Why Is Prayer So Hard?

“Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalm 46:10

You sit down to pray, determined to spend time with God.

But almost immediately, your mind starts racing:

• Did I reply to that email?
• What’s for dinner?
• Oh! I need to add something to my grocery list…

Before you know it, five minutes have passed, and instead of feeling connected to God, you feel frustrated and distracted.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

Prayer is one of the most important parts of our faith, yet for so many of us, it’s also one of the most difficult.

We hear about the power of prayer, we read verses that tell us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), but when we actually try to pray, we struggle to focus, our minds wander, and we leave feeling disconnected rather than refreshed.

Why Is Prayer So Difficult?

For many of us, prayer feels like a struggle because:

• We get distracted. The moment we stop to pray, our brains jump to all the other things we need to do.
• We don’t know what to say. We feel pressure to pray the “right way” but aren’t sure what that looks like.
• We don’t feel anything happening. We wonder if God is even listening, or if our prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling.

But what if the problem isn’t that we don’t pray enough, but that we haven’t been taught how to pray in a way that actually transforms us?

What if prayer isn’t just about talking to God but about learning to listen, to reflect, and to let prayer shape our everyday lives?

The good news is, prayer is something we can grow in—just like any relationship.

I would love to hear from you  – Which of the struggles above can you relate to? Or is there something else that makes prayer difficult for you? Please comment below.

Over the next few posts, we’ll explore:
✅ Why prayer can feel difficult.
✅ What’s really stopping us from being still before God.
✅ A simple method to help you focus and connect with God in prayer.

📌 Stay tuned for the next post, where we’ll explore why we often struggle to be still before God—and how this struggle might be keeping us from deeper intimacy with Him.