Prayer (an extremely overused title)

Yes, I understand how overused this topic is, but I need some things cleared up.

What happens to you while you pray?

How does it feel to pray?

How do you pray?

These are all questions that I am asking you personally.

For me, prayer feels like I am just thinking to myself and instead of making the subject myself, I make it God. That does not seem right.
When I do a traditional prayer if kneeling or sitting down and praying, it feels like I am talking out loud and directing my speech towards God.
I do not believe that this is right. I need to get this right. Something feels insincere, and I need to stop it.
 
What happens to me when I pray? And how does it feel to pray?

It depends, sometimes I don't feel like anything is happening to me when I pray. Sometimes I feel a connection to God, sometimes I experience the presence of God in some way and sometimes God speaks to me in some manner. Sometimes I feel very emotional when I pray...like emotions just come over me or a burden gets put into my heart.

How do I pray?

Again it depends...but most of the time I either just talk to Him or I pour out my heart to Him. More often I when I pray I pour out my heart to Him, where I express everything that is on my mind, heart and in my emotions. Sometimes I pray the word to Him...where my own words mainly consist of His word...where I am agreeing with what he wrote. Occasionally I pray the way wear it is just an inner groaning where I am unable to put things into words.

I think the main thing to do in prayer is just to be honest with God and fully sincere. After all He knows all of it already.

I hope that helps.
 
Last edited:
What happens to me when I pray? And how does it feel to pray?

It depends, sometimes I don't feel like anything is happening to me when I pray. Sometimes I feel a connection to God, sometimes I experience the presence of God in some way and sometimes God speaks to me in some manner. Sometimes I feel very emotional when I pray...like emotions just come over me or a burden gets put into my heart.

How do I pray?

Again it depends...but most of the time I either just talk to Him or I pour out my heart to Him. More often I when I pray I pour out my heart to Him, where I express everything that is on my mind, heart and in my emotions. Sometimes I pray the word to Him...where my own words mainly consist of His word...where I am agreeing with what he wrote. Occasionally I pray the way wear it is just an inner groaning where I am unable to put things into words.

I think the main thing to do in prayer is just to be honest with God and fully sincere. After all He knows all of it already.

I hope that helps.
It does, thanks.
 
Yes, I understand how overused this topic is, but I need some things cleared up.

What happens to you while you pray?

How does it feel to pray?

How do you pray?

These are all questions that I am asking you personally.

For me, prayer feels like I am just thinking to myself and instead of making the subject myself, I make it God. That does not seem right.
When I do a traditional prayer if kneeling or sitting down and praying, it feels like I am talking out loud and directing my speech towards God.
I do not believe that this is right. I need to get this right. Something feels insincere, and I need to stop it.

What happens to you while you pray?
Some times I feel the presence of Lord very heavily.. At times not.. At times I just go through the motions.. At times I come down with a humble heart.. At times I cry out to the Lord.. At times I praise the Lord out of joy.. Every prayer is never the same..

How does it feel to pray?
I think the above pretty much sums up the response for this also

How do you pray?
I always pray on my knees, with my eyes closed.. I prefer to be alone in the room while praying.. I am generally the first to get up in house, before my wife and daughter. So it is never a problem for me.. I first praise God for everything.. Then put forward my petition with the request for Him to show me the way..
 
What happens to you while you pray?
Some times I feel the presence of Lord very heavily.. At times not.. At times I just go through the motions.. At times I come down with a humble heart.. At times I cry out to the Lord.. At times I praise the Lord out of joy.. Every prayer is never the same..

How does it feel to pray?
I think the above pretty much sums up the response for this also

How do you pray?
I always pray on my knees, with my eyes closed.. I prefer to be alone in the room while praying.. I am generally the first to get up in house, before my wife and daughter. So it is never a problem for me.. I first praise God for everything.. Then put forward my petition with the request for Him to show me the way..
It sounds like an adventure.
 
Yes, I understand how overused this topic is, but I need some things cleared up.

What happens to you while you pray?

How does it feel to pray?

How do you pray?

These are all questions that I am asking you personally.

For me, prayer feels like I am just thinking to myself and instead of making the subject myself, I make it God. That does not seem right.
When I do a traditional prayer if kneeling or sitting down and praying, it feels like I am talking out loud and directing my speech towards God.
I do not believe that this is right. I need to get this right. Something feels insincere, and I need to stop it.

