Youth Group’s thoughts on Prayer

Two weeks ago at youth group we took fifteen minutes to journal thoughts and questions about prayer. I have compiled a list of quotes that came directly from the youth at LifeChurch. Check out the honesty!

• I pray in my mind; it kind of makes it feel like I’m hand delivering a message to God, but I don’t feel like it’s real. I feel like it’s just a beautiful story that only I get to read about. I don’t see or hear of feel God but I want to so badly. I wish God would just let me see him and touch him so that I know that this is my book, a real story — one that I am in.
• Is having a good/strong prayer life directly correlated to my relationship with God?
• Prayer is a very selfish action for me right now, “just use it when I need it.” Gross
• How do we know for sure that a prayer leaves us at all?
• Is prayer real? Or did someone decide to write it in a book? How do we know at all

• Of course, praying in front of people is a biggie. Sometimes I forget I’m praying to God, not people. It only matters what God thinks, not what people think when they hear me pray.
• Sometimes I get side tracked when I talk to Him, I start thinking about my own things.
• Many times I find it hard to focus when I’m praying… what I mean is my mind wanders or sometimes I can’t focus on anything at all.
• Another problem I have is knowing what to say.
• I feel like God hears my prayers, but doesn’t do much about it.
• I really want to start praying and reading the Bible, but I don’t know how to start doing it consistently.
• A lot of times I feel that God doesn’t hear me, or that I’m looking for the wrong responses. What should I be looking for from God? Visions? Noises? A booming voice?
• A lot of times I’m really tired when I start praying and fall asleep halfway through.
• If I’m not praying, the thought of praying seems boring. But when I do pray I like it, and I feel good afterwards.
• Sometimes I feel empty during prayer.
• What does it mean when you cry while praying?
• Sometimes when I’m angry, I feel totally opposed to prayer.
• Are certain types of prayer more powerful than others?
• Sometimes I think God might be angry, so my prayer is filled with fear.
• Is it okay to talk to God without praying?
• I have trouble with connecting with God. I want to feel him, and feel that he loves me, and know that He’s with me at all times.
• Sometimes I say that I’m going to pray but then I end up not doing it.
• I don’t usually close my eyes while I worship Him at Church because I’m having trouble with thinking too much about what other people think.
• Sometimes I say the same prayer every night and I want to have something else of what to pray about.
• Sometimes I don’t know what I’m allowed to pray.
• When I was younger and would pray out loud I would try and plan out the whole thing before I would speak. Now it just starts to come out of me. I love that feeling, it feels like my prayers really mean something and it’s not just a bunch of words I worked forever to put together.
• I do feel a little uncomfortable to pray out loud when there is a big group. I’m not sure why. It might just be like giving a speech in front of the class like in school.
• When praying in a group you get a chance to get more comfortable praying by listening to what your peers have to say.
• Sometimes when I pray I don’t know if I’m saying the right things, or if I’m asking for too much. I also don’t know if I pray enough. Currently I pray every night before I go to bed.