A common mistake people make is they feel like they have to filter their emotions when they come to God in prayer. You don’t. You can be raw, open and honest with God and tell him exactly how you feel (he already knows anyway). Trust me, God can handle your emotions. And more importantly, he wants you to bring them to him. Listen to 1 Peter 5:7:
“Casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully]” (AMP).
Regardless of how you feel, let God know. If you are hurt, angry, depressed, sad, frustrated, lonely, excited, worried, nervous, happy, or whatever emotion you are feeling, you can let him know. Here is the reason why – because he cares for you and cares about you.
When you get to this place, this is when prayer moves from a religious ritual to a relational necessity. You pray because you want to share your heart with God, not because you have to. This is what God wants all along.
4. You Give Up Too Soon
The truth about prayer is some prayers will be answered quickly and some will not. The struggle comes when you pray and you don’t see an immediate answer. The tendency can be to give up. I have done it before and God has had to remind me about it. That’s why in prayer, God is not only desiring you to ask but to keep asking. Consider Matthew 7:7-8:
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
When you read this, you might think Jesus was saying to ask once and then stop. However, this is not what Jesus was saying. Look at the same verses in the Amplified version.
“Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened.
This means that some prayers will require continuous asking, seeking, and knocking until God answers the prayer. I can’t tell you why God chooses to answer some prayers in this fashion but he does. That’s why Jesus encourages you to always pray and never give up (Luke 18:1). Sometimes this is the only way you will see the answer you are looking for.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Thitaree Sarmkasat