What To Do When You Are Tired Of Praying For Your Unsaved Family

Sharing is caring!

Seven years have passed.  Twenty years have dragged by with no visible change in sight. I am tired of praying for family members that appear to have hearts that are hardened to the Lord.

Questions begin to grow in my mind.

Why am I tired of praying?
Would my time be better spent some other way?
Are my prayers really doing anything?
Does it really matter if I pray or not?
Is God hearing my prayers?
Aren’t Christians supposed to find praying a natural activity?

If these questions and more have been tugging at your heart too, I hope you stick around. Let’s address what to do when our we grow tired of praying for spiritually lost family members.

Why Are You Tired Of Praying For Your Lost Family Members?

Before we move onto some practical ways to overcome weariness in our prayer battles for lost loved ones, let’s first focus on what has led to our tiredness.

Spiritual Dry Season

For any number of reasons, our priorities can get messed up. Perhaps your daily Bible study habits have been disrupted by the birth of a child and you just haven’t found a new routine yet. Maybe your work schedule has become extra demanding for a season and you find that your ministry to others leaves your prayer life drained dry.

Think back to what you were doing when you consistently prayed for your family. Now look at your life. Has something changed? Have you stopped pouring God’s truth back into your life on a daily basis?

If you are in a spiritually dry season, take heart. Seasons are just that. They don’t last. Determine ways to regain your spiritual vigor in this new season of life. Ask God for grace to make the changes necessary so you can stay close with Him.

Apathy

Let’s be honest. Emotions (especially for our family members) can grow stale over time. We become used to them being opposed to our faith in Christ. Often, we mentally start to write them off as a hopeless case. Sometimes, they outright tell us that they don’t care for our prayers.

When the excitement that comes with first praying for a lost family member wears off, we let apathy creep in. If you sense that you just don’t care one way or another about praying for a lost soul, realize that your heart needs to change.

Seek God. Ask Him to give you His heart for the lost again, even when you don’t see change in their lives. Write down and memorize Bible verses that remind you to stay faithful. Take time to dwell on the truth of God’s Word before you pray.

Most of all, realize that Satan desperately wants you to grow apathetic towards the importance of praying for your lost family members. Don’t let the coldness in your heart last. Turn to God today! Let Him help you gain a fire for the lost souls of the world again.

Boredom

Christians become bored with praying.

Yep, I said it. We tend to think that Christians should never admit to having a boring conversation with God. But there are lots of things that can make prayer time boring. One of those things is saying the exact same words over and over again.

When we are praying for family, we find ourselves saying the exact same prayer. As time goes by, those words can become rote and boring. Thus making it easier to grow tired of praying.

Commit to praying Bible verses over your lost family. Learn what is affecting them and pray about those issues as a jumping point to leading them to Christ.

Find different locations or times of day to pray. Perhaps you always pray in the same spot at the same time. It is great to have a set apart time with God. Just remember that while routine is good, so is a break from routine. Take a prayer walk on a nice day. Grab your prayer journal and pray in front of a fireplace in the evening. Set an alarm and get up early to watch a sunrise during your prayer time.

Don’t be afraid to change up your conversation time with God so that boredom doesn’t creep in and thwart your prayer life.

Lack of Forgiveness

Family members can inflict great wounds on us. Whether they intentionally or unintentionally hurt you, remember that you need to forgive them.

The Bible has much to say about forgiveness. First, pray and ask God to forgive you for any part you had in the causing of wounds or harm. Then ask God to help you forgive them. If you are in a situation that allows for it, go to the family member. Let them know that you are choosing to forgive them and be sure to apologize and ask for their forgiveness too. This is not easy. It takes a humbleness that only Christ can help you have.

Remember, forgiveness is a decision. Sometimes, you will feel like forgiveness is not an option. How you feel does not dictate your decision to forgive. Forgiveness clears up your relationship with God. That is your responsibility. What the other person chooses to do with that forgiveness is their responsibility.

Keep deciding to forgive, even when you don’t feel like. Once you have decided to forgive, then lift that person up in prayer again. As you choose to forgive you will find it grows more natural to pray for their salvation.

Bitterness

Bitterness can take deep root in our hearts. Family often wounds us, both intentionally and unintentionally. Those wounds require forgiveness as mentioned above. But even as we choose to forgive, we must not let bitterness set into our hearts either.

