Ever Misunderstand God? How To Get Rest and Pray with Confidence

Have you ever been completely misunderstood—even when you were being clear? In today’s episode of Getting Personal With God, I share a personal story about communication gone wrong and how it revealed a much deeper issue: the way we hear matters just as much as what is said.

Using real-life experiences, biblical insight, and Ephesians 1, this episode explores why misunderstanding happens in relationships—and especially in our relationship with God. Many believers avoid prayer or time with God because of shame, low self-worth, mistrust of God’s character, distraction, or feeling like prayer “won’t work.” But Scripture shows God loves you, chooses you, listens to you, and desires a personal, intimate relationship.

You’ll learn how:

• Misunderstanding others mirrors how we can misunderstand God
• Identity wounds distort how we hear God’s voice
• The enemy twists truth to blind our minds
• Jesus modeled emotional maturity by not chasing misunderstanding
• Assuming “best intent” can transform relationships
• Praying Ephesians 1 brings revelation, intimacy, and clarity about who God is

If you want a deeper relationship with God, freedom from shame, and renewed confidence that He loves you and listens to you—this episode will encourage your heart and strengthen your faith.

Mentioned in this episode:
✔ Ephesians 1 (The Passion Translation)
✔ Overcoming shame, guilt, and relational distortion
✔ Growing in spiritual maturity and wisdom
✔ Prayer for revelation and intimacy with God

If today encouraged you, please share this episode and leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts—it truly helps others discover the show.

Special offer!

Prayer changes everything — especially when you’re seeking God for answers to anxiety, depression, relationships, finances, health, or life decisions. 100 Prayers Releasing 100 Cares shares real stories of answered prayer, biblical wisdom for hearing God’s voice, and practical faith tools rooted in Scripture to help you walk in freedom and bold trust in God. "100 Prayers Releasing 100 Cares" Click to order your copy today and begin praying with confidence!

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Do you love God but forget to pray?
Or feel guilty instead ofenjoying his presence?
I get it.
I've been there.
I'm Lenora, mom, Jesus lover,and international trainer.
If you're looking to feel closerto God without pressure, receive
more from him, and live withgreater confidence, grab some
coffee and let's talk.
If you're carrying stress andwant prayer support, I wrote a

(00:22):
book to help.
100 Prayers, Releasing 100Cares.
It's filled with real stories,scripture, and prayers for
basically every part of life.
The link is in the show notes.
I think you'll love it.
Have you ever beenmisunderstood?
I remember a time as asupervisor, I was coaching one
of my team members who washaving uh a bit of a difficulty

(00:47):
with one of the other teammembers.
And so I was talking to herabout how to handle what was
going on.
And at the end of ourconversation, I said, Hey, if
you need me to be the bad guy,then switch it to that.
And I'll take the heat for thedecision that we need to make in
this situation.
She agreed and they went on andhad their meeting.

(01:08):
A day or two later, I askedabout it.
And in recounting what she and Italked about, her comment was, I
know you said you didn't want tobe the bad guy.
And I was like, Well, what?
And I was dumbfounded that shehad heard the exact opposite of
what I had said to her.

(01:28):
I had said, if you need me to bethe bad guy, I'm the supervisor,
do what you need to do.
She heard the exact opposite.
I don't know how.
I was shocked.
She thought I said, I don't wantto be the bad guy.
I thought, oh my gosh, what arotten thing for a supervisor to
say.
And I didn't say that, but thatwas such a loud example to me of

(01:52):
how even if you have a directconversation, you can be
completely misunderstood.
Someone said to me once, a markof maturity is to be able to be
misunderstood.
And you see this in Jesus in theGospels.
How many times people wereoffended at what he said or

(02:13):
twisted what he said, or twistedwhat they asked to try to make
him say something they could useagainst him.
And he always so wiselynavigated it, but what he never
did is chase after them and go,but I meant, but I meant.

(02:35):
Because some people have such anegative thought process that
you can't always get what youwant.
You can't always ensure someonegets you.
Someone wants to understand whoyou are.
Along the same line, a greatconcept I got from some

(02:57):
coworkers some years back waswhen you go into a situation,
especially if you're going totry and help fix a problem or be
a support, they say always gointo the problem assuming best
intent.
That's a game changer.
So don't walk into a situationassuming someone is against you

(03:18):
or assuming someone has badmotives.
Instead, assume best intent.
As a lot of people do have somegood motives, are looking for
solutions, and you assumingsomething good to start is a
huge key to gainingunderstanding of the situation
and finding a great solution.
Now, why am I bringing this up?

(03:38):
For one, we just walked througha holiday.
I just recorded this right afterThanksgiving, and I'm really
grateful that I happen to have areally, really nice Thanksgiving
with family this year inparticular, partly because I do
love them, especially some ofthem.
But I also am continuing to onpurpose break free from my own

(04:04):
insecurities, my own tendenciesat times to hear incorrectly.
There's a verse that stood outto me years ago that says, be
careful how you hear.
Sometimes we blame what somebodysaid, but the issue is how we
hear.
Or it can be both, a combinationof things.
Now, why do I bring this up?

