This post on prayer may seem strange to some, but others will immediately understand. Many years ago when I began to pray in a more meditative manner, instead of the grocery list of prayer I followed most of my life, I found my prayer time was being attacked. It was disturbing to say the least because I stared having vile thoughts during prayer. Right away I thought something was wrong with me, but thankfully two things happened letting me know I was actually doing something right.
The first thing I did was go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. When I told the priest what was happening, he leaned back in his chair and smiled. He told me to keep praying. He said the evil one was assaulting me because he didn’t want me drawing close to God. Shortly after that my own devout dad told me this same thing happened to him. Believe me it was nice to know I wasn’t alone. My dad told me to pray these words when it happened, “Father, I offer up these thoughts for some soul right now in danger of dying in mortal sin.” Or you can say, “I offer up these thoughts for some soul right now in danger of dying and not in a state of grace.” Both are really the same. Anyway, the next time this happened to me, I prayed that prayer and the thoughts left immediately. At that point I couldn’t even think the thoughts if I tried! Interestingly it turns these vile thoughts to the benefit of souls, and it thwarts Satan’s plan. I know it sounds like a strange thing to offer to our Lord, but He tells us to bring all our troubles and trials to Him.
If you continue to have problems with prayer then it is probably your own concupiscence. Still offer this up, and pray for God to give you the grace to overcome this problem.
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12 comments:
I can relate to this post completely! A friend once told me a similar thing; to offer our distractions to our Lord. I was amazed at how much less I was distracted and the times I was, well it's like you say ~ it gets turned around for good.
Thanks again for all your encouraging words yesterday.
God Bless!
Thanks Karinann, It helps to know we're not alone when things happen to us. I'm going to do the same thing with distractions now! God bless you too.
Wow, I am so glad you shared this, as I have been finding out while in worship, the devil attacks me big time with negative thoughts. Even to the point of just giving up totally!
I have even found myself saying to the devil, "you have no business being here."
JBR, you recognized who was behind it which is better than what I thought initially when it happened to me. St. Benedict talks of satan drinking his own poison. I feel like turning this over to God in a sense does just that to the evil one. Keep up that worship! And pray for me too please!
I am feeeling the same problem, i couldn't be close with the god when praying. bad thoughts distrubing me always. thanks for your suggestion
Anonymous, hang in there. Trust God to pull you through. He will protect you from the source of those bad thoughts. God bless you.
Thank you so much for posting this
I've been having bad thoughts during prayer and it's been troubling me a lot. They've slowed down, as in it doesn't happen so much but they're still bugging me
Last night when I was praying for help with something a thought jumped in "Dear god please help me not to sell my soul" and then I got really scared because I'd just prayed that but now hopefully those thoughts can stop
Please pray for me.
Hi Daniel! I need to check my blog more often. God will see you through. If we have to turn to Him many times, He is always there to help you. The St. Michael prayer will help also. If you do not know it google: St. Michael the Archangel prayer. Praying for you precious one. Please pray for me too.
I have this same problem too. It even came to a point where sometimes I complained about praying. But I immediately felt guilty afterwards not wanting to be this way. I try praying the rosary afterwards and I think bad thoughts. Also, I hope and pray that God doesn't get mad at me for stalling sometimes. For example: I would pray the rosary and my mind would think bad thoughts and my mind would think 'why don't you go tell mom'. That thought plus the negative thoughts would keep coming, and I am not able to concentrate anymore. I just hope God forgives me and thay I may have the courage to tell my parents.I will never stop praying and I make sure I get at least 1 rosary in each day. I'm glad you shared this becuase I have the confidence now to keep praying. Thank you so much :)
Anon, I feel like this will happen throughout our prayer life. But knowing the source of these bad thoughts helps. You are right to not give in. Keep praying. I'm praying for you too!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! <3
Thank you Pascal! God bless!!!
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