Doubt?

[Bap]

Er. Sorry to like. ...put another thread in here. >_>;;; But yeah... I dunno, last night I just woke up kinda freaked out and stuff. I dunno, like... doubting myself? Sorta? Like... prayer wise. How do I know when I'm praying to God? D:

I want to try to find a verse on it, but... I'm not sure where to look. @_@;

I'm kinda okay now, but... I dunno, still. It's like, I want to pray to God more, but then there's the doubt, and I get kinda scared... It's not that I don't trust God is listening or anything, this is more of... like, what if I'm the one that's not actually directing prayer to God, or something? D: Like, in my subconscious, or something.

And I dunno... I feel like I'm not very good at prayer in general. D: Like, is there a wrong way to do it or something?

Er... to sum up, please pray / help me figure things out and whatnot... @_@; Just one of the bigger messes I think I should get cleaned up in my life, atm. xD;...

[Danderson]

Sure thing....when you pray it's like you're having a conversation with someone....except that other someone knows and understands both what you say and don't say.......Hope that helps......

[AsianBlossom]

Yeah, it's like that; you don't have to follow a lengthy list of solemn prayers in order to pray to God. The easiest thing you can do is just talk to Him in your head whenever you get a moment. Tell Him how your day is going; tell Him your wants, needs, wishes, what you're into right now, what anime series you want to watch next...anything! If it matters in the least to you, you can be sure that it matters to God.

So don't feel like there's only one way to pray; God just wants to hear from you.

[Kamille]

Sure thing....when you pray it's like you're having a conversation with someone....except that other someone knows and understands both what you say and don't say.......Hope that helps......

I agree. The one thing I can add is that you should pray in accordance with God's will, which is read in the Bible. For instance you can kinda see what Danderson was talking about in Matthew 6:8. In fact Matthew 6:5-15 talks about prayer. Though if you're not asking for anything in particular, that's fine too. Many times, especially when I'm feeling down or confused I talk to God and tell Him my beliefs and how I love Him - stuff like that. So basically as long as you know God, the stuff he desires, His likes and dislikes and whatnot, you can talk to Him about anything that's on your mind - and you should. He desperately wants to be with you. So much so that He sacrificed His only Son so you could have a way to be with Him.

[freerock1]

Besides the verses in Matthew 6 that Kamille mentioned, here are some other verses that may be encouraging about prayer:

1 John 5:14 - "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."

John 14:13-14 (Jesus speaking) - "And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

John 16:26-27 (Jesus speaking) - "In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God."

Those verses, particularly the one in 1 John 5, encourage me about prayer, because God promises to hear our prayers and answer them. Like Kamille said, the condition seems to be that we must pray according to God's will, and in Jesus' name (meaning that we accept that it's Jesus' righteousness, not our own, that gives us the right to talk to God). But if we do this, He will answer us, even if it's not as soon as we had hoped. Sometimes if we're uncertain of what to pray, perhaps we just need to pray, "Your will be done."

And there probably will be times that we aren't sure what to pray. But in Romans 8:26-34, we're told that both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are interceding, or praying and pleading, for us. With a team like that lifting us up in prayer, how can we lose?

Anyway, hopefully this is of encouragement. I'll be praying for you, my sister. Be encouraged!

[Sakaki Onsei]

Trust me, Bap. Doubt is one of the hardest things to deal with, right alongside that trust issue. But God knows us and loves us, and he listens to your prayers...even the silly ones.

I'll put you in prayer tonight, and I hope you can go spend some time with God tonight. He's listening.

[Doubleshadow]

I one heard prayer describe as a conversion with a good, close friend. Imagine what you would say to a close friend at the end of the day. It might help. Praying for you.

[Bap]

Thanks all. <3 But... I have a question. D: What if we're not sure if it's God's will or not? D: Like... what we want and are praying for.

[Blitzkrieg1701]

Well, you can just ASK Him! It's not like God doesn't already know that our thoughts aren't His. We don't need to be embarassed about asking Him to make things clearer for us.

[Bap]

That's true... @o@ But I mean, what if like... we don't even know if it's something that's not in His will? D: Like... I dunno. @__@; I'm just so confused about stuff. xD;