Quiet Time: Pray It Out

Prayer gives us a chance to let God know the truth so we don’t have to be burdened by guilt or worries that we experience in our lives.

“Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, 
blot out the stain of my sins.Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.”

Psalm 51: 1-4

God is faithful when we go to him in prayer with the sin that can burden us in our lives.  Only God can purify us of the guilt that exist in our heart and mind. God wants you to feel free.

Sin makes us feel guilty. To feel freedom from the guilt that can haunt our thought life, it requires us to be honest with God.

What are the sins that make you feel guilty?

How have your decisions to sin hurt God and those around you?

What do I turn to instead of prayer to try and forget the sins?

Once you have identified your sins, go to God in prayer and pray about how it has hurt those around you and how God can feel about it.  Ask God for comfort and the courage to be open and to share these thoughts with others in your cabin.

“Don’t be anxious about things; instead, pray. Pray about everything. He longs to hear your requests, so talk to God about your needs and be thankful for what has come. And know that the peace of God (a peace that is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus, the Anointed One.”

Philippians 4:6-7

God wants to know what our needs are and the scripture actually says God longs to hear them.  When we make a decision to pray to God about all the thoughts that make us anxious, the guilt, our past experiences, God will give us peace for our hearts and mind.

We have a lot of thoughts that can make us feel anxious, but we have the option of praying to God about them. These thoughts live in our hearts and mind, but we don’t have to let it stay there, and instead can receive peace from God.

What makes you anxious?

Do you choose to pray about your anxiety or let it lead you?

Journal out all the thoughts can make you make anxious. Pray through what you wrote down and how it makes you feel. Ask God to provide clarity to see why you feel the things you do and to help you find peace in it all.

“Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.”

1 Peter 5:7

God cares about what is on our mind. He cares when we feel a lot and wants these worries to turn us to Him instead of letting it control us. God cares for us the way a parent should care for us; through close observation and affection.

We can let everyday things lead us to anxiety, worries or concerns in our life, but it does not have to be that way. God wants us to go to him to be cared about and not take on all these things alone. He wants to have a relationship with us.

What do you feel the most, anxiety, worries or concern?

How do you handle these things?

Do you try to face these thoughts alone or do you go to God in prayer with them?

Identify what you feel the most. Go to God in prayer and let it all out with him. Ask God to help you through the struggles you feel and to not have to face it alone.

Challenge:

Journal through the entire negative, anxious, and guilty thoughts that can lead our heart and thought life. Ask a friend to pray with you through all these emotions and for God to give you a sense of comfort for having to tell him everything. Pray until you feel a sense of peace.