(04:24):
Because this podcast is aboutgetting personal with God.
And like I mentioned, Jesus wasalways aware that some people
will just walk away.
They just would leave and go,yeah, I'm tapping out now
because of what you just said.
And you know, he never chasedafter him.
He wanted the relationships, buteach person has their own free

(04:46):
will that God will alwaysrespect.
Beyond that, scripture alsotalks about we can be blinded in
our minds.
So when it comes to gettingpersonal with God, we do have a
spiritual enemy that isconstantly trying to
misrepresent God, twist what Godsays, and blind our minds to the

(05:07):
truth.
Plus, the fall of man ingeneral, if you look in the book
of Genesis, began when the enemytwisted what God said, and
between deception and choice,mankind said, You know what?
I want to be God.
I want to decide what's rightand wrong.
I'll be the judge of that.

(05:28):
And now we have more than eightbillion judges on the earth.
We so often each think we havethe right opinion, the right
perspective.
And now, my gosh, we can spewour debates and thoughts and
opinions all over the place andcause all kinds of conflict.
But that's another story.
You know, when I was doingresearch for this podcast, and I

(05:50):
talked to different people abouttheir relationship with God and
why they may find themselvesavoiding prayer or time with Him
to get a closer personalrelationship.
And it seems we all are a lotalike.
And I'm talking primarily aboutpeople that probably grew up in

(06:10):
church.
They actually have a love forGod, they want a relationship.
But when I had numerousconversations, one of the main
struggles came down to reallyidentity pain.
They felt shame or guilt andsome of the self-esteem issues
or self-worth were some of thedeepest roots of why we avoid
God.

(06:31):
We don't think he approves, orwe don't like ourselves.
So why would God, who made theuniverse, give a hoot about me?
Um, second to that, which tiesright into the first one, is a
mistrust of God's character.
We call that relationaldistortion.
If I think you're a liar, I'mnot gonna trust you.

(06:51):
If someone told me you're aliar, I might believe them, even
if you're not a liar.
If someone told me you're oftenangry, or who knows what I
believe about you, that's gonnaimpact my expectations from you,
my likeless to reach out to you,build a relationship, etc.
And a third one, people can justget distracted from time with

(07:12):
God.
They can say, you know, I know Ishould, but I've got these other
priorities and all these thingscompeting for my time, which can
certainly be a fact, but guesswhat?
Often that is a copingmechanism.
If you don't trust someone, youmight avoid them and tell them
how busy you are.

(07:34):
Oh, I was gonna come, but thingsgot so busy.
When the truth is, if you reallywanted to go and hang out with
friends you just love hangingout with, you typically make the
time for it.
So other priorities is really acoping mechanism to avoid a
relationship you just don'tenjoy.
Which goes back to if I thinkyou're impatient with me, if you

(07:55):
disapprove of me, well, it'seasy for me to want to come up
with all the reasons why I don'twant to spend time with you.
Next, similar to distraction isjust busyness.
And next would be overall, youhave an actual low value of
prayer.
You think I don't pray because Idon't think it'll actually make

(08:17):
a difference.
You don't think God's actuallygonna listen or do something
about it, or it's just somethingyou should do, but it feels like
a waste of time.
But guess what?
That can be often what's calledlike a surface level
justification because youjustify being busy or you
believe in the low value ofprayer, because again, you don't

(08:39):
trust God's character, or youbelieve something that's not
true about him.
And by the way, talking tosomeone who doesn't want to talk
to you or doesn't listen well orrespond doesn't help how we
feel.
So all of it can work againstus.
So I'm gonna read something fromEphesians to you just to tell
you God's excited about you.

(09:00):
He does listen to you.
If you're seeking him, he says,Hey, seek me and you'll find me.
But seek me with your wholeheart.
Seek me with a good expectation.
But Ephesians chapter one, I'mjust gonna read a couple verses,
and I'll use this book andchapter off and on because it's
just so good.
This is from the PassionTranslation, but verse two says,

(09:21):
May God Himself, the heavenlyFather of our Lord Jesus Christ,
release grace over you andimpart total well-being into
your lives.
Total well-being.
Did you know that's God's desirefor you to have total well-being
in your life?
And then he talks about everyspiritual blessing in the
heavenly realm has already beenlavished upon us as a love gift

(09:44):
from our wonderful heavenlyFather.
Do you think of God aswonderful?
A Father that loves to blessyou, and that he sees us wrapped
up into Christ?
Now it says in verse 4, in love,in love, he chose us before he
laid the foundation of theuniverse.
Because of his great love, heordained us so we would be seen

(10:07):
as holy in his eyes withunstained innocence.
Again, I have littlegrandbabies.
Oh my gosh, it's so fun to juststare at them.
I did that with my kids whentheir babies just stare at them
and go, Oh wow, this amazinglittle person is mine.
And FYI, God wants to have thatkind of relationship with you.
Back to Ephesians.

