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October 19, 2023

Week 7 — Thursday: Difficulties In Prayer

John 15:4-8 

I still remember the day I was a teenager walking to my grandma’s house when the thought struck me: If I 100 percent believe that God is all-powerful, all good, and works through every prayer, why am I slow to bring things to Him? How can I, at times, be distracted or even apathetic in my prayers if I know these incredible promises are true? The thought shamed me, and at times it still shames me today. 

I can often relate to the writer of this hymn*: 

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! 

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! 

O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, 

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. 

What I have learned in the 25 years since that walk to my grandma’s house is that, at times, my prayers seem vibrant, and I can see and feel God’s powerful Spirit at work. Still, other times I persist in prayer by discipline because even when I don’t feel God’s presence, I know I can do nothing of eternal significance without His power working in me. 

Sometimes my prayers seem distracted and even anxious, but I come to God knowing I am helpless to accomplish anything without Him and with a faith that says, “You can do all things, so please be glorified in this thing that is on My heart.” 

Is your heart’s desire for God to be glorified in everything? If you’re having difficulty praying, you can start by asking God to be glorified in your specific struggles, joys, bold asks, and simple desires. 

*Hymn written by Joseph M. Scriven, 1855.

—CONTRIBUTED BY JONNALEE DUNN —

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One Comment on “Week 7 — Thursday: Difficulties In Prayer

Christine Pence
October 19, 2023 at 10:33 pm

It’s amazing how God is in Jesus the son of God son of Man I find it amazing of his teachings and how he tells us oh I got chills all over me right now how he tells us that you know we can do nothing apart from God and that’s a fact that the father is a vinedresser and the Son is the vine and were the branches and that anything apart from God we can’t do this is exactly why while the world is always too busy trying to do everything on its own power and using technology as it’s muscle and money as its power God has taught me as a 41 year old woman who has never been married never had children for reasons only God knows why I tried I tried to find the one it just did not work out for me but I’ve always wondered okay God I’m single I’m alone I don’t have any kids I don’t have this or that but yet God has used me still for his ministries he’s used me in many ways that I never thought and I could not have done it without the help of the holy Spirit I remember on my Christian walk over these past 7 years there was a time I don’t know if it was 20 20 21 or 2022 but one of those three years and I came across a man from Arizona and he called himself Dennis and I used to post videos about him to pray for him he was a transgender person he thought he was a female and we all know what Bible says and what the world says we know the world is wrong I witnessed him twice I didn’t want to I usually avoid people like that but the holy Spirit laid it on my heart very strongly and God let me feel I’m getting chills on me again his love for this person ever so slightly and I can only imagine the multitude of love the father that God feels for this man and I witnessed him during those years and he lived a very sinful life and he told me to get him a third edition Catholic Bible first off I’m not Catholic and no I did not do that I just prayed for him I preached the gospel to him surprisingly he didn’t yell or scream or cussed me out because he was too busy with his marijuana but God put it on my heart I don’t know why God knows why but I actually witness to a transgender once and it was for me very scary because I know those people can get very angry with Christians and I remember God laid on my heart a few times to even buy him food and I bought him food and fed him sandwich stuff and bananas and he was forever grateful I never saw him again after a while and I think he was getting in trouble with the law because he was homeless and he was just doing a lot of things he shouldn’t have been doing I never knew what happened to that guy but in that God’s grace and mercy I learned that even people like that God has strong love for that the spirit of God basically calls people like that that’s actually confused I found that out I never even knew that was true but it turned out that’s what God’s spirit calls them this actually confused when you listen to the holy Spirit and God talks to you or you hear what he says through another and you know they bear fruit of the Lord listen to what the spirit says and I’m getting those big heavy chills all over me again but I find it amazing that God does stuff like that and it just makes you think of the grace Factor everything under grace the blood of Jesus and that relationship God loves the relationship he wants people at his marriage supper that love him he wants to have people that are lovers of God and not lovers of themselves talk about amazing how much people say that they love their spouses God wants you to love him more than you love your spouse because he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me and part of that testimony I shared about witnessing to the transgender person was to show you how God works I don’t know whatever happened to that man all I know is that the holy Spirit laid it on my heart twice and I did a homeless person he was and these were planted and I prayed for God to send brothers in Christ to go witness to him I don’t know whatever happened to that person is part of my testimony in the future for the things that God has had me do for him anyway God bless you all I’m officially caught up on all these and I look forward to tomorrow’s word or reading or whenever you text it to me again God bless you have a good night take care Jesus bless bye-bye PS when I’m going through trials and tribulations it’s never easy for me like today God worked a miracle for me I won’t say what it is but it was a literal miracle for me because there was something I 100% needed and I thought it wasn’t going to happen and I have been having harassment from the enemy and needing prayer for protection to sleep at night except having a press of spirits mess with me and I don’t need that in my life and I need prayer for that but God made A Way today and the person that was supposed to come over and help me did and I am like praise you God all day kind of thing in my head and today I was like thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Jesus because he’s amazing sometimes at the last second or fraction of a second God will pull through for you when you least expect it just when you see the bleakness you feel like there’s no way out you think like God will never ever get you out of it he does all you got to do is have that face I have so many testimonies to share perhaps one day I can share with others all the things God has had me do but for now here and there I get to share tidbits of what God has had me do these past 7 years and even years prior before you 7 years these seven years or more significant to me than the years before because of the change in the world and in my personal life God is good and God is holy and he deserves all the best may God bless you all and Jesus bless have a good night once again take care and God bless again bye-bye

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