At what point do we call it quits?

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Jacob fought with God and was blessed by Him as a result (Genesis 32:28).

For me, and I’m sure it is with others, aren’t so lucky. I think I’ve been like Jacob for a while and I haven’t really seen anything tangible. I’m exhausted and knackered, to say the least. At what point do we just call it quits and give up on prayer/spirituality?
 
Jacob fought with God and was blessed by Him as a result (Genesis 32:28).

For me, and I’m sure it is with others, aren’t so lucky. I think I’ve been like Jacob for a while and I haven’t really seen anything tangible. I’m exhausted and knackered, to say the least. At what point do we just call it quits and give up on prayer/spirituality?
My first answer would be NEVER to call it quits.

No matter what age or variable of happiness or state in life, all of God’s children will be put to the test of trial.

Look at the lives of the Catholic Saints through history and what they went through.

Jesus speaks of a parable that applies in a very personal way to all His followers at every stage of Spiritual Growth.

**“On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: ‘A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,a hundred or sixty or thirty-fold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.’”

“Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirty-fold.”

People that love the Word of God initially but as they grow older, they leave the Church because it is not convenient; God gives them free will. This is for those on the rocky ground. Then there are those that lose the faith because of persecution, trials, and hardship even though in past ages our fathers in faith would go through difficult times and ultimately die for their faith like the first 32 popes.

But, after all, those whom have lost their faith could always humbly come back to the faith like Prodigal Sons and Daughters.**
In The Crucible Of Fire, Gold (the Human Soul) Is Tested
 
Never.

Do you have anyone to help you? I’m thinking spiritual direction. Also someone to discuss the faith on a more intellectual level if that is what you need.

Perhaps you should just relax a bit and see this crisis for what it is: a crisis of faith. It will pass. Keep going to Mass and keep prayers simple. I find the Divine Mercy chaplet easy to pray even when I don’t feel like it. It is short but powerful.
 
J …At what point do we just call it quits and give up on prayer/spirituality?
Hi BB, the way I see it, at some point you have to chose to submit to God. You cant go on fighting Him you whole life. Scripture says “submit to God and the devil will flee.” 👍
 
Never, never, and never.

We are called to pray without ceasing.

Have frequent recourse to the Sacraments. Pray, pray for the grace of perserverance. God will see you through. He always does.

God bless.
 
Jacob fought with God and was blessed by Him as a result (Genesis 32:28).

For me, and I’m sure it is with others, aren’t so lucky. I think I’ve been like Jacob for a while and I haven’t really seen anything tangible. I’m exhausted and knackered, to say the least. At what point do we just call it quits and give up on prayer/spirituality?
My heart goes out to you dear brother. It can do that because it has been where your heart is at now. I often wonder about the Saints, and how it was they persevered in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Like Mother Teresa, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, and so many others, faithfully bearing their crosses day in an day out, year after year, often in the depths of the Dark Night. It can only be attributed to one thing…grace. Pray for grace dear brother, and I will pray the same.

If all men abandon you and even drive you away by force, then when you are left alone fall on the earth and kiss it, water it with your tears and it will bring forth fruit even though no one has seen or heard you in your solitude. Believe to the end, even if all men went astray and you were left the only one faithful: bring your offering even then and praise God in your loneliness. And if two of you are gathered together - then there is a whole world, a world of living love. Embrace each other tenderly and praise God, for if only in you two His truth has been fulfilled. Fyodor Dosteoevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
 
As others have said, “Never” is the correct answer.

However, there is an important aspect to these matters that can be easily overlooked, especially by “type A” personalities. That aspect is “resting in the Lord” of “being still” so that you can hear His voice etc…

So while we should never “give up” - taking a rest can be a very good thing spiritually. Otherwise we get too tensed up and “burned out” and frustrated - exactly what you express in your OP.
Keep your prayer life close, but take a rest on “expectations”. Enter a more quiet contemplative aspect for a time. It will renew you and refresh you.

Peace
James
 
“Giving up” is called ‘cowardice’. If you make the choice, do not be surprised when God lacks lenience. He will vomit you out of His mouth. 😦
 
Jacob fought with God and was blessed by Him as a result (Genesis 32:28).

For me, and I’m sure it is with others, aren’t so lucky. I think I’ve been like Jacob for a while and I haven’t really seen anything tangible. I’m exhausted and knackered, to say the least. At what point do we just call it quits and give up on prayer/spirituality?
Again - never. Stop praying for what you want and give your will to God to do what HE wants with you no matter what the cost.
 
Again - never. Stop praying for what you want and give your will to God to do what HE wants with you no matter what the cost.
The problem I have with the talk of God’s will is that it essentially is a cover for, “let nature take it’s course”. Now that’s the problem. Nature has no purpose; it has no telos. So I find this view “submitting to God’s will” very difficult to believe in. For many people, the stakes are much too high to take a laissez-faire approach. Plus, the only reason I came to the Church was because I was called (or at least I think) back to the Church. As it stands, I am reevaluating what happened in my past. It would be a very very embarrassing situation to find that I wasn’t even called to the Church in the first place 😊. I hope my reevaluation doesn’t lead me to that conclusion, but I can see it happening unfortunately.
 
It’s not the case, but let’s look at it anyway. What’s wrong with saying that “God’s Will” is a euphemism for “letting nature take its course”? The Universe operates according to the will of the blessed Trinity. He created all the laws of physics and the myriad natural rules which govern space. Why should this hurt your faith in any way whatever? It ought to strengthen your faith. 🙂 You see the glory of the Lord in all things…

At any rate, you ask for God’s will to be “done” because it relies on free will. His plan is fulfilled through people, and people alone. He wants to use us as open tools and vessels to move things forward. For example, if you pray that X will fulfill God’s will in his life, and the next day X comes up to you and asks your help with something… how can you doubt that your prayer was answered, and God is using you to help this person fulfill the plan of Heaven? If anyone says that God’s will is just ‘nature’ taking its course, they’re not looking into it enough.

Meditate on the Lord’s Prayer… 😃
 
Never. If you give up, you give up heaven and choose hell.

Ask for the grace of perseverance. Perserverance of the Just and for you.

The grace of final perseverance is very important. What would the use be if we are faithful, up to the point near our death, and at the point of our death, we deny to Jesus? (It is unlikely if that’s the case, but … but the last moment is very crucial, on it depends our final judgement for all eternity. Jesus will be our judge)

Pray to Mary, ask her to obtain you this grace of perseverance and faithfulness

May the merciful Jesus bless you.

I pray for you:gopray2:
 
You haven’t seen anything tangible, as in what, a sign from God that He is there?
Are you looking for or waiting for that kind of sign?

Or are you not happy because certain prayers are not being answered?

I can’t tell exactly what is causing you to feel like quitting.

Could you elaborate a little bit and maybe we can address those reasons?
 
It’s not the case, but let’s look at it anyway. What’s wrong with saying that “God’s Will” is a euphemism for “letting nature take its course”? The Universe operates according to the will of the blessed Trinity. He created all the laws of physics and the myriad natural rules which govern space. Why should this hurt your faith in any way whatever? It ought to strengthen your faith. 🙂 You see the glory of the Lord in all things…
Well your post essentially boils down to one thing: Does everything happen for a reason?

We know that everything under the Heavens is accounted for by God; after all, the very hairs on our head have been numbered. As I’m sure you know, that’s a characteristic of omniscience.

But not everything happens for a reason. Jesus told His disciples that those that died in the tower of Siloam were killed simply by chance, and not because of any sins they may have committed (Luke 13:4).

The problem with nature taking it’s course is that it often times doesn’t have a purpose. Sure, it acts according to the physical laws that God set from the beginning of time, but that does not in and of itself imply that there is an inherent purpose behind those physical laws.
 
Never. If you give up, you give up heaven and choose hell.

Ask for the grace of perseverance. Perserverance of the Just and for you.

The grace of final perseverance is very important. What would the use be if we are faithful, up to the point near our death, and at the point of our death, we deny to Jesus? (It is unlikely if that’s the case, but … but the last moment is very crucial, on it depends our final judgement for all eternity. Jesus will be our judge)

Pray to Mary, ask her to obtain you this grace of perseverance and faithfulness

May the merciful Jesus bless you.

I pray for you:gopray2:
No one wants to be sent to Hell. I for one don’t. But if I was going to be sent there, at least I could say to God: “I tried my best”.
 
The problem I have with the talk of God’s will is that it essentially is a cover for, “let nature take it’s course”. Now that’s the problem. Nature has no purpose; it has no telos. So I find this view “submitting to God’s will” very difficult to believe in. For many people, the stakes are much too high to take a laissez-faire approach. Plus, the only reason I came to the Church was because I was called (or at least I think) back to the Church. As it stands, I am reevaluating what happened in my past. It would be a very very embarrassing situation to find that I wasn’t even called to the Church in the first place 😊. I hope my reevaluation doesn’t lead me to that conclusion, but I can see it happening unfortunately.
i understand it is hard, but you won’t find peace anywhere else, and the moment you start living for God and others is the moment your peace begins, it is only when we live for ourselves and seek our own comfort and ease and put ourselves first that we become worried and distressed…and that includes pretending to live for God by “doing His will” just to obtain peace, and not actually for the love of God, and giving up when things don’t turn out the way you wanted…
but if you have expectations, and want things to go a certain way, then you’re really not seeking to do Gods will, but only your own, truly doing the will of God consists of accepting all things as coming from Him and acting according to His law.
but what you have to understand here is, the purpose of doing the will of God in all things is so that we may obtain peace and be taken care of,

you need to look into your future, not your past, consider the day of your death, what will your whole life have amounted to? serving God and your neighbor is the only real profitable thing in this life, God created you because He loves you, but He won’t force you to love Him, otherwise it’s not true love, and God being love itself, could not act otherwise, because then He would be going against His very nature, and since choice can’t exist without more than one option, so we have the choice between God, and a lack thereof, or in other-words, heaven and hell.

also, faith is an infused virtue, you must ask for it, otherwise it’s easy to understand why you find it hard to believe, but you must want it…although most seem to obtain it without asking, but it seems you need to ask.

the saints never gave up, and that’s including the ones known and un-known, you can be a saint to, it’s not hard, you just need to abandon yourself to God with no demands, simply try to do it His way, not your own.

and i’ve told you before, if you’re having trouble understanding certain things, just look it up, either in some of the writings of the saints, like the doctors of the church, or look through Fulton J. Sheens shows or talks, or listen to the sermons on audiosancto, or whatever, because if you don’t seek the answers(from trusted sources) then the one really standing in your way is only yourself, and not God or anyone else, you need to get control of yourself and do things you don’t feel like doing, just do it…because you’ve got nothing to gain by putting it off.

you could have everything, it’s yours for the taking, nothing is stopping you, this life is so short, and what could be more worth your time than securing your eternity? just keep your eye on the goal, and don’t be stressed, because when you abandon yourself to God, everything becomes easy…He really takes care of you, especially if you seek His mothers intercession, and i know it personally, i’m not saying i don’t suffer, but i don’t stress, and having that kind of peace really gets you through everything…having God gives you everything…

i always remember you in my prayers, and i hope this helps, take care.
 
Bohm,

Prayer serves a purpose. Prayer not a mechanism to get what you want in material terms but a methodology to focus in on God and promote a spiritual holiness for yourself. This focus allows us to deepen our understanding of God and ourselves. By understanding and aligning ourselves with God’s will, we can achieve eternal life. In the end, that is the achievement we are all seeking as Catholics. Ultimately, this temporal life will not matter one iota so why so much emphasis upon it?
 
No one wants to be sent to Hell. I for one don’t. But if I was going to be sent there, at least I could say to God: “I tried my best”.
Don’t give up and you won’t be sent there…How’s that for simplicity…

Peace
James
 
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