(10:27):
For it was always in his perfectplan to adopt you as his
delightful child.
Obviously, I'm personalizingthis a little bit to you.
Through our union with JesusChrist, the anointed one, so
that his tremendous love thatcascades over us would glorify
his grace for the same love hehas for the beloved Jesus, he

(10:47):
has for us.
Did you hear that?
That's that's big news, bigtruth.
And this unfolding plan of hisbrings him great pleasure.
It gives him great pleasure toadopt you, to love you, and to
make you his.
And now it talks also about howhe canceled our sin through
Christ Jesus and all the thingshe did on purpose, because it

(11:10):
was always his purpose to makeus his.
Now I'm going to jump down toverse 15.
Because of this, since I firstheard about your strong faith in
the Lord Jesus and your tenderlove towards his devoted ones,
my heart is always full andoverflowing with thanks to God
for you.
I constantly remember you in myprayers.
FYI, repeat great prayers, askand keep on asking.

(11:36):
Because we have to turn ourhearts towards him.
He hears.
It's us that have to make theshift towards him, trusting him
to do what he promises.
Anyway, verse 17, I pray thatthe Father of glory, the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, wouldimpart to you the riches of the
Spirit of wisdom and the spiritof revelation to know him

(11:57):
through your deepening intimacywith him.
We misunderstand God all thetime.
We think a certain way aboutGod, whether it's a religious
way or a way that doesn't wantanything to do with religion,
because not knowing Jesus at allor being in a really religious
environment that tells you begood, but there's no power from

(12:18):
God to help you.
You're supposed to provesomething to him.
You know, hate yourself becauseyou're so sinful.
Any of those rotten, purelyreligious approaches to God,
it's not respecting him.
It is not knowing him, thinkinghe's abusive, thinking he's a

(12:40):
hard God.
When the truth is, he's alwayshad a plan to know you.
He has sent his son to lay hislife down for you so that you
could be seen wholly and withoutblame before him in love.
That's what I read earlier.
But the writer of this chaptersaid that he prayed continuously

(13:00):
for revelation to get to knowGod, that the light of God would
illuminate the eyes of ourimagination.
We can imagine rotten thingsabout God, boring things about
God, frustrating, who knowswhat, or not think about him at
all.
But we're praying and pray overyourself.
God, open the eyes of myunderstanding to know you

(13:21):
intimately.
Illuminate the eyes of myimagination, flooding it with
light until I experience thefull revelation of the hope of
your calling, your plan for me,and that I would know the wealth
of your glorious inheritance youfind in me, that you consider
yourself rich by having me asyour child.

(13:43):
So I hope you understand I'mpersonalizing these verses over
myself, and I'm trying to giveyou an example of something I
recommend you do because it's agame changer to get a revelation
of what God's like.
Because, like I said, we sooften misunderstand people.
We so often make our ownjudgments because that was the
fall of man.

(14:03):
We all do it.
So I and we need God give usrevelation.
And so pray continually forthat.
And you'll be amazed how God canopen up your understanding to
Him.
And the last piece of revelationwe're supposed to ask for is
that we would continuallyexperience and get to know the

(14:24):
greatness of God's power workingthrough us as we trust in
Christ.
And it goes on and it just isamazing.
So I want to pray for you.
So, God, open up our eyes.
I ask for the person listeningto this, and always for myself,
as I do pray, I ask you to giveus revelation into the knowledge

(14:45):
of you.
Help us to grow more intimatelyacquainted with you so we don't
misunderstand you, so we don'tavoid you because we believe
you're not listening or youdon't care.
God, open our eyes to how muchwe mean to you.
Help us to recognize you andcome under your ways, your
authority in every way, so thatwe can walk out the powerful and

(15:09):
blessed lives that you want foryour children, like any good
parent wants.
And if we know how to give goodgifts to our kids, how much more
do you have amazing power andplans for us and how you teach
us to battle through and to winin the name of Jesus in our
lives?
Thank you, Father.

(15:30):
You are faithful.
And I ask you to encourage thisperson listening.
I ask you to make yourself knownto them, help them be aware of
who you are and your goodness.
And God set them on fire to knowyou better.
Because you are so good, andyour plans are so good.
And my right to pray boldly isin Jesus Christ.

(15:51):
Amen.
Hey, friend, I hope you enjoyedtoday's episode.
If so, would you please share itand leave a quick review on
Apple Podcasts?
That really helps me reachothers.
The link to 100 prayersreleasing 100 cares is in the
show notes, and thanks forlistening.
I'm back next Monday.
Until then, be kind to you.

(16:11):
Because then it's a whole loteasier to be kind to anybody
else.