An honest question
What if I don’t feel anything when I pray?
Key points
- Short answer: Faith is trusting a promise, not having a feeling.
- What Jesus did: A father brought his sick son to Jesus. Jesus spoke about believing, and the father answered honestly: “I believe.
- The Lutheran view: This is close to the heart of Lutheran teaching. Faith is a gift God gives through his word and the sacraments.
The short answer
Faith is trusting a promise, not having a feeling. Many people feel nothing much when they pray. God’s promise stays true either way.
What Jesus said and did
A father brought his sick son to Jesus. Jesus spoke about believing, and the father answered honestly: “I believe. Help my unbelief!” Jesus did not wait for him to be sure. He healed the boy.
His friends asked him, “Increase our faith.” Jesus told them that faith the size of a mustard seed is enough. A mustard seed is about as small as a seed gets.
After he rose, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.” He had in mind everyone after that first group, who would trust without seeing or sensing anything.
A little longer
Many people describe faith in feeling words: a warm heart, a deep peace, a sense that God is near. Those words are real for them. They are not a test you have to pass.
Feelings change with sleep, health, stress, and the way your brain works. If faith depended on them, it would come and go every day. Christians say it rests on something steadier: what God has said and done.
So instead of asking, “What do I feel?”, you can ask, “What has God promised?” He promised to hear prayer. He promised to be with you always. Those stay true on a flat day.
Prayer can be plain. You can read a written prayer out loud, type one, or say one sentence. You don’t need to feel anything first.
Paul wrote, “Faith comes by hearing.” It grows by hearing God’s word, often slowly and quietly.
- Build a prayer Pick a few lines and add your own words.
Where Christians disagree
Christians differ here. Some churches put a lot of weight on felt experience: a moment of conversion, or sensing the Spirit in worship. Others, Lutherans among them, are wary of measuring faith by feelings. Both agree that God is bigger than any one experience.
How Lutherans see it
This is close to the heart of Lutheran teaching. Faith is a gift God gives through his word and the sacraments. It is not a feeling you have to produce. Luther pointed people who felt nothing back to their baptism: a promise made to them by name. When your heart is unsure, “God is greater than our heart.”
Where it is in the Bible
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Mark 9:23–24 “I believe. Help my unbelief!”
Read Mark 9:23–24
23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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Luke 17:5–6 Faith the size of a mustard seed is enough.
Read Luke 17:5–6
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” 6 The Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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John 20:24–29 Blessed are those who have not seen.
Read John 20:24–29
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26 After eight days again his disciples were inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the middle, and said, “Peace be to you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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1 John 3:19–20 God is greater than our heart.
Read 1 John 3:19–20
19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him, 20 because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
Understand the book: MarkAn animated overview from BibleProject, 10 min
What do these words mean?
| The word | It means |
|---|---|
| Faith | Trust in God. Lutherans say it is a gift God gives, not something you work up. |
| Baptism | Washing with water, with God’s promise, that makes someone part of the church. |
| Lord’s Prayer | The prayer Jesus taught his friends. It begins “Our Father in heaven.” |
Tap a word for more. All 228 church words: the glossary, A to Z
Where to go next
Other questions people ask
Written by Digital Lutheran Church, a small, free website from the nonprofit Hope for Americans, in the tradition of the ELCA. Bible passages are from the World English Bible.