Personal relationships with deities

[Losty]

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I have heard this SO many times.  I heard it as a child, with the instructions "pray to Jesus without ceasing, with an honest heart, and you too will have a personal relationship with him".  Well, I prayed.  And I prayed.  For more than forty years I prayed and begged and cried and praised (one preacher said "don't ask for anything, just tell God thank you for everything").  Not one hint of a voice, of a sense of a presence, of a sense of well-being or calm or . . . anything.  SO, of course, according to those who went around talking about their wonderful personal relationship with God, I was apparently doing it wrong - - - or I had evil in my heart - - - or I had sins I wasn't confessing - - - or _____.  

People not only use this to try and tell others in their group how holy and successful and prayerful they are, they use it to put other people down.   

I don't want to admit how long it took me to realize that they were a bunch of lying assholes.

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I thought we did a whole thread on this, and I was able to show you that what you called prayer infact wasn't. So the question then becomes have you even ever really prayed to God? Again asking God for stuff is not prayer it is supplication or petition. The bible is clear on what prayer is, it is you asking God to change your mind and your heart, rather than you trying to change his.

Who died and made you the ultimate decider of what counts as prayer? (Was it Jesus? Lol)