There was an exchange on twitter this morning that got my attention. Someone sent out a tweet (a post on twitter that is 140 characters or less) asking for prayer for someone that has been experiencing the effects of the slow economy and their sales are suffering at their store. Rather than immediately respond with a tweet confirming prayer, the reply was this:
- what does she do? lots of smart folks around these parts. i am sure she is already praying. lets be the answer.
Imagine how things would be if more people took this attitude. Don’t get me wrong--I absolutely believe in the power of prayer and that we should come before God and pray for the needs of others. However, I am also one who believes that prayer is not always the answer. How often have you heard people say that they will pray for you, only to believe in the back of your mind that they won’t? How many times have you told someone that you would pray for them, only to see that you didn’t? What if we desired the solution more than the prayer? Sometimes it makes us feel better if we know others are praying for us. Sometimes it makes God pleased when we initiate action to meet needs rather just relying on prayer.
I’m reminded of the story in Luke 5:17-20 CEV:
17One day some Pharisees and experts in the Law of Moses sat listening to Jesus teach. They had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem.
God had given Jesus the power to heal the sick, 18and some people came carrying a crippled man on a mat. They tried to take him inside the house and put him in front of Jesus. 19But because of the crowd, they could not get him to Jesus. So they went up on the roof, where they removed some tiles and let the mat down in the middle of the room. 20When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the crippled man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”
Jesus didn’t remark on their great ability to pray, but rather he noticed their ingenuity and steadfastness in getting this man before his presence so that the paralytic man could be healed. Too often when we see an obstacle before us we pray and hope that a way is made to get what we want instead of actually taking steps to try and activate our faith to get what we want.
God has given us amazing gifts and talents that can be activated through our faith. Many times we should be in a position to act out our faith and be creative, rather than just sit there and pray.
Please do pray, for we are called to do so (1 Thessalonians 5:16-19). Many times this can be our first step of faith. However, please know that the answer to our prayer may require us to take action, believing that God can do things through us, his people. Let’s be the answer!
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Great post Dave. We are currently working a group of our leaders and partners through a resource called “The Tangible Kingdom Primer”, a field guide and spiritual information tool on becoming an incarnational community. This is exactly the purpose of that tool, to get people moving toward becoming the solution. Jesus wasn’t killed because he talked a good game – he backed it up with practical action.
Thanks for the reminder!
Thank you friend for being a reminder that there are people out there who have the faith that is backed up by their actions and that one day the world will be a better place as a result. Kingdom principles will bring honor and glory to our Christ. Thanks always for all that you do…including prayer :)
Yes! I love it. This is what it means for the Word to become flesh and dwell among people – hurting people. I think this what you are trying to build @revolutionsacramento. Let’s continue to pray, but seek how we can become an answer to those prayers. Dave, thanks for pushing us to be Jesus to our world. Grace and peace.
Pastor Marvin, I definitely accepted the call to activate my faith and do what I can through Revolution Church Sacramento to be the answer to those who may not know Christ. May our love for others be the greatest action we undertake as we live out our lives of faith in a hurting world.
I tweeted more than once that I was in need of prayer and funds for my ministry with the homeless and marginlised here in Australia. No one responded, apart from one friend who suggested that perhaps I should stop tweeting these sort of requests and focus on my family and not the ministry.
Hey Dave,
Great post. Prayer and action work hand in hand.
Btw, I vote on your survey. Hehe. There is a quite a bit of frustrated people. Granted I am one of them. You need to add one more category (frustrated and hopeful). That would be where I sit :)
Neal: If one is going to use social media as a tool to raise funds for causes, then I think it would require more than just some random posts. Shaun King was able to raise some financial support via twitter and facebook, but I’m sure it came at a price. I’m not really a proponent of asking for finances via social media as it rarely works and as you have experienced already, it sometimes causes animosity or blindness to the cause where people will just tune you out because you are asking them for money. I’m sorry that things didn’t go well on twitter for your cause financially, but I’d venture to guess that maybe the Lord has been directing you in the next steps to take. Nice to see you on the blog :)
Cliff: If everyone were satisfied with the state of the church, then Christ would have come again and we would all know true peace and fellowship with our Creator :) As that has not happened yet, there is still much work left to be done and I am trying to do my part to share the gospel with those currently outside of the church. Thanks for the reply!