{"id":50776,"date":"2017-07-18T21:54:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T02:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=50776"},"modified":"2022-07-25T21:56:43","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T02:56:43","slug":"how-do-i-pray-when-i-dont-feel-like-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-pray-when-i-dont-feel-like-it\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I pray when I don&#8217;t feel like it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>I have been good at praying. Recently though, I just feel like my prayer life is going downhill. It started with my nightly devotion and now with my morning devotion. I am just not in the mood to pray. I know how important prayer is, so it worries me. My house has become too full and noisy recently. Unfortunately, I do not always have opportunities to leave my house and find elsewhere to pray. When I force myself to pray, it seems that is the moment either my parents are sending me someplace or my siblings are making noise. Coupled with the fact that I initially don&#8217;t want to pray, I feel frustrated and give up. Please what can I do? I want to get it right with God and be someone He can use.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you so much.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Consider for a moment: Which of God&#8217;s commands are based on our personal feelings before we obey Him? &#8220;<em>For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome<\/em>&#8221; (I John 5:3). Therefore, the command to not give up on prayer is not done only when you feel like it (I Thessalonians 5:16-18).<\/p>\n<p>If your parents ask you to do something, pause in your prayers, do what is asked of you and when you return finish your prayers. Yes, it can be annoying to be interrupted, but it doesn&#8217;t happen every time. If your siblings are noisy, you&#8217;ll just have to block the noise out (or get earplugs).<\/p>\n<p>But what I really suspect is that you&#8217;ve made praying to God a chore by demanding of yourself that you spend a long time in prayer. If you look at most of the prayers in the Bible, only a few are long. Say what you need to approach God about, but don&#8217;t artificially make it into a long grand speech. Also, nothing says you have to wait for a particular time to pray. It is good to have a habit of starting and ending your day in prayer, but take time to pray when the need comes up instead of accumulating everything for one massive prayer.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: I have been good at praying. Recently though, I just feel like my prayer life is going downhill. It started with my nightly devotion and now with my morning devotion. I am just not in the mood to pray. I know how important prayer is, so it worries me. My house has become too&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[546,1510],"class_list":["post-50776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-feelings","tag-prayers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19454,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-pray-without-doubt-when-i-know-that-sometimes-i-wont-get-what-i-prayed-for\/","url_meta":{"origin":50776,"position":0},"title":"How can I pray without doubt when I know that sometimes I won&#8217;t get what I prayed for?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about prayer.\u00a0 I understand that the Bible states that when we pray, we are to let our requests to God be given in faith,\u00a0 believing that we will receive. So if I pray that God will help me through a difficult time or give me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38088,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-deal-with-friends-wanting-me-to-join-various-prayer-groups\/","url_meta":{"origin":50776,"position":1},"title":"How do I deal with friends wanting me to join various prayer groups?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I sure can use your help. I have friends who keep wanting me to join this or that prayer group. They send attachments to many websites that call for prayer on various subjects. I tell them I pray for many of these subjects, but I do it on my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35409,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/sometimes-i-feel-jesus-when-i-pray-and-other-times-i-dont-am-i-going-in-the-right-direction\/","url_meta":{"origin":50776,"position":2},"title":"Sometimes I feel Jesus when I pray and other times I don&#8217;t. Am I going in the right direction?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I really need your help. Every day I go off and pray. Sometimes I feel Jesus and it feels great, but other times I don't feel Him and I become worried. I'm confused about whether I am going on the right path or not. When I don't feel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38053,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/preaching-and-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":50776,"position":3},"title":"Preaching and Prayer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Allan Christianity Magazine March 1989 Considering the role of prayer in the life and work of New Testament preachers will challenge us to greater devotion and closer communion with God. The significance of prayer among early saints can be traced to Jesus, where we will focus our attention\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32125,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-have-a-hard-time-focusing-while-praying-and-end-up-thinking-about-sinful-things-how-do-i-pray-better\/","url_meta":{"origin":50776,"position":4},"title":"I have a hard time focusing while praying and end up thinking about sinful things. How do I pray better?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good Day, Before I ask my question, I want to thank you for giving us all this opportunity to ask questions and get a reply based on the scriptures. It's enlightening and a humbling experience. My question can be termed very basic, but still, it is something very important\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66222,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-feel-good-enough-to-pray\/","url_meta":{"origin":50776,"position":5},"title":"I don&#8217;t feel good enough to pray","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! I got a woman I was dating pregnant. We married a few months later. We now have a son, and we love each other, but the problem is my walk with Christ. I feel spiritually down. I want to be back on my feet, but it's hard. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50776\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}