Perhaps your unsaved family member hurt you in a very real way. Even as you seek to forgive them, you still have to live with the hurt that they caused. Forgiveness does not magically make pain or trauma or memories vanish.

As you find yourself tired of praying for your unsaved family, consider if there are areas where you cling to bitterness because of past wrongs. Ask God to help you release that bitterness and replace it with His thoughts, His joy, and His healing. Take no mercy on bitterness that is festering in your soul. Seek God’s help to remove that bitterness today.

Don’t let someone else’s past actions or words wound your own relationship with God. God has such a wonderful plan for you. Don’t hold onto bitterness as a form of control over those past hurts. Trust God today that He can be in control of your life, even parts that have caused you pain.

Selfishness

Honestly, it is just easier to not pray for anyone. We want to pray about our needs. Our prayers often center around our desire to see ourselves made comfortable. God has other plans for us. He wants us to be made holy.

One way that God can teach us to root out the sin of selfishness is by requiring of us the time to pray. Yes, He knows what we will pray but He wants us to surrender our own heart and desires and instead spend time lifting others before Him in prayer. Praying for someone is one of the surest ways of removing selfish desires from our own heart.

As we focus more on how to pray what God wants us to pray, we will find that our prayers move from focusing on us to focusing on others. If you find yourself tired of praying for an unsaved family member, consider that you might be letting selfishness take control of your prayer time. Seek God’s help to root out thoughts of yourself and replace them with His thoughts and desires.

Steps To Take When You Find Yourself Tired of Praying For Your Unsaved Family Members

Okay, you know you are tired of praying for your lost family members. How do you go about moving on from tired prayers to powerful prayers?

Here are some ideas and steps to take that will help you move beyond the tiredness.

Identify The Source Of Tiredness

There can be so many reasons that Christians grow tired of praying. Spend some time thoughtfully seeking what areas in your life are causing you to be weary in your prayer life. As mentioned above, there can be many causes that lead to a source of tiredness in our prayer life. Consider which ones might be affecting your prayer life.

Remember Why You Pray

We are in a heavenly battle with Satan for the souls of lost people. This is a battle. Battle fatigue is a real thing in physical warfare as well as spiritual warfare. When you sense fatigue, remember why you are fighting in the first place. You do not pray for someone to become a Christian because it would make your relationship with them easier. Rather you pray that they will come to a right relationship with God.

Set Your Mind On Truth

Often, we grow battle weary because our minds are not set on truth. Take time to study your Bible. Write out Bible verses that remind you why you are praying. Post verses that encourage you to keep going even when you are weary in well doing. Renew your mind daily by meditating on the truth found in the Bible.

Whenever you sense yourself becoming tired of praying, turn your mind to the truth. Pray over Bible verses. Ask for God to help you take those verses to heart by applying them to your life.

Record Prayer Victories

We are forgetful creatures. God answers so many prayers for us that we fail to acknowledge or remember.

Take the time to record your prayers in a prayer journal. At least once a week, record ways that God has blessed you with answered prayers. Thank God for blessings He has given that you may have not even thought to ask for!

As you focus on the prayer victories that you are seeing, it will give you faith and motivation to move ahead on those bigger prayer requests that require patience.

Gain Accountability

Let’s be honest, we tend to get off track when we don’t have accountability. When I don’t wear my Fitbit, my resolve to get 10,000 steps fades quickly. As we try to eat healthier, it is easier to do so if others in the home join us in the change of diet. When we read our Bibles and study with others, we tend to more faithfully do so if we know that others are counting on us studying with them soon.

Seek to have a prayer accountability partner who will check in with you as you journey through rough seasons in your prayer life. Knowing that some other human actually will ask you about your prayer times keeps you accountable and moving forward through seasons of tiredness.

Follow The Holy Spirit’s Leading

In 1 Thessalonians 5:19, God commands that we should not quench the Holy Spirit. For many of us, we have grown quite good at quenching the Holy Spirit’s leading. We keep noise turned up high in our lives so we don’t have a chance to hear the Holy Spirit.

Take time out of your day to be quiet. Listen for the Holy Spirit’s whisper. Perhaps, He wants you to take time to serve someone for a few minutes. Don’t ignore those urges because they are inconvenient or will make you look silly.

