Sunday, July 7, 2013

You Are Here: Tired Of Praying & Weary I

When you're just too tired and weary to pray, tell the Spirit of God.

Do you sometimes feel tired of praying, tired of believing, tired of asking?  Do you feel so weary that you no longer know what to say in your prayers, or how to pray? All of this comes because you are such a faithful believer, such a faithful praying person.

To be burdened with this weariness is to give up. To give up means that in due season you will not reap. If you don't give up, when will the due season come?  Most of the time we don't know. Sometimes we are given information on that, most of the time not. Do some die never ever realizing the fulfillment of a long-standing prayer? Yes, and it no longer matters then. While you are here, if you give up, you'll never know if you would have enjoyed the fulfillment of your earth-based prayers.

Have you sacrificed for others? What about going the extra mile for others? Have you given your all for others? In what other ways have you performed good deeds for others? How often have you pushed on, not being weary in well-doing for others? Not being weary in well-doing also means sacrificing, giving your all, and going the extra mile in well-doing towards yourself. Praying one more time is well-doing, but what about feeling just too tired to pray today. And what about being weary and confused about what to say, if you could pray?

Words are necessary to bring things to past, and if we can't form the words, the Spirit of God will.

Well, there is a Helper who speaks the words on our behalf, if we will rely on Him, especially at those times when we're just too tired to form another prayer. Words are necessary to bring things to past, and if we can't form the words, the Spirit of God will. There is another advocate who intercedes on our behalf, always, whether we're too tired to pray, or not. Jesus Christ stands at the right hand of God, speaking for us.

So when you're just too tired and weary to pray, tell the Spirit of God, who is always with you, I'm just too tired to pray, I can't form the words and I just don't know what to say. Help me please. And just be quiet. Don't try to pray a lengthy, eloquent prayer today. Your spirit is willing, and your flesh is weak. That is why you are reading this, because your spirit is willing. The Spirit of God knows your heart, that you believe in the power of prayer, and that you believe God. You can rest in that, and rely upon His Spirit, until you feel more able to form your prayers again.

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
 (Galatians 6:9  King James Version-KJV)

In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don't know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can't be uttered.
 (Romans 8:26  World English Bible-WEB)

For he that seeketh the hearts, knoweth what the Spirit desireth, for by God [for after God, that is, at God's will,] he asketh for holy men. 


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Image Credit: Rowdy Rider

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I came and read this looking for hope and found God here! Thank you for the encouraging words..../they have helped me press on. God Bless you

Artsy Craftery Design Studio said...

Hello Sister Queeniepie45! So happy that God has blessed you through this post. You know, it is the most visited post here at my blog. I believe that most people are crying out for help, because they pray and pray and don't seem to get any relief about the most important things in their lives. I wrote this post from a heart of understanding, because this has happened to me for so long, about many things. Though I can certainly see the hand of God in my everyday life, I am often just tired of other things.

I know the feeling of not believing that I can go on another day. I know how it feels to not feel like praying, when deep inside I know that is my only hope. And what does that say? That hope has fled at that moment. That is when we are between a rock and a hard place. Hope has fled, but we know that hope is our only hope. Only the Spirit of God can untangle that heart condition, and send what we already know, the repairing Blood of Jesus, flowing again through our paralyzed consciousness.

God bless you and your entire family today. May He have mercy and save the souls of each and every one who does not know Him.

And thank you so much for taking the time to share.

Your #1 Fan said...

Thank you for the post. I've been sitting here crying for 30 minutes because I'm so tired of praying and I've grown so weary. And I feel so guilty because I feel like a bad Christian, and and daughter of Christ. I'm really praying for renewed strength and faith so that I can commune with God the way I need to and hear what He wants to say. Thank you.

Artsy Craftery Design Studio said...

Hello Your #1 Fan: I am sorry to hear that you have been so distressed that you have been weeping for 30 min. I know how it is to weep your heart out. In a way, it is a relief, but it is also horrifying and exhausting. We often feel guilty for being human, but we ARE human. God acknowledges that by coming in human flesh to experience what only humans can, and dying for our human frailties. Guilt is useless, and comes from the devil. If we ARE guilty of anything, there is always the answer of being washed whiter than snow because of what Jesus did. All we need to do is ask.

The other issue of being tired and weary of praying...in addition to what I have shared in this post, sometimes it helps to change up how we pray, the words and scriptures that we use, the times of day, the subjects; while all the time continuing to thank God for specific things that we have asked for. Don't keep asking God for the same thing. Ask him once, and then always THANK him for it when the desire to pray and beg for it comes over you again.

