- Username
- cerulean
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I understand this all too well. I have gone through this a lot. Something that helped me is just talking to God randomly. Like yesterday when I saw 2 sunflowers growing in the freeway. I just said God thanks that was cool to see. It may not seem like a prayer but I believe prayer is a conversation with God so I see stuff and thank him or pray for the situation I come across. I may do it halfhearted but it’s still talking to him. As long as you’re including Him I honestly think you’re good.
I completely relate. This is one of those instances where mental health and legitimate Christian desires converge and get blurry. I am a Christian and struggle with what is called "scrupulousity" in my OCD. As a matter of faith, a question to ask here may be "do I really believe, based on what God has revealed in scripture, that He wants me to feel like a worthless guilty failure because I don't _______ often enough?" If the answer is no, then we can start there. Maybe the issue is not that we don't pray enough, but that we feel there is some certain amount we must pray to keep God's affections. When you think of it like that the OCD may get exposed for the imposter that it is, tricking us and invading our faith. Hope that makes some sense.
Also, it helps to bear in mind that so much that is preached and written in Christian teaching is done so with a "normal" audience in mind. When we hear a sermon on prayer, and the need to pray more often, our personal struggles send us down a path the preacher probably never intended. We rarely consider that the majority of the audience being spoken to may need to hear that to motivate them from complacency. We have to apply a different lens sometimes because we understand our own unique position in this scenario... again, hope that makes sense.
Are you still on this app??? Plz help me
Like raeray said, prayer is just talking to God. It doesn't have to be all formal or anything, you can just talk to God throughout your day about anything. Maybe just every day start off by thanking God for His love that saves you and makes you His child. Right there you just prayed in a very simple and beautiful way. Or what concerns you tell Him about it and that is considered prayer.
Does anyone else get intrusive thoughts while praying or thinking of God? It has been stressing me out so bad. I feel like I’m a bad Christian or somethings wrong with me cause sometimes I get flooded with intrusive thoughts when I try to focus my time on God.
If i try to accept i feel so much guilt and sad and even depressed like im a bad person and i have to fix this, but i realize to that then i become perfectionist, and its really exhausting to always be perfect for God, and you become obsessive with that, its not healthy. But i cant accept im like this and this is okay cause God still loves me... i still feel bad about being sinful... so then i say to myself that maybe im not sinful cause i really avoid many bad things, so i might be good but then i get guilt again cause "who i am to say that im not sinful, im a human too, i cant say that"... This might come from me not knowing what is really a sin, there are alot of things people call sins, but i want to understand why is it a sin. This really makes me not enjoy my life cause i call sin many things i enjoy doing and now i feel guilty about doing them...
3 hours awake and I already hate my life again. It was a bit stressful now and every time I am in a hurry I feel that my intrusive thoughts become stronger or more intense. My thoughts are maily blasphemous or sexual and I really cant get over the thought that I might have sinned. Sometimes I also feel jealous and envious when I see especially other christians who dont seem to have any problems. I cant even think that God loves me because I am a terrible person.
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