Recently, I heard someone saying ‘Christians are stupid when they think prayer changes things’. He thought Christians only pray and do nothing. But that’s not the way prayer works. Praying does not mean we sit on our hands the rest of the time. It’s not an excuse to do nothing. We are to go forward in faith. First, we pray as it all depended on God, then we work as everything depended on us. Because prayer requires action.

Prayer is a welcome mat for God to be involved in our affairs. It’s an invitation for God to create something beautiful out of the ashes of our lives. We pray hard and then we do everything in our power to be part of the answer. God has not called us to be passive. He’s called us to be his partners.

Only when we are active participants in God’s work, we are truly living out our faith. So no matter what do not despair. Instead, pray. And then start doing the next thing that is worth doing. God’s Spirit will guide your steps while he is working behind the scenes. So prayer changes things, for sure. Sometimes miracles occur, yes. But most often we are called to be the change we are praying for.

Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. (Romans 12:11-12, NLT,*)

Prayer requires action

The beautiful thing about prayer is the fact it invites God’s power to change things within us and around us. And when we look at our lives with the eyes of faith, we start to see the little ways how prayer changes things. People start to get along, we get empowered to love our enemies or things just happen to happen at the right time.

So do not forget to pray, otherwise, you’re on your own. When we pray, God is involved in our affairs and anything can happen. But be also prepared to become a doer of God’s word. Prayer requires action also from us, not just from God. Sometimes God calls us to be Christ to our neighbor, for example, or write a job application or make a doctor’s appointment.

When we pray, we pray like it is all God. And then we do everything we can to make those prayers come true. Not by our own might but by God’s grace. We do so joyfully because we know it is all in God’s hands. That gives us freedom and peace. And that, my friends, is the blessed existence of God’s children.

Dear God,
Thank you for the gift of prayer.
It gives us a way to directly communicate with you.
We welcome you into our lives, we need you.
And we don’t even want to live on our own
knowing your ways are better than ours.
We surrender everything to you and pray that you will guide us to live and work as directed by you.
Change everything according to your plan for us,
help us to see what’s our part in that and then empower us to do so.
In Jesus’ precious name,
Amen

Q4U: Prayer requires action – how do you feel about that? Are you an active prayer partner of God?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you seek God with everything you’ve got! Let God show you how to work as his partner!

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash