Disappointment in God can be an obstacle to prayer.
The best antidote is to take this to God and release it.
That's what Cindy Jacobs recommends - and she speaks from experience.
Many years ago, she was going through a difficult time in prayer - she wasn't sure that God wanted to answer her prayers. Unconsciously, she was questioning the goodness of God.
"It's critical when we are struggling in such a way that we stop and allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate any faulty or negative thinking, and surrender emotions that might keep us from praying in faith," says Jacob in her book The Power of Persistent Prayer.
After struggling in prayer for a while, she asked God what was wrong.
She felt he was telling her that she was angry with him.
"I came to realize that my anger flowed out of deep disappointments in my past," she writes. "Quite simply, I had expected certain things to go a certain direction in my life, and that had not happened."
She asked God to reveal to her what those disappointments were. Some of them were caused by her, some by others. And some were dreams that were never fulfilled.
She made a list and prayed over them, sometimes grieving.
One of her toughest issues was her father's death at the age of 49, a week before her wedding. He was a pastor and she had longed for him to perform the service.
After giving up these hurts to the Lord, "full trust in my heavenly Father was restored".
"This led to a level of confidence to my prayer life that was not there before," she says.
"This point leads to a critical factor in our intercessory walk with God. If we do not believe that God is good, then we can't pray in faith expecting Him to do good things for us through answers to our prayers."
She suggests the following approach to restoring our relationships with God:
The best antidote is to take this to God and release it.
That's what Cindy Jacobs recommends - and she speaks from experience.
Many years ago, she was going through a difficult time in prayer - she wasn't sure that God wanted to answer her prayers. Unconsciously, she was questioning the goodness of God.
"It's critical when we are struggling in such a way that we stop and allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate any faulty or negative thinking, and surrender emotions that might keep us from praying in faith," says Jacob in her book The Power of Persistent Prayer.
After struggling in prayer for a while, she asked God what was wrong.
She felt he was telling her that she was angry with him.
"I came to realize that my anger flowed out of deep disappointments in my past," she writes. "Quite simply, I had expected certain things to go a certain direction in my life, and that had not happened."
She asked God to reveal to her what those disappointments were. Some of them were caused by her, some by others. And some were dreams that were never fulfilled.
She made a list and prayed over them, sometimes grieving.
One of her toughest issues was her father's death at the age of 49, a week before her wedding. He was a pastor and she had longed for him to perform the service.
After giving up these hurts to the Lord, "full trust in my heavenly Father was restored".
"This led to a level of confidence to my prayer life that was not there before," she says.
"This point leads to a critical factor in our intercessory walk with God. If we do not believe that God is good, then we can't pray in faith expecting Him to do good things for us through answers to our prayers."
She suggests the following approach to restoring our relationships with God:
- Spend time meditating on scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to show you any unhealed areas where losses or unfulfilled expectations have affected your thinking;
- Make a list of the things the Lord shows you; and
- Set aside an uninterrupted time of prayer - even a day or more - making this a top priority.
One thing I'm learning is that what I want may not be what God wants for me. He knows better than I do what is good for me.
I believe God is good, no matter what happens around me.
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