Is it a waste to pray against your true feelings?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
23,135
7,895
113
63
#62
Prayer when the heart is not involved is just words IMO. God is a Spirit, and to worship Him, we must worship Him in spirit and truth. The Jews Jesus chastised prayed prayers great in words but not with their hearts or in the spirit, right?
It may well be an act of faith to pray when it is counter to your desire; trusting that God will change your desire in your reasonable service. This isn't always the case, as I stated in another post, but it could be.
 
Jul 5, 2025
7
11
3
#63
Prayer when the heart is not involved is just words IMO. God is a Spirit, and to worship Him, we must worship Him in spirit and truth. The Jews Jesus chastised prayed prayers great in words but not with their hearts or in the spirit, right?
Hi Bro... After reading your short post I feel I should point out that your first sentence conflicts with your second sentence. First, you say, "Prayer, when the heart is NOT involved is just words." Next you point out that Jesus chastised prayers that are great in words but NOT done "with their hearts OR spirit." There really is a connection between heart and spirit. The mother of a missing child prays for his return out of a heart and spirit that longs for him continually, day and night. Her prayers for him are heartfelt and in the spirit. IMHO a prayer in the Spirit and in truth must come from the heart.

John 1:18: "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."

God carries His Son, Jesus, in His bosom. That's another way of saying that Christ is in the heart of the Father in the same way the missing child is in the heart of his mother. So, when Jesus tells us that we are in Him as He is in the Father...Where are we, really?

The "mystery of Christ in you" is a heart and spirit thing. They can't be separated. "At that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you." John 14:20.
 
Sep 4, 2013
30,922
7,004
113
#64
Jul 5, 2025
7
11
3
#65
Thank you! Your insight on John 3:16 and "believing" made my day... I see it differently now and my spirit rejoices! :)
 
Mar 10, 2025
310
200
43
Terra Firma (Earth)
#66
I know we are supposed to pray for our enemies and wish good upon them. And I do that. But I sometimes wonder, is it a waste of time because the Lord knows my heart. And in my heart I genuinely dont want good things for that person who steals my car. I want him to crash in that stolen vehicle.

So my question is: should I still pray for that person? This is a hypothetical btw, no one has stolen my car, just making an example.

I have been praying for evil people because the Bible tells me to do so, and as for my genuine feelings, I always put that up as "flesh vs the spirit", my flesh is fighting the spirit. But am I just praying for no reason if I genuinely dont feel love towards that person?

What do you guys say?
I would say yes, pray against your flesh feelings as King David did,
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” (Psalm 50:10)

Ask The Lord Jesus who lives in us (1 John 4:15) to help you have. change of heart. I am doing this about a unbeliever I felt affection for, but I so suffer from what you speak where I do not want someone to be blessed who is my enemy. And I have to ask The Holy Spirit to stir me to see them through new eyes (Acts 26:18) and new ear, as Jesus says, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 3:22).
 

Blain

The Word Weaver
Aug 28, 2012
21,426
3,513
113
#67
I believe that prayer has power and that power comes from God so even if we feel in our hearts not genuine about it but pray earnestly anyways that power in prayer is not dependant on us but the spirit that lives in us.

Yes there are prayers with lofty words but that isn't the same as praying for your enemy even when your heart doesn't agree with it because if the power of prayer was dependant on our feelings then the power wouldn't be from God now would it?