It’s unlikely that you get to the place very often where you simply don’t want to talk to God. You’ve said everything you can think of, waited patiently, tried to do all the right things, and still your life feels out of control and out of your hands. You question whether God can actually give you any advice because you didn’t hear a thing when you were trying so hard to listen. Your heart is heavy, your mind is over-burdened and you can’t think of one thing you haven’t already shared with God about what’s going on. You simply haven’t got a prayer!
So, what do you do when you feel like that? How can you find a new path to prayer that will bring you peace?
My first thought would be to give yourself permission to step aside from what now feels like the work of prayer and take a break. It’s worth noting that God will not be sharing a break time with you because He’ll still be working on the issues surrounding your life. He’ll be busy opening the eyes of others who will help you along the way. He’ll be walking with you, never once leaving you without His love and protection. As the same time, He’ll inspire the prayer warriors around you to step up and work overtime on your behalf. He’ll inspire thoughts of you in their minds to offer prayers for you and words of encouragement.
You can tell God you have nothing left to say. You can set the burden down at His feet and focus on those things you can do something about. You can breathe in the moments before you and look for ways to be a blessing to others. In time, you may be inspired to try something new to help your current crisis. It may surprise you that there is so much more to discover, when you step back and give God time to act.
When you come to the end of all the words you know, then stop speaking, and let God speak to you. Let Him shine a light on your thoughts and memories, on things that you never noticed in all the efforts you made to reduce your cares and concerns. Hand it over, let God take it from there, and don’t take it back. If you do that, you won’t ever have a sense that you are obligated to pray. You won’t imagine you are rehashing all the words you said before. You’ll only feel your spirit seeking to warm you from the inside out to let you know that all is well. Why? Because God heard you from the very first prayer you spoke, and He’ll find a way to give you peace and assurance. After all, He is still in charge!