Q&A: What About Those Times When I Don't Feel Like I Can Pray?

How to Pray So That You KNOW You'll Get Your Answer Q&A

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Question: What if I don’t feel like I can pray?

Sometimes, prayer feels like the last thing we can do. God knew these days would come.

So He gave us a gift that would enable us to pray even in the worst days, even through the hardest times.

God gave us the Name of Jesus.

Praying in Jesus’ Name means more than tacking it onto the end of our prayers. You can unleash incredible power when you understand how to pray in Jesus’ Name — yet few of us grasp just how amazing this really is.

On the last night before the Cross, Jesus equipped His disciples with a promise that would carry them through every challenge, every difficulty, every problem that they would ever face. Jesus said:

“I will do whatever you ask in My Name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me for anything in My Name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14 BSB).

What does this mean?

What does it really mean to ask for something in Jesus’ Name?

Let me ask you a few questions.

Do you feel too dirty, too shameful, too full of failure?

Then you can pray in the name of Jesus, which is pure, perfect, and glorious.

Do you feel like God won’t listen to you?

Then you can pray in the name of Jesus, the Name that God will always listen to.

Do you ever feel like you aren’t worthy of praying? Do you ever feel like God might listen to others, but He won’t listen to you?

Then you can pray in the name of Jesus, the Name of the One who is eternally worthy of being answered.

What you’re saying in these moments of doubt is that your name is not worthy of being heard. You’re saying that you haven’t attributed enough good works to your name to earn an answer. And that’s good — because we never can. There isn’t a single human who can accomplish enough good works in their own name to make themselves worthy of being heard.

God doesn’t want us to pray in our own names.

God gave us another Name in which we can pray.

And this Name is worthy of everything.

Your own name might not be worth much. Praying in your own name might not move the needle.

But the Name of Jesus opens every door in Heaven.

When you pray, don’t go to God in your own name. Don’t go in your own accomplishments, in your own morality, in your own good deeds. Don’t try to bring your own name to prayer.

Bring the Name of Jesus.

Don’t pray because you’ve earned something. Pray because Jesus has earned everything.

Don’t pray because you feel like you did most things right, recently. Pray because Jesus did everything right, every single day.

Don’t pray because you have done great deeds for God. Pray because Jesus accomplished the greatest works ever, redeeming God’s children from the clutches of sin and hell.

Don’t pray because you feel like God should listen to you. Pray because God loves to listen to Jesus.

When you add the words “in Jesus’ Name” to your prayers, stop and marvel at them. God has given you the Name of Jesus in which to pray. You are a Christian — a little Christ — a human following Jesus, filled with the Spirit of Jesus, reading books about how to pray like Jesus.

Pray as though Jesus is right next to you, with His arm around you, encouraging you to speak your heart to the Father, cheering you on as you pray, rejoicing as you ask God for the things that delight God to hear.

Pray as though Jesus is tacking His affirmation on to yours. Pray as though, once you finish praying, Jesus says, “Yes, Father! I agree with all of that. I put My stamp of approval on that prayer. It is prayed in My Name. Answer it mightily!”

And if that makes you a bit nervous to think of Jesus approving your prayers, take careful study of the Scriptures, my friend. Learn what Jesus loves to pray. Learn what the Father loves to hear. Pray those things back to Him, and you can have absolute confidence that Jesus is adding His stamp of approval to your prayers. Chapter 30 contains several of these.