As you follow the Holy Spirit’s leading, your whole walk with God will grow more intense and exciting. But often, the one area you will see the most growth is in your prayer life. When you make a habit of quieting yourself to listen for the Holy Spirit, you will find that He will show up in prayer times most. It is hard to be tired of praying for the lost when you are encountering God so profoundly and personally!

A Few Final Questions

Finally, let’s take a few minutes to look at these questions:

Would my time be better spent some other way?

Time spent with the Lord is never wasted. It is important to quiet yourself for some time during your day to focus on your prayer conversation with God.

Another thing to remember is that prayer doesn’t have to always happen in your prayer time. You can pray as you go about your normal daily activities too. Consider praying as you move about your house throughout the day. Let activities that you have to do everyday (like loading the dishwasher) be times of prayer too. Prayer can be breathed in all moments of the day. Don’t let a lack of a quiet moment keep you from praying.

Are my prayers really doing anything?

This side of heaven we will not understand how much our prayers and our words and even our small kind actions will have as an impact.

When you are tempted to be tired of praying because you see no results, realize that God is sovereign. He can use faithful prayers and faithful Christians without them ever knowing. Many stories have been uncovered about the power of prayer to stop evil and provide guidance to a lost soul. Those praying the prayers rarely, if ever, knew the effects of those prayers.

Keep praying. Leave the results to God and trust that someday in Heaven you will get to hear many wonderful accounts of how a faithful prayer warrior changed much.

Does it really matter if I pray or not?

God commands us to prayer many times throughout Scripture in both the Old and New Testament. He is sovereign and can know what we will pray before we pray it. In spite of His all-knowing power, He still desires for us to come to Him and talk with Him daily through prayer.

Prayer is not just a device to get what we want. It is a time of conversation and building of relationship with Him. So yes, our prayers really do matter. They matter because God commands them. Prayers matter because they help us communicate with the Creator of the Universe. Most of all, they matter because He created us to be in communication with Him and prayer is how we get to do that.

Keep faithfully praying, dear Christian woman. It does matter.

Does God really hear my prayers?

God hears us. He sees us. When we are unseen and unknown by every single other person in the world, God still knows us and loves us. Don’t let Satan fool you into believing the lie that God can’t hear our prayers.

With that being said, there are times when He does not answer our prayers. When sin is present in our lives, Scripture does mention that it will hinder our prayer lives. Be sure to stay on guard against sin that gets in the way of your prayer life. Repent from sins in your heart and life so that you can continue to grow as a prayer warrior.

Aren’t Christians supposed to find praying for the lost a natural activity?

Christians tend to assume doing spiritual activities such as prayer and Bible study will come naturally. The reality is that we still have our fleshly side battling our Spirit-filled life. Because we still live on this earth and fight against sin, it is not uncommon that we will feel tired of praying and other spiritual disciplines.

Spiritual disciplines require work, effort, and intentional decisions on our part. Over time, God will help us to form habits that make these disciples easier to choose and more delight-filled. But realize that it is a battle every day and every time when you choose to follow the Spirit’s call to pray. Don’t be disheartened when you find that prayer doesn’t come naturally.

Continue to submit to the Spirit’s leading. Trust God that He does want to hear from you in prayer, even if you don’t “feel” like praying.

Final Thoughts

Prayer is always going to be a battle in the Heavenly realms. When you grow tired of praying, look to see what might be causing your tiredness. Turn your prayer life over to God and trust that He can help you stay faithful in your prayer life for your unsaved family members.

Your Turn

Have you ever found yourself tired of praying, especially for your unsaved family members?

Did you determine some causes that might be making you tired of praying? What areas did the Holy Spirit point out that you need to focus on?

Have you stopped to consider what is happening when you notice your prayer life faltering?

What is one practical way that you can become passionate and rejuvenated in your prayer life this next week?

Be sure to leave comments sharing your struggles and encouragement to each other below!

Thanks for stopping by!

Related Blog Posts

14 Bible Verses To Pray For Your Unsaved Family

4 Ways To Pray For Your Unsaved Family Members

Prayers To Pray In Every Room Of Your House

The War On Prayer: Why Christian Woman Should Be Prayer Warriors

Sharing is caring!