

2007-09-10 18:23:22 · answer #6 · answered by Kingdomchild07 5 · 2 0

I've done it. I usually stop and realize I'm still talking to Him.
I've been frustrated before. Still do, sometimes. But then there are other times He answers immediately and I realize there are times when I'm asking wrongly.
There's a lot to think about, when it comes to prayer. Sometimes we simply have to ask, knowing that quite possibly there's something we don't know about. Like the law of restitution. Sometimes we don't know if the person we're praying for, has done something to bring the problem upon themselves. In which case, we are actually praying amiss, when we should be praying that the Lord step in and counter whatever is happening.

This is a for instance. Some years ago, I experienced a massive attack of oppression, from my own church. The pastors wife, got it in her head that I was after another member's husband.

It was ridiculous. This man and I were both truck drivers and we had something in common. Because we had a whole other language while talking with each other, folks got the impression I was out to grab him away from his wife. I had no such thoughts but nobody asked me about it.

It was the pastors wife that started a nasty rumor and it reeked havoc on the church. It was so blatantly in my face that while lining up to enter the choir loft, she pushed me into the soprano line and this young girl into the tenor line, messing up the whole sequence. I have a deep voice and sang with the tenors, as the alto was too high for me. This young girl was a soprano and she got shoved right between the altos and the tenors. The pastors wife had done this because I normally stood next to the very man, they thought I had designs on.

It was so assinine that the girl and I changed back to our usual positions. Right in front of God and everybody and disrupting the morning announcements, the pastors wife got up from her piano, crossed the podium and brutaly pushed and shoved us back to where she wanted us.

You think anybody noticed? Man oh man! This sort of actions, gossip and attitudes went on for almost 4 months. One morning that very man's wife came to me and asked forgiveness. She told me that the Holy Spirit straightened her out about the matter and she realized how horrible it was to think these things about me, to believe the gossip and go along with it. She and I hugged and cried. She's the one that put down the gossip while the pastors wife wouldn't let go of it. She was determined to drive me out of the church.

I forgave the pastors wife. You know what that means? It means I relinquished the vengeance and God took it. Within 2 months, we got the report that the pastors wife had lung cancer. She had never smoked so where did that come from?

I stood in agreement for her healing and week after week, we got updated reports and she was doing better. The tumor was shrinking.

Then I began to move away from the church. The damage had been done and I was failing spiritually. Eventually, I moved away from that city and 6 months later, I got the news that the pastors wife had passed away.

We had all prayed for her and stood in agreement. Then why is it that everything seemed fine, as long as I was there and praying for her but when I left it all fell apart?

I can't say that I understand. I do know, though, that she brought disease into her own body,with her own tongue.

So, you see what I mean? You know how many people knew that that man's wife and I healed our relationship? Two. You know how many people ever found out that the pastors wife had lied about me? One

2007-09-10 19:13:51 · answer #7 · answered by judysbookshop 4 · 4 0

Dear Mother Courage, respected lady!

The Qur'an says (roughly... from memory...), 'Do they think it is enough to say, I believe', and they will not be tested?'

In these last eight months, mine and yours, I have had to live on with the life stolen away from me. But an ordinary angel came knocking at my door this spring to relieve me of some things which, in my possession, were going to waste. As it happened, she was pregnant. She told me that this life and the next differ in just one way that matters. Our souls may grow and progress on this plane through THREE things:

-through the grace of God,
-through the power of prayer, and
-through the power released when we respond to tests.

In the next world, there is divine grace and prayer, but only those two. This is the world of cause and effect, and only here can we take a lemon and make lemonade (...sorry!).

So this luminous person told me that the tests which drive us right to the brink -while the mute firmament looks on blankly- these tests are the amniotic fluid that our baby souls are drinking in deeply, to grow. When the baby leaves the world of the womb, that's the end of that amniotic fluid, forever.

And she drove away with those wretched boxes of games and childrens' books and so on. Prayers are always answered, sometimes with awful succinctness.

So what do you think you should have been praying for tonight? More tests? Are you up to it? I don't have the nerve to do that, so I can't advise it.

Say prayers instead for 'Thankfulness in Adversity', no, not only of the sort I heard about from Catholics when I was growing up ('I was crying because I had no shoes, and I saw a man with no feet' ). I mean also as the pregnant angel would have said,

'Thankfulness IN Adversity'
=
'Thankfulness FOR Adversity'.

Alright, here's the confession, and the paradox. If, and only if I can get my own mind around this teaching (which is clearly not masochistic), I will survive the ninth of these terrible months.

Otherwise I will curl up and die unfulfilled.


I am grateful for your request for comments on this.

Respectfully,

H.S.

2007-09-10 18:46:05 · answer #8 · answered by hindisikhnewaalaa 5 · 0 1

E4G--I think all Christians go through times like this in our walk with God. Sometimes I think He just steps back and is silent as a way to help us see how deep and how strong our faith really is. He isn't any farther away from you than He's ever been. Remember, our relationship with God isn't based on how we feel, but what we know. Hasn't God promised to never leave you or forsake you? Hasn't He promised that He hears our prayers and answers them? All the many promises God has given us have not changed because you don't "feel" God's presence. This is one of those times you must stand firm on the things of God that you know to be true. Stay faithful. Continue praying and studying the word. Continue giving Him your thanks and praise. Examine yourself and ask God to search your heart--to reveal anything that you may need to address in your life. If there is something, He will bring it to light. When you have done all you know to do....just stand! However long it takes. God is with you, and He loves you. He has your very best interests in mind. If you don't get discouraged and give up, you'll come out on the other side of this stronger than ever. Just trust Him and His word. God bless you sister! (((E4G)))

2007-09-10 18:32:09 · answer #9 · answered by beano™ 6 · 5 0

Instead of looking at it as "you don't answer prayers that are important or even urgent in matter" - is it possible that you need to learn something from what's going on in your life, instead of just praying that He fixes it for you? How to deal with a situation, how to feel compassion for someone else who is having problems, how to learn from the current situation so you are better equipped to handle future events?

You may also want to do some reading on the concept of "crisis of faith"... in looking at your past questions, you seem to have had a lot of worries recently and seem to be at a loss for why they haven't gotten any better.

2007-09-10 17:59:39 · answer #10 · answered by Nandina (Bunny Slipper Goddess) 7 · 3 0

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