"Prayer" is a loaded word. It could be an act of worship or a request to someone. How we feel when we pray also differs, especially because we have so many reasons to pray.

When you pray, you said you feel like you aren't sending your words to God, you feel as though it is all in your head and nowhere else. Don't worry -- those prayers are going to God. Prayer is strongly a thought process. We think of our words, how we feel, what has happened or will happen, etc. etc. When we think these thoughts with the intention of directing them to God (because God even knows our thoughts when they aren't directed toward Him) that is a sound form of prayer.

Prayer is not dictated by our feelings. How we feel doesn't value or devalue the prayer. We may have very little emotion going through us as we pray and that doesn't render the prayer meaningless or even less meaningful than the person who has an overflow of emotion. Consider someone who may have a form of Autism and is very limited to his own feelings and emotions, when he prays, this doesn't mean God doesn't hear him because he doesn't feel.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Juk
When I pray, sometimes I have a ton of emotion going through me...it could be gratitude, or sorrow, or confusion, or anger, awe, or something beyond what I could explain when I feel His presence. ...and then sometimes, very little emotion at all.

I routinely wake up, make the sign of the cross, thank God, and ask Him to bless me and my wife for the day. While I am thankful and asking Him of something, I don't have a huge sense of emotion even though I genuinely am thankful. It wouldn't surprise me if I even looked bored when doing it (which isn't the case -- my mind is occupied in prayer). That's not the point. The point is that I know where my gifts come from and who to thank for it, and so I do with sincerity.

And just as you described your prayers, it is my thinking my words but addressing God.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Juk
What happens to you while you pray?

I focus my attention on God. It is my special time with Him.

How does it feel to pray?
humble. I am connecting with Him. Its Father daughter time, and with Jesus, its like having a conversation with your best friend.

Depending on what I am praying about, I can feel a range of emotions. But these dont matter so much cos I know in the act of praying, God is listening.

How do I pray?
Various different ways and at all times of the day. Sometimes short prayers. Sometimes long, like an hour or more. Sometimes with friends. Sometimes in the car, or outside. Sometimes in tongues. At home with the door shut, with my Bible. In church, I bow my head and focus on God, if someone else is praying , I mentally assent to their prayer and pray it with them..At night...when I cant sleep..talk to God. tell Him I love him and cast all my cares upon Him.
When I read the Bible, if I dont understand something, I ask God for wisdom. Sometimes I just read or sing a psalm...psalms are prayers. When Im out of words I sit and listen. I do feel or know in my heart His presence. There is a peace that I find when Im all prayed out. I know our prayers are as incense to Him. Angels are standing by to take up my prayers...they are messengers and servants of God. I address God and think of Jesus as I pray, cos I am praying in His name. If its a petition or for someone else, I will say I lift up this person to you, Lord and you know this person too...and then I intercede cos maybe that person is shy about praying his or her needs, and I would support that person and pray Gods will. Sometimes, i need to fast and pray, so I ignore my hunger as I pray. Also I confess my faults and things I might have done wrong that offended someone and also pray for anyone that offended or hurt me.

There is much to say about prayer!! In my home group we are doing A to Z about prayer. Good topic Juk!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Juk
Oh yes lysander mentioned being thankful. Thats important too. While its not a prayer, as such, its more of an attitude we have in prayer. To be thankful for all the blessings we already have. I know God doesnt always want to hear us complain to Him!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Juk
What happens to you while you pray?

I focus my attention on God. It is my special time with Him.

How does it feel to pray?
humble. I am connecting with Him. Its Father daughter time, and with Jesus, its like having a conversation with your best friend.

Depending on what I am praying about, I can feel a range of emotions. But these dont matter so much cos I know in the act of praying, God is listening.

