The Complexity of Prayer

Have you ever considered the complexity of prayer?

Have you ever had something you needed to pray about, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to talk to God about whatever the issue was? I have experienced that many times. I will call it “Prayer paralysis.” Prayer paralysis happens when you are afraid of any answer God might give you. If He says no, then you might feel bad, or sad, or even angry. If He says yes, then your fear factor increases because you just don’t think you can handle what a “Yes” entails (which essentially means that you don’t trust Him).

So instead of revealing your lack of trust (Like seriously, you don’t think He knows? ), you just don’t pray. It’s kind of like when you were a little kid, and you would sit still and close your eyes, thinking that it would make you invisible.

God already knows our fears of failure, self-pride, and even our trust issues, so we might as well just go ahead and lay it all at His feet.

There’s another kind of prayer paralysis that I have dealt with. It’s when I know I need to ask God to fix a situation (because Biblically, I know what’s right), but I don’t want Him to fix it. I want to wallow in my anger, or procrastination, or even self-righteousness. 

All of it ultimately comes down to trusting that God knows what’s best for us. It’s about humility and surrender. 

What do you do when you are struggling with prayer paralysis?

 

“The Lord is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in him.” ‭‭Nahum‬ ‭1:7‬ ‭