{"id":24139,"date":"2026-03-11T15:40:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/7-ways-to-pray-when-you-cant-pray\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:17:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:17:41","slug":"7-ways-to-pray-when-you-cant-pray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/prayer\/how-to-pray\/7-ways-to-pray-when-you-cant-pray\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Ways to Pray When You Can’t Pray"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to pray when you can\u2019t pray? A couple of us editors were discussing this problem when someone brazenly said, \u201cYou know, I think if you\u2019re trying to pray it is praying. To try<\/em> to pray is <\/em>to pray. You can\u2019t fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps prayer is the only human endeavor where trying to do it is<\/em> doing it. I mean, if God is God, he\u2019s got to hear us no matter what, even if we don\u2019t feel<\/em> like we\u2019re praying when we are. We don\u2019t feel all peaceful and in touch with something beyond ourselves.<\/p>\n

I know what that\u2019s like. You bow your head, close your eyes, you mutter something and your mind is flying in a thousand directions. You\u2019re worried about your health, your family, your work, your lack of work. You\u2019re thinking about the grocery list and the checkbook and the laundry when you want to be praying. Can\u2019t pray? Here are some things I do. Try ’em.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Go ahead and say it to God anyway. Say whatever is on your mind. Say the worst. It can\u2019t be any worse than anything he\u2019s heard. He\u2019s God, after all.<\/li>\n
  2. Breathe. Take some deep breaths. A friend of mind uses the phrase \u201cGod is love\u201d as he breathes. In and out. \u201cGod is love.\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. Too disgruntled to pray? Start thinking of what you\u2019re grateful for. Make a mental list. Write it down if you want. As Joel Osteen writes in his latest book, \u201cSeeds of discouragement can\u2019t take root in a grateful heart.\u201d<\/li>\n
  4. Pray for someone else. Pray for lots of other people. Log onto OurPrayer.org<\/a> and read through some prayer requests. Praying for others always helps focus me. My problems always fall into perspective.<\/li>\n
  5. Say the Lord\u2019s Prayer or the 23rd Psalm. I once met a businesswoman who would say the Lord\u2019s Prayer to herself whenever she became angry. It was one surefire way to calm herself down.<\/li>\n
  6. Sing. Sing to yourself. It could be a hymn, a praise song, but it could also be some rock number that always makes you feel up and inspired. Music always works on the spirit. The psalms, after all, were meant to be sung.<\/li>\n
  7. Go for a walk. Go for a run. Look at a tree. Look at a flower. Climb a mountain. Sit in a chair absolutely silent.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Remember, to try to pray is <\/em>to pray. You can\u2019t do it wrong. There are probably as many different ways of praying as there are people on this earth. Each one of us has our way of communicating. Each one works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    How to pray when you can\u2019t pray? A couple of us editors were discussing this problem when someone brazenly said, \u201cYou know, I think if you\u2019re trying to pray it is praying. To try to pray is to pray. You can\u2019t fail.\u201d Perhaps prayer is the only human endeavor where trying to do it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[30],"ppma_author":[476],"class_list":["post-24139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to-pray","tag-prayer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n7 Ways to Pray When You Can’t Pray - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 Ways to Pray When You Can’t Pray\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How to pray when you can\u2019t pray? 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