Paralysis is a medical term for when you cannot move certain muscles due to an issue occurring in the body. This same thing can happen to us in the spiritual sense. When we are unable to move, something has gone wrong.
Therefore, here are 4 signs that mean you are stuck in a prayer-paralysis and God wants you to just do something.
1. If Your Prayers Are Not Resulting in Steps of Faith, This Is a Sign You May Be in a Prayer-Paralysis and the Lord Wants You to Do Something
Praying too much is not really the issue. Rather, the real issue is when we are not living enough, when we are not making decisions that honor the Lord, and when we are not taking the steps of faith God wants us to take in our live after we have prayed.
Prayer is always right (Romans 12:12). But if we are not living for the glory of God and producing good fruit (1 Corinthians 10:31, Ephesians 2:10), then we are missing a big part of prayer. Biblical prayer should be accomplishing something and fueling us for glorifying God (Philippians 2:12-13).
As Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Through prayer, you can remain in Jesus. But if you are not bearing much fruit, you are not really remaining in him.
Yes, there may be things you must wait for. There may be things there is nothing you can do about. But God never wants you to get “stuck in prayer.” Prayer brings freedom so we keep moving forward into God’s will (Philippians 3:13-16).
2. If Your Prayers Are Fueling Your Panic Rather than Producing Peace, This Is a Sign You May Be in a Prayer-Paralysis and the Lord Wants You to Do Something
Prayer must never turn into rumination. Rumination is a psychological term that refers to repetitively thinking about negative or worrisome things.1 This obsessive thinking about a particular issue makes the issue worse in your mind and leads to depression, anxiety, and many other unhealthy feelings.
That is the opposite effect of what prayer should be having on us. When we are praying in a healthy, balanced, Spirit-filled, and biblical way, peace will occur in us. Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV) teaches, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
If you feel more anxious after praying, this could mean you’re in a prayer-paralysis. The Lord may be leading you to do something which will help you ruminate less. When you just think about an issue, it can cause more pressure. But when you do something with your actions to help you deal with an issue, it can help you know you’ve done all you can do and the rest must be left to God.
3. If You Keep Praying the Same Things Over and Over Again But You Sense the Lord Telling You to Stop, You Could Be in a Prayer-Paralysis
I would never say you can pray too much. But I do think you can pray about a certain topic too much. There is an unbiblical belief that many Christians have been taught that states the more you pray about something the more likely it is that God will do what you want. It’s as if God sees how hard we are working through our repetitive prayers and this somehow sways him to do our will. Again, this is unbiblical.
As Jesus said in Matthew 6:7-8, “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
There’s no formula here. I’m not going to tell you that you can pray 100 times for something but 101 is too much. It really depends on what you sense the Lord leading you to do. Pray about something until you feel led to not pray about it. Eventually, there usually does come a point where God will lead you to pray less about this certain topic. He will lead you to take actions and to also pray about other things.
4. If You Are Dreading Your Prayer Time Because It’s Become So Predictable and Boring, You Could Be in a Prayer-Paralysis and the Lord Wants You to Do Something Different
Ultimately, our prayer time must be about connecting with our Heavenly Father who loves us perfectly. If your prayers feel like a chore, something is off.
It’s okay to not pray about certain things you have felt compelled to pray about in the past. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in your prayers, even if that means your prayer time will look a lot different than it has in the past.
Prayer will always be essential, but through prayer God will empower us to live in his will. Psalm 18:28-29 and 39 states, “For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall . . . For you equipped me with strength for the battle . . .”
