In a previous post, we have seen that work and prayer are both ways of accomplishing God’s will in the world.
This close connection between work and prayer as means of accomplishing God’s will in the world helps give us direction for how to see answers to our prayers, and how to go about accomplishing God’s will in this world.
Sometimes I think we confuse work and prayer: We pray when we should be working, and we work when we should be praying. There have been times in Christian history when the church has focused more on work than prayer, but I think that for the past fifty years or so, the church has focused more on prayer than work.
And this brings us back to the subject of prayer meetings. It is far more popular in many churches to get together and pray about a need in the community than it is to get together and actually do something about a need in the community.
Though prayer is a form of work, we must not think that prayer is a substitute for work.
Yet this is often what gets implicitly taught in many of our church prayer meetings.
Making Needs Known
People come together and share prayer requests for the neighbor lady whose husband is in the hospital, for the coworker who just got laid off, for the homeless people to find work, and for more people to start showing up for church.
These are all valid issues and concerns, but I think that in addition to praying for these things and then waiting for God to answer, He might want us to go and be an answer to our own prayers. I think God sometimes makes needs known to us, not so that we can pray about it, but so that we can do something about it.
I once saw a comic strip where a guy was praying, and he said, “God, why aren’t you answering any of my prayers?” And God’s reply was, “I was about to ask you the same thing.” (I tried to find this comic strip, but was unable. Do you know where it is?)
Praying for needs is important, but one way God wants to answer our prayers is by us going out to be answers to our own prayers.
Sometimes we don’t see answers to prayer, not because God doesn’t care or doesn’t want to answer them, but because God is saying to us, “Answer your own prayer.”
God often lays needs upon our minds so that we can both pray and do something about these needs.
The Church Advances on It’s Knees?
People often say that the church advances on its knees. While prayer is a vital activity of the church, when God presents to us a need we can meet, I don’t think He is pleased when we simply present the need right back to Him in prayer.
To really see God at work in our lives and in our churches, we sometimes need to get off our knees and serve. We need to unfold our hands, and help. We need to open our eyes and look around for the needs that God wants us to see.
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Do you what to talk to God like you talk to a friend? Do you want to see more answers to prayer?
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I totally agree with you here – “To really see God at work in our lives and in our churches, we sometimes need to get off our knees and serve. We need to unfold our hands, and help. We need to open our eyes and look around for the needs that God wants us to see.”
God uses believers as his agents on earth to answer prayer so many times. It’s part of the joy of being part of the church. So often throughout the NT, the apostles are encouraging people to turn from greed, earthly pleasures, and quarrels and instead serve others. As Christians, if we’re not proclaiming the Gospel and serving the body of Christ, then an important question remains. How are we spending our time?
Thanks for the comment, Louis. Yes, we are the agents of God on earth. He enjoys answering prayers through us, not just for us.
Well said, Jeremy! I have not seen that comic strip, but it kind of sounds like a Naked Pastor one.
I’ve been thinking about people who say they spend an hour or more every day praying. If that’s all they do during the hour, I wonder what they say, unless they repeat pretty much the same thing every day. Perhaps that works for them, but I try to breathe short prayers, and spend lots of time with people – talking to them, figuring our what their needs are and how we can help them meet their needs.
We need time with other believers each week, and time reading the Bible and Christian writers. Left to my own devices, I would read and write all day. However, I limit my reading to a few pages a day, and have made a very conscious decision to regularly follow only a handful of blogs. It’s so easy to follow links, find wonderful new blogs, and end up reading twenty to fifty a day.
It’s can be more difficult to get off my butt and go to people, spending time with the lonely, the broken-hearted, the poor, people who aren’t like me. But once I’m there, listening to their stories and problems, I know that’s where I want to be.
Yeah, I actually think it is Naked Pastor comic strip, but I couldn’t find it.
You have spoken truly about getting out of our seats and away from our studies, and loving others. I am trying to do more of this myself.
Hmm…I saw this some time back as a simple model – from looking at Jesus – Pray. See. Do.
That’s far more challenging than it sounds. 😉
As to the call to serve…I do understand (I think) what you mean. But the church/cult/family I have broken free of so abused this idea – this terminology – that it still makes me cringe. I suspect those who have broken out of (or are still in) these paradigms hear these words and it filters through to mean: you’re still not doing it right, you’re not doing enough, quit being lazy and do your share. For context, at the time I walked away from that church, I was spending 60+ hours per week ‘serving’ at the church…as a volunteer…and it was never enough….
Katherine,
Yes, I hear what you are saying about serving in the church. I did not mean this at all. I also want people get out of the church building and away from church programs, and get out in the neighborhood and into the community to touch people’s lives there.
I do agree that we need to respond to the needs of the community instead of praying all the time and do nothing. As in Katherine’s case that was abuse by the Church as some are experts at making people feel guilty. Equally to see people suffering and walk by saying “peace be with you”. is no good either.
I believe we need to respond to needs where and when we can but I do feel we need to include God in that He is the one that says go. What I’m saying is when we see a need we have to ask the question of God is it something we should be doing or can we instigate an action which will answer the need, so we are not seen as interfering. Sensitivity and wisdom must come into play or we can all find ourselves burnt out like Katherine did.
Maybe it could be See, Pray, Do. Clive
Sensitivity and wisdom–so important… and both things we can and should pray for!
You’re doing a great job with the subject of prayer lately.
In regards to this post specifically, our concept of how God works in the world seems to be totally off. We kind of treat him like a magical spirit that we ask to do our bidding. It’s like “God do this, help with that, forgive me of this.” In reality, God set up the physical realm to be ruled over by Him, but through us.
When He created in Genesis, He basically said “I’m expanding my Kingdom to another realm, but I will not rule this new one like the spiritual one. I will create another being like me to share in my rulership by doing it through them.” This is why reclaiming the physical world had to be done through a human.
Michael,
You nailed it! I like how you put it. Yes, God is ruler of all, but He does most of His work through us. When we view it any other way, we begin to treat Him like a magic spirit.
Awesome comment!
True! We are overpraying about small unimportant things or even not praying for the right things. For example when we unintentionally offend our neighbor we pray “Lord, let this thing get resolved!” Instead we should pray to be Christ-like in this situation and actually do something to resolve the problem!
Jeremy your writings are always insightful. I guess in my own life Ive found prayer more like a running dialogue between God and myself as I move through a day and peoples lives. As yourself and other authors have put it, we respond to divine echoes already resonating in our spirits (from God) and it translates into action by us in response to this conversation. I must admit I have gotten so frustrated with prayer meetings that I dont go anymore. A lot prayer occurs but no conviction to act on them.
Horse crap. Obviously this person is using their own opinion and not the biblical story.
You have opened my eyes as how we should pray. However, you don’t give any examples! That would be helpful, instead of rambling on and on you start to get redundant. I get most of the idea…now it would be most helpful to hear some good examples.