How To Pray When You Don’t Feel Like It (Praying with a broken heart)
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18
When Prayer Feels Pointless
What happens when you wake up one day and simply don’t feel like praying?
- Maybe life feels unbearable and your faith is shaken.
- Maybe you wake up indifferent, thinking, “Well, I prayed yesterday. Do I really need to pray today?”
I’ve been down that road many times. Life has thrown me chaos and trauma instead of order and hope. I’ve thought, “If God isn’t helping me even when I’ve been praying and studying His Word, why bother?”
Those thoughts are heavy, but they’re real. Many of us have faced the “what’s the point of praying” phase.
Choosing to Pray Anyway
This year, I’ve been slowly undoing negative thought patterns and letting go of habits that keep me from God. One of those habits is neglecting daily prayer.
Just this week, after a difficult stretch, I woke up thinking, “What’s the point? I’m still stuck in the same place I was years ago.”
But yesterday, I made a conscious decision: to pray anyway.
“Father, You know how I feel. You know I’m struggling. I need You. I need You so badly, because I’ve lived life without You and it wasn’t any better. If I’m going to struggle in this season, I’d rather have You by my side.”
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38–39
Jesus in Gethsemane
Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing He was about to be betrayed by a friend and give His life for a world that didn’t even know Him.
He went alone to the Father, sorrowful and troubled, saying:
“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death…” (Matthew 26:38)
He prayed three times, honestly pouring out His heart, yet surrendering to God’s will.
If our Savior turned to the Father in His darkest hour, what’s stopping us?
Honest, Simple Prayers
When life feels unbearable and words are hard to find, sometimes all you can say is:
- “Father, I need You.”
- “Lord, You know my thoughts. You know how negative I’ve been. I repent. Help me.”
- “Lord, I need You. I needed You yesterday.”
💡 Prayer doesn’t have to be long or polished. It just has to be honest.
Learning from David
In my post How to Start Praying, I shared six steps to help beginners. Step 4 was “Say What’s on Your Mind.” You don’t need rehearsed words or filters. Just speak from the heart.
Jesus modeled this in Gethsemane, but David did too. Despite his failures (think Uriah and Bathsheba), David cried out to God for rescue when enemies threatened his life.
One example is Psalm 31, especially verses 9–10:
“Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.”
When you can’t find the words, Scripture gives them to you.
Closing Reflection
Prayer isn’t about pretending life is easy. It’s about choosing to turn to God even when everything feels empty.
Habakkuk 3:17-19 reminds us:
“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.”
When you don’t feel like praying, remember: prayer is not about fixing everything instantly. It’s about anchoring yourself in God’s presence. Even in sorrow, you can whisper, “Father, I need You.” And that whisper is enough.
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