I’ve recently found myself in a few situations where I have felt All I am doing is praying. I have to do something more. I must admit, it stems from a place of periodically thinking that prayers, of themselves, are insufficient; I have to be doing more, in my own strength.
I wonder if it’s to do with me not always trusting God enough to fully handle matters. Do I trust Him sufficiently to believe and accept that He will always deal with things in the best way, even if it is not my way? Honestly, sometimes not. Deep down, this probably relates to that often present but rarely expressed feeling of Who knows what God will do sef?! Let me also be doing in case He drops the ball or strays off point.
Another common but hidden concern is whether one’s prayers will be enough. Will I be able to spend long enough in prayer to enable it to count? Are my prayers “heavy” or powerful enough? Those worries come straight from the pit of hell! They are premised on the false belief that there is a minimum length of time that must be spent praying about all matters, or a minimum level of anointing required, before God will hear and act on our prayers. Forgetting that He’s our daddy…. See how we complicate things?! He says we should come to Him like little children.
Upon further reflection, I reckon that another related factor is having heard Christians being criticized one too many times for “only praying”, especially regarding the progress of African countries.
What’s more, there’s a certain sense of helplessness that can surface when we feel that “all we are doing is praying”. A mini god-complex within us makes us believe that we must always play a key role in arriving at our desired results. We must be careful with this mindset; especially when it involves other people’s lives because we could stray into dangerous territory – becoming controlling. This is the stuff of mental, emotional and physical stress, damaged relationships, and many other consequential ills.
In the two recent occasions where I have felt I should be doing more than praying, I sought counsel. In both instances, I was advised to stick to my prayers and leave the rest to God. 😊 In one case, it turned out that my “little” was already too much and was doing more harm than good. In the other, I was advised that the only other plausible course of action was likely to be wholly unsuccessful.
Here I was back in the place of “only praying”.
This got me thinking…. how is it that in some cases our prayers must be backed up with action and on other occassions praying is the only action we need to and should take?
How would I know which is which? You guessed it… By praying. 😊
When we think about it, prayer is supposed to be dialogue with God. In praying about issues, God can and will direct us regarding any additional action we need to take, if we would simply listen to Him.
The challenge we have is that often when we say we are praying, we are doing a whole lot of talking (or shouting, depending on your inclinations 😉) with little to no listening. We range from lamenting to God, begging Him, accusