Do you have an emotional relationship with God?

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Rozellelily

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When I hear people talk about emotional relationship/intimacy with God it is foreign to me.
Apart from being baptized Catholic,and my cultural background being predominantly catholic
,my ‘faith’ in God has always been based on seeing the order in creation and seeing that Christian family values is a good thing,caring/helping/having compassion for people in worse situations etc…

I never experience any emotional connection with god so to speak and even my prayers are one way and,if I be honest,can feel boring or a struggle to prayer as God does not give me any ‘sense’ back even though I’ve heard/read that prayer is meant to be two way.

Admittedly I don’t go to Church nearly as much as I should and I even find it hard to get my head around Jesus and God being one and I think should I pray to one or both and how can Jesus mediate on my behalf to God if He is God??
It’s not that I doubt the belief of the trinity but more that in my own mind I sometimes see them as two ‘beings’.

It’s may be selfish but it’s hard to keep up ‘interest’ in Christianity when you feel nothing from God.
 
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You don’t feel nothing, you feel spiritual dryness, which is a difference. You would not have posted what you did, if you felt nothing for God. Even you said you don’t go to church nearly as much as you should, fix that problem, before you think about anything else. I think everyone feels something about God, whether it’s contempt, whether it’s love, whether it’s indifference, everyone feels something toward God, the ones who don’t believe he exists, I’ve noticed, feel an irrational anger toward him. Those that believe in him, even if they don’t feel love toward him, still feel like he should be honoured. it could be possible, that you’re thinking about God, like you would think about your friends or family, and this is how your idea of Love is attached with regards to God. I’d advise you not to think of God like that. Apologies if it seems like I’m trying to psychoanalyze, but, I kind of am
 
You say the name of God and Jesus, and you mention the trinity, but what about the third member? Intimacy with God and Jesus comes through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Seek His presence and you’ll find what you are missing.
 
Being right there with Him in Holy Communion,the one who knows you like no other,who died for you,who knew your name before even the stars were made and wants you be with Him forever.Remind yourself these things if you can and often .God bless.
 
Sometimes we are given feelings of joy or sorrow or anything in between when we pray. Sometimes prayer is emotional and sometimes very, very dry. The point is not to seek the emotion or feeling but God Himself. If we seek the emotion then we are making the emotion God. God makes His presence known to us when we least expect it.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you pray and finish your prayer thanking the Holy Spirit for helping you pray.
 
Don’t listen to people when they talk about emotional relationships with God. Emotions are not the standard of judgement for wether or not your relationship with God is a good one.
 
Maybe it is more a metter of fine tuning, Most of the time God’s presence is subtle. We like the obvious. When you listen and go to the silence it can seem boring, dry and emotionless. But you are recalibrating your awareness. You may discover emotions that are there that you never notices.

When we say God is a person we must be careful not to expect God’s personhood to ne just like ours, right there to have a dialogue. God is there but in a way we cannot fully understand or appreciate. It takes patience and sensitivity to “feel” it. Meanwhile find music that speaks to you, moves you. God is trying to reach you through it.

Blessings
 
Different people think and feel in different ways.

Don’t worry too much if your experiences are different from others
 
You might try doubting your doubts, or perhaps not trusting your feelings quite so much. If you were to read certain passages in the Bible, and then take what is said there very personally, it really is astonishing the extravagant love that God professes for us. Believe what he says about you, more than you believe what you feel. And remember his Omnipresence. He pays obsessive personal attention to you all the time and never ever takes his eyes off you. Understand that there are forces in this world that will try to convince you that God doesn’t care. Every one of those things is a lie. He desperately loves you. And that is simply a fact.
 
To answer the title question, yes it’s called praying like you mean it versus just mouthing the words or rushing through a rosary in a large group
 
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Rozellelily said:
It’s may be selfish but it’s hard to keep up ‘interest’ in Christianity when you feel nothing from God.
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I think this is the problem with intellectual belief alone. Often people say that their faith has become dry and it must be due to simply denying or subduing the emotions. Emotions should not rule us but they can give us wind for our sails and help us avoid becoming adrift in the doldrums.

So if I see twenty sparrows all trying to bathe in a twelve inch plastic pot base of water simultaneously I smile and think how cute they are. If I see a toddler staring at a butterfly on a leaf it warms my heart. If I hear a song which reminds me of a happy occasion or even a sad tune which reminds me of someone I once loved I feel and my thoughts are buoyed by my feeling.

So all these things and so much more are the gifts which we have been given by God, and even more He will give us if we remain faithful to Him and by following Our Lord who taught us to love God with ALL our being, including emotion, and to love our neighbour as ourselves, as kin. Love.

So when we pray or participate in the sacraments we might pause before or during and remind ourselves of the love we have been given the capacity to feel, for us, for each other, for creation and for our Creator. And wave the doldrums goodbye.
 
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