Prayer is messy: It’s emotional

“And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.”

-2 Corinthians 9:13

Have you ever felt a nudge to pray for someone you don’t even know? What about feeling connected to someone you have never met? God can use our emotions to engage us in prayer. The feeling- that sadness, that joy- is a conduit of God’s love for that person. How do we know that? Because of this verse, that in their prayers their hearts will go out to those they pray for, and we are a reflection of the love of the father.

Prayer can be the result of an emotion you feel and you cannot always be contained in quiet, prim prayers. These prayers can sound like shouting, whispering, sobbing, or laughing conversation. Our emotions are not to be removed from our prayers. They meant to enhance them!

Let’s pray:

1.) Do you tend to have emotional encounters when you pray? If so, what does it look like for you to pray with emotion. If not, pray and ask God why your emotions are detached from your prayers.

2.) How is God redeeming your emotions? We have been held back too long by our emotions that have been out of control, or we have used them to harm others. God can redeem those harmful emotions into something that glorifies Him! Pray for God to redeem your anger, your jealousy, your feelings of being out of control.

3.) Make a list of 5 people to pray over for the rest of your hour. Pray for God to engage your emotions as you pray for them.