In the life of a Christian, prayer is one of the crucial crutches of our faith. I think that our relationship with God is beautiful because the Creator of Heaven and Earth longs for me to speak to Him, and He longs to speak to me through His inspired words. We have been granted a direct connection to the Father in prayer, but oftentimes, we neglect that avenue. We find ourselves burnt out, run down, and hurting, and this affects our prayer lives. Have you ever found yourself unwilling to pray about your hurt because you feel like God does not hear you? If so, you are not alone in this feeling, and some people sit beside you at church feel the same way. So how can we fix this?
There is a key thing that we leave out when we get in these episodes, and without these things, our prayer life can dwindle to the point of disbelief and turning from God. The first thing we try to hide is the truth about our situation. We all know that God sees all things, but oftentimes, we try to hide our feelings towards God. We could be breaking down over the struggles of life, but our hardened hearts refuse to let God know our struggles. The pride of our lives will prohibit us from being vulnerable and asking God for help. This is something that affects not only Christians but also non-believers. People would rather “deal with it” on their own terms rather than allowing God to guide and support them. God knows all of our emotions and actions already, so why play pretend with Him? Psalm 145:18 says that God is near to all those who call on Him, and continuing from that, it says that God hears their cries and saves them. So the first question is this: “Have I been honest with God about what I am struggling with, and have I genuinely trusted Him that there is a way out?”
A prayer life that is not vulnerable with God will result in dry and unemotional prayers, which contain little hope for us. Matthew 6:5 warns us not to pray like the hypocrites do, by lofting empty phrases to God in public, but He instructs us to spend alone time with God to pray. During this alone time, we should be the most vulnerable with God about our lives. God wants to know all the good, all the bad, and all the ugly, but we sell God short by hiding the very thing He longs to hear. As someone who has struggled with empty prayers, I urge you to give up the pride and allow God to hear your feelings and allow Him to strengthen your heart through prayer and His Word. We have seen God answer the prayers of many in the Scriptures, so now it is your turn to act. You have to make the choice to talk with God and allow Him to help, or you have to make the choice that you want to do it alone and forsake God’s help.
I urge you to give it to God and allow Him to help because He is the only cure for our pain. I urge you not to allow the hurt to ruin your relationship with God, but instead give up your pain to God in prayer because God hears you and wants to guide you closer to Him and away from your suffering.
Christian Cherry
Dalraida church of Christ is a congregation of Christians that meet in the mid-town area of Montgomery, Alabama. Our goal and purpose is to seek and follow God and His Word in everything that we do in life.