r/Christianity • u/Zestyclose-Tip-5730 • 11h ago

Advice Why does praying feel fake/forced?

Throughout my life, I've been on an insane roller-coaster with my faith. Diving in hard, leaving it behind, questioning if God is real, reading through the Bible, etc. Recently, after another battle with pornography, I decided to change my approach and just pray for strength to get through this battle. Prayed that my eyes would look to him when I'm struggling. Prayed for forgiveness and to clean my soul that felt like it was rotting. I have tried to make it a point to pray on my ride to the gym in the morning and read my Bible before sleep to keep my head in the right space. I try to pray any time I find myself falling to lust. But it just seems like every time I pray, I get this feeling like this is just an act. I want this to feel real so badly, and I want my life to start moving in the direction of keeping faith and knowing thay God is my only way out of this pit I've been in. But as of right now, even though my prayers are straight from my heart each time, they feel rehearsed and like I'm faking this to myself just to feel better.

I really dont know how to get past this, and to truly feel the "fire" I always hear people talk about with their faith. I believe I want this more than anything, just to be able to feel some peace in my soul. But I just dont know what steps I need to take to make this experience feel true.

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u/DeeplyBaggy 11h ago

prayer feeling like a script is weirdly common especially when you're trying to rebuild the habit from scratch. your head knows the words but the rest of you is still catching up

something that helped me was ditching the formal prayer structure entirely for a while. just talking like i'm venting to someone in the passenger seat. no polished endings no careful phrasing. half the time it comes out as "i dont know what im doing here but im doing it anyway"

the "fire" people describe is usually a memory filtered through nostalgia. most days are just quiet and that's okay. keep showing up

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u/Zestyclose-Tip-5730 11h ago

That is how I've been approaching prayer so far, and it definitely helps. Speaking to the Lord like he's physically there with me and someone I'm comfortable venting to.

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u/Upstairs_Elephant115 10h ago

Religion has made prayer to be about achieving results, rather than, connecting to the FATHER to have a genuine relationship with HIM. Prayer is simply talking to GOD and GOD responds to prayers that are authentic & fueled with faith but even without the fuel, GOD still provides.

Having an open heart is key.

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u/FutureKnowledge9551 10h ago

I'm a type A adrenaline junky. Lived 30 years as a mountaineer, trained rank horses and jumped out of planes at 16. My whole life has been running growth my hair on fire and Jesus in front. Now I'm older and slowed down.

I learned that God goes fast 1% of the time and 99% nice and steady.