Prayer

[Jatd]

I find that I truly have a hard time praying.

I don't mind giving thanks and getting on my knees and being ever so grateful and giving praise for all of the blessings in my life, but when it comes to "asking" .. It just doesn't feel right. Anyone else?
OR suggestions? Or answers as to why i feel this way?

I just don't feel like I should be asking anything of God.

[sandalwood]

then dont, you dont need to ask questions to pray.
the greatest prayer you can give, is to just be silent and observe gods presence no matter where you are.

Jatd I started out praying (in the real sense meaning setting a good deal of time set aside and opening up my Heart) three years ago. Prior to this I prayed for family and causes of a night before sleep. A Rosary was given to me and....I have never looked back in terms of the fact that if I miss praying the Rosary once or twice a day and/or the other prayers that I now pray; in which I converse and receive His Love, Wisdom and Guidance, then I have greatly missed Jesus/God and Our Lady Mary during that week.

Similar to one of your Children going on a school excursion for 7 days (but a great deal more)!

Today for instance I have been praying and running about, however the time spent on here now is when I should have been praying while doing my Callings.

One can pray all prayers doing things like driving if one offers up their tasks to God/Jesus at the same time as opposed to kneeling in a quiet room if one has not set that time aside or cannot set that time aside working.

This is where commuting or driving is great because praying can be done before and after work, while mowing the lawn, while doing other things that are physical things!

Alternatively singing 'The Our Father' for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory to be forgiven their sins and brought to everlasting Life with God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit; so many prayers can be prayed for others up there in which those Souls will be Eternally grateful to you through God/Jesus and Our Lady Mary.

That's what I do anyway and as a result of praying to get to the point (3) years ago when I opened up my Heart (ie my Heart finally cracked open) to Jesus while focussing on His Resurrection and what He had endured before that. It is true for me and I have heard from many other people that until one gets into praying regularly it is difficult for them to crack open their Hearts more fully to really 'feel' Jesus pain and a part of what He endured. On the other hand, there are people who are close to Jesus/God/The Holy Spirit who never needed to pray to open up their Hearts and "feel" Jesus/God's pain and agony; I have seen people upset and greatly affected whereas I needed to fully open up my Heart through praying The Holy Rosary a couple of times daily and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy Prayers.

When this happens with people who believe in Jesus/God/The Holy Spirit it is exciting, joyous and one wishes to share it with every one to share how they have felt the closeness and all the things that happen; and we all do receive things from Jesus/God; since praying my odd monthly things that have occurred are now daily occurrences; Jesus and Our Lady Mary are guiding and showing me incredible things daily!

Time was all that was required praying after going back to Church and confessing sins regularly. This reminds me, when I was the happiest and the most sin free during my Life was in primary school attending Church and attending Confession and Holy Communion (Jesus/The Holy Spirit). I am for the most part back to that age in my Soul! A great release knowing Jesus/God has wiped our sins when we are truly remorseful and confessed to Him through prayer and through one of His Holy Appointed/Christian Clergy.

Remember the old proverb "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink"; I think someone else may post a proverb in response so I'll check back in later on your Thread!

[Arcturus]

"Every prayer is a supplication and there is no asking when there is clarity and the heart unburdened. Instinctively, in time of trouble, a supplication of some kind comes to the lips, to avert the trouble, the ache or to gain some advantage. There is hope that some earthly god or the gods of the mind will answer satisfactorily, and sometimes by chance or through some strange coincidence of events, a prayer is answered. Then god has answered and faith has been justified. The gods of men, the only true gods, are there to comfort, to shelter, to answer all the petty and noble demands of man.

Such gods are plentiful, every church, every temple and mosque has them. The earthly gods are even more powerful and more immediate; every state has them. But man goes on suffering in spite of every form of prayer and supplication. With the fury of understanding only can sorrow end but the other is easier, respectable and less demanding. And sorrow wears away the brain and the body, makes it dull, insensitive and weary. Understanding demands self-knowing, which is not an affair of the moment; learning about oneself is endless and the beauty and the greatness of it is that it is endless. But self-knowing is from moment to moment; this self-knowing is only in the active present; it has no continuity as knowledge. But what has continuity is habit, the mechanical process of thought. Understanding has no continuity." J Krishnamurti

But it is just great that you dont have to ask for something :)

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by Jatd

I find that I truly have a hard time praying.

I don't mind giving thanks and getting on my knees and being ever so grateful and giving praise for all of the blessings in my life, but when it comes to "asking" .. It just doesn't feel right. Anyone else?
OR suggestions? Or answers as to why i feel this way?

I just don't feel like I should be asking anything of God.

The only thing I ask for is forgiveness. Everything is in the mind, so I make a request that it be cleared. I'm also speaking to myself at the same time, because I believe all is one.