I am praying for you! Hold on. Hold on to God's unchanging hand. Hold on for dear life. Hold on with a thread of your mind and heart!

Anonymous said...

Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well
written article. I'll make sure to bookmark it and come
back to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post.

I will definitely return.

Artsy Craftery Design Studio said...

Hello Anonymous (God knows who you are.)! Thank you for the compliment. To God be the glory! I bookmark a lot of stuff on the Web to return to also. I am happy that this short article encouraged you. It is my most popular one, and I don't think it is only because it is older either. I often feel the things that I wrote about, that is how I know what the answer is. I had to find an answer to keep my sanity. Well, take care and you are welcome back anytime. I hope you'll have time to share some of your testimony sometimes. God bless you and your family/friends!

Unknown said...

But I always wonder why God allows us to feel this way. I mean...it's tough enough that we can't see him. But to keep praying for something with no tangible sign we are being heard or change in our circumstances. That's where the tiredness comes from

Artsy Craftery Design Studio said...

Hi Francis: But that's just it, I do believe that often he is speaking to us but we don't yet see or hear it. For one thing, I truly do believe that if we change our prayer from asking/begging for a thing to thanking him for it once we ask the first time, we will see changes.

Also, I've come to realize that when we pray we always do so with a preconceived notion of how and when the prayer will be answered. That means we are looking for the answer in a certain way. When we open up to God and choose to accept how ever he may work it out, we stop looking for OUR answer and open up to receive HIS answer.

"But to keep praying for something with no tangible sign we are being heard or change in our circumstances." Yes, I feel this entirely, and just because I share insight into this doesn't mean that I no longer suffer. I still sometimes am reduced to begging God, because of my trial, but I'm doing much better and have grown much more than when I wrote this article.

A lot of my prayer answers were preceded by an inner change in me. God never answers our prayers without it also blessing us within with growth and strength. Sometimes we just simply pray the wrong things. With growth in God we learn how we are doing this. Without growth in God, our prayer life never gets better.

Sometimes we pray for things that are never going to happen, especially regarding other people. Sometimes we pray and pray and beg and beg for someone to live, and they weren't meant to. It was their time, and even if it wasn't their time to us, God saw fit to allow them to leave. No amount of prayer or prayer tweaking would have made a difference.

I think that growing in the Lord helps us to adjust our prayers, so that they can become more effective and not hurt us. Prayers are supposed to give hope, not pain.

Thank you so much for replying with your feelings. I'm always glad when I can elaborate on my experience. I'm looking forward to putting all this prayer insight into a book. God bless you! ♥♥♥

Artsy Craftery Design Studio said...

This morning, Fri 3/2/18, was a morning when I did not feel like praying. I felt so sluggish emotionally, so down, so weary, so hopeless. I made myself get on my knees, on my prayer pillow so my knees won't hurt so much. I made myself thank God for all that he has done for me when I was not aware of him. I thanked him for what he was doing of which I was not aware.

Basically, I made myself repeat things that I "believe", no matter how I "feel". My prayer wasn't long, but when I pray like this I feel so bad. I almost feel like my prayer is fake, except I know that it is not. It is the prayer of a devoted person who refuses to give up on God.

Your #1 Fan said...

Amen! Believe it or not, you've helped so much with my prayer life. I DID need to stop begging for certain things. I actually started praying more for God's will to be done and not for my own desires. I know that's best and once I came to terms with that, I had (have) a whole new outlook on life. Bless you!

Artsy Craftery Design Studio said...

@ Your #1 Fan Well, praise God! Trials in life are so hard that it's easy to be reduced to begging God. I say "reduced" because begging is a fear state, and that is beneath the position that God has provided for us through Christ's sacrifice. We are, in fact, heirs to the throne and joint-heirs with Christ. It hasn't happened YET, but remembering this fact can put us in the right, high position mentally and emotionally, as we live out our lives here. That position is important to receiving from God.

And isn't it wonderful that as we pray for God's will that his will is actually the same as our will? We pray for what we do because we think it is best for us. God wants the best for us. Though God often needs to tweak our prayers and the results, he is always on our side. Relinquishing our doggedness, and praying for God's will does not mean that we will never get a favorable answer to our fondest wishes. It means that we are more likely too.

I'm so happy that you are making progress. To God be the glory, and may God continue to bless you richly, each and every day! ♥☼♥

mola said...

This really blessed me. The article and the comments. God bless you.

Artsy Craftery Design Studio said...

Hello Mola:

I'm so glad that you were blessed by this post, because it blessed me to write it. I am still pressing on in prayer and trusting my desire to prayer even though I don't feel like it sometimes, almost 5 yrs after writing it. Whenever I see that someone appreciates it and is encouraged by it, it gives me new strength. It is my most popular post of all time.

I believe that many who know and love God want to continue to have faith in the one personal contact that we have with him, and that is prayer. He wants you to know that your every prayer and your every DESIRE to pray means everything to him.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and may God continue to bless you richly in your prayer life and in every area of your life,
Sandi

Lisa C said...

My question is, why pray when what's going to happen is going to happen or not happen, anyway?

Artsy Craftery Design Studio said...

@Lisa C Are you a Christian who is struggling with prayer, or are you asking as a person who does not know The Lord? How do you know that "what's going to happen is going to happen or not happen anyway."?

Also, prayer can positively impact how a Christian handles life issues. As a result, that can determine if a person will have a positive or negative future regarding a subject.

Most importantly, prayer draws a devoted Christian closer to God. We learn more about him and learn to work with him on life issues when we pray regularly.

These are just a few of my thoughts on why I pray and the value of this practice.

Artsy Craftery Design Studio said...

Hi Again @Lisa C:

Consider this, some things happen in life because we neglect them or because we don't understand what we are supposed to do. Sometimes things happen because we do know our role, but we choose not to fulfill it. Prayer can heal all of that.

Prayer is submission to God, where we allow him to help us to do what we stubbornly don't want to do. Prayer is a avenue in which God's Word can be illuminated and brought to life in us. Prayer can give us intelligence where we did not realize we were ignorant. Prayer is hope, even when we feel hopeless. God has provided a way for us to receive the benefits of prayer, even when we occasionally don't feel like doing it.

Artsy Craftery Design Studio said...

Someone asked me "What is the use of praying when the things you pray about are going to happen anyway?"

We don't ever know when this will be true about any given circumstance. The Bible gives us occasions when someone prayed to God and God changed what was supposed to happen. One example is Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:6. His death did not occur in the year that it was supposed to. As a result of Hezekiah's heartfelt prayers, God extended his life for many years. That is the same God that we serve today.

Even when our prayers do not prevent circumstances, there is a very important consideration regarding this. How do we handle the aftermath of an unchanged situation? The guidance that we receive through prayer can help us to deal with life in a way that will bless us and others. The most important point is that praying anyway can help us to continue to worship and glorify God. No matter what happens or doesn't happen, we still need God. We access him and build our relationship with him through prayer.

Artsy Craftery Design Studio said...

Sunday morning I was talking to my elderly mom at breakfast. It was about not knowing what to pray about when it comes to ongoing tragedies in the world. These things can be seen as things that are going to happen anyway, which is what @Lisa C asked me about, "...why pray when what's going to happen is going to happen...anyway?"

I said "For instance, I'd like all serial killers to be stopped in their tracks and to never kill another person. I'd like no new serial killers to start killing." I also mentioned starving children throughout the world. So many children born into starvation. I don't know how to pray about these things, because it seems that they will not be wiped out at this time.

The truth is that the condition of mankind will not be wiped out until Jesus returns to begin the beginning of the end. The end of all evil and evil-influence is not here. Until then, the evil machinations of Satan, the fallen Lucifer, will go on. One great comfort that we have is that he and his demons, angels who rebelled against God and fell with him, can only go as far as God will allow.

So we pray and thank God that THERE IS A LIMIT TO EVERYTHING (I heard Joel say this), even before Jesus returns. There is so much evil going on that there doesn't seem to be a limit, but I assure you there is. There are demons that God did not allow to roam the earth. They are still in chains, waiting for judgement day. God is ALWAYS merciful.

So how do I pray about the condition of mankind that will go on until the end? Well I pray that someone will discover a child somewhere who is chained in the basement, tortured and starved, because at any given time, there are children suffering horrendous treatment behind closed doors. I pray that a plan of a terrorist will be thwarted. I pray that those who are near dying will meet a swift death.

I pray for pain relief for those who have chronic illnesses, who may never realize healing. I pray that more people will give to starving countries, and to those who are starving in our own country. I pray that The Lord will show us ways to overcome long-standing obstacles in our own lives that make it seem as if nothing will ever change for each of us.

I pray that all manner of obstacles, problems, monkey-wrenches, thwarts, hindrances, counteractions, baffles and confusions be placed in the paths of evil, to stem it's flow until Jesus comes. I pray that He will have mercy on the souls of those who don't know him,and that he will send his Holy Spirit to bear upon them so that they will have a thirst for righteousness and call out to Jesus.

I pray that I will better understand God's will for me each day, that I will obey him more, and that whatever I can do to help someone else, I will.