Do you ever feel like you pray more (and harder) when you are facing a trial?
And then, do you feel like you are failing yourself, and God, when those thoughts and feelings come to you?
I do!
Recently, I have found my way back to an amazing congregation (church) and have been increasing my prayer-life at least tenfold! It has been an amazing feeling, finding peace, harmony, love, support, and so many other things just from the church family I am now bonded to!
My conversations with, and about, God have been a breath of fresh air in my life, from childhood up to now. Even more so now, because I have a newfound understanding of where God can bring a person from… no matter how far they travel from His voice!
Even when I wasn’t a part of a church body, or even associating much with anyone who was, I never stopped praying.
But I did pray less.
I found myself praying more when something was wrong. When there was a financial issue, or health issue me or one of my children were struggling with, or when I was stressed over something, I had no control over.
And then the guilt would hit me hard.
“Prayer guilt,” I called it.
Even now! When I am stronger in my faith, when I am more connected with fellow prayer warriors, and when I pray just to pray!
It happens.
Prayer guilt is a real thing, y’all! We all struggle with it! We feel bad inside because we just spent hours in travail and agony praying over something we needed, couldn’t control, or over a fear… and then we sit back and wonder if we prayed enough in the good times for God to even hear us in the bad times!
Well, let me assure you! We need NOT have prayer guilt! Why? Let me give you some of many examples in the Bible!
King David! The “man after God’s own heart!”
He sinned! He coveted another man’s wife, and had the man killed so he could marry her! And they had a baby…
And then God told him that the baby would die…
And David prayed.
He anguished! He fasted, and he prayed. He begged God!
For how long?
Seven days…
How long did David dance before the Lord in the streets? Maybe several hours, until the Ark of the Lord was brought to the tabernacle.
Take the example of the Psalms in the Bible…
The shorter chapters are those of praise, worship, and glorifying God.
The longest chapters are prayers for help, freedom, peace, mercy, grace, and God’s presence to be felt.
But even in the longer chapters, they either both begin and end, or at least end, with praise and thanksgiving to God.
Even the prayer Jesus instructed others to pray, the one we know as “The Lord’s Prayer.”
“Our father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.” – Matthew 6.
Jesus went to the garden to pray and beg for the cup to be passed from him. He was there for HOURS!
And then moments of praise…
The Bible is filled with examples of why we should NOT feel guilty for praying harder and praying “more” when we are going through a trial.
Why? Because “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much!” – James 5:16
What does fervent mean?
“Adjective: having or displaying a passionate intensity.
Hot, burning, or glowing.”
When do we fervently pray? When we are doing exactly what God told us to do!
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” – Matthew 7:7
My friends, we can pray and pray all day long for the things we need, the hurts we have, the desires of our hearts, and the fears we face! And there be NO guilt! Because God told us to do this!
This is our communication with Him! This is our place, as human beings who are finite, who do not have all the answers, to reach out and speak to the One who does! This is WHY we should not feel guilty for our travail and the hours we spend praying with tears, questions, asking, pleading, and seeking Him!
I am sharing this because I had prayer guilt this week! Today!
I prayed hard, so hard!
And when I was done, I immediately felt like I hadn’t prayed enough during the good weeks we have had. I battled myself in my mind and heart, thinking I just took advantage of my God, and that I should ‘go back and apologize and give more praise because I felt like all I did was ask, ask, ask!
See, we were created by this God, not only to worship Him, but to RECOGNIZE Him! He is the one with the answers when we have none. He is the one with the peace when we are in turmoil. He is the one with sanctuary when we are lost. And when we recognize that He is… we are still worshiping Him.
“Be anxious for nothing, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;” – Philippians 4:6.
So, pray, my friends. Pray it ALL!
Pray and cry when you hurt, are scared, struggling, lost, damaged, broken, angry, worried, at war with yourself (and others), and recognize that He holds the answers, safety, protection, peace, joy, healing, mercy, and fulfillment!
Pray and praise when you are happy, elated, overjoyed, relieved, get your answers, find your peace, being healed, find fulfillment, and recognize that He held the answers!
And NEVER feel guilty for talking to God!!!
The point is you reached out to Him. You recognized Him. And that alone is praise.