How do I pray?
Various different ways and at all times of the day. Sometimes short prayers. Sometimes long, like an hour or more. Sometimes with friends. Sometimes in the car, or outside. Sometimes in tongues. At home with the door shut, with my Bible. In church, I bow my head and focus on God, if someone else is praying , I mentally assent to their prayer and pray it with them..At night...when I cant sleep..talk to God. tell Him I love him and cast all my cares upon Him.
When I read the Bible, if I dont understand something, I ask God for wisdom. Sometimes I just read or sing a psalm...psalms are prayers. When Im out of words I sit and listen. I do feel or know in my heart His presence. There is a peace that I find when Im all prayed out. I know our prayers are as incense to Him. Angels are standing by to take up my prayers...they are messengers and servants of God. I address God and think of Jesus as I pray, cos I am praying in His name. If its a petition or for someone else, I will say I lift up this person to you, Lord and you know this person too...and then I intercede cos maybe that person is shy about praying his or her needs, and I would support that person and pray Gods will. Sometimes, i need to fast and pray, so I ignore my hunger as I pray. Also I confess my faults and things I might have done wrong that offended someone and also pray for anyone that offended or hurt me.

There is much to say about prayer!! In my home group we are doing A to Z about prayer. Good topic Juk!
That's the thing. When I pray, it feels like a one sided conversation. It feels like I am the only one talking and God does not respond. Or maybe I just don't know how to listen.
 
That's the thing. When I pray, it feels like a one sided conversation. It feels like I am the only one talking and God does not respond. Or maybe I just don't know how to listen.
I know how you feel Juk. But this just came to me...think about how it is when you talk to someone and you know they aren't listening. What does that scenario look like? It could like this: You are using your voice, speaking loud enough and clearly enough for anyone to hear you. You are giving your full attention to communicating your message in a easy to understand manner, standing right in front of them, looking them right in the eye. You could even be waving your hands in front of their face to get their attention. But they are so focused on something else or their own emotions or their own thoughts that they don't hear a single word that you say. They don't even notice that you were waving your hands in front of them. Do you see that this person could not here what you were saying because they were not listening or were unable to listen for whatever reason...it was no fault of your own.

Now, for this person to listen to you you would have to either do something drastic like yell or shake them to snap them out of their state or that person would have to put aside whatever is hindering them from listening so they could hear you. Either way a change in the listener would have to take place.

I am thinking this is how it is with us and God sometimes. Our state needs to change in order for us to be able to hear God more often.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Juk
I know how you feel Juk. But this just came to me...think about how it is when you talk to someone and you know they aren't listening. What does that scenario look like? It could like this: You are using your voice, speaking loud enough and clearly enough for anyone to hear you. You are giving your full attention to communicating your message in a easy to understand manner, standing right in front of them, looking them right in the eye. You could even be waving your hands in front of their face to get their attention. But they are so focused on something else or their own emotions or their own thoughts that they don't hear a single word that you say. They don't even notice that you were waving your hands in front of them. Do you see that this person could not here what you were saying because they were not listening or were unable to listen for whatever reason...it was no fault of your own.

Now, for this person to listen to you you would have to either do something drastic like yell or shake them to snap them out of their state or that person would have to put aside whatever is hindering them from listening so they could hear you. Either way a change in the listener would have to take place.

I am thinking this is how it is with us and God sometimes. Our state needs to change in order for us to be able to hear God more often.
But how?
 
I am still learning how myself. But God has been teaching me lately that our whole walk as Christians is one of faith. Faith in God is at the center of it all. So with that being said: what is faith, what does faith in God look like? First let's establish that we are saved by grace THROUGH faith. So again what is faith(let's look in the bible)? "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Hebrews 11:1. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarded of those that diligently seek Him."Hebrews 11:6. Continue on reading the rest of chapter 11 and notice how it talks talks about all the people of faith and describes some of what they did. Also read chapter 12 and notice how it relates to chapter 11. Notice specifically Abraham in these verses and take a look at Romans 4:1-3 where it talks about Abraham, and in James 2:14-26 where it also talks about Abraham. Now in those same verses it also plainly tells us that faith without works is dead. So tie all these verses together, meditate on them and you will see that the faith in God that is talked about in the bible is an active faith that does things, not a passive one that just believes.

So my understanding is that when someone says have faith that God will hear you and that He will speak to you...it means not just thinking and believing that He will do so, but being active in it as well by keeping the commandments of God.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Juk
One more thing....please don't misunderstand me and think I am saying that you need to "try harder"...we can't earn anything from God. It is all received by faith. What I am saying is that keeping the commandments of God demonstrates that our faith is real.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Juk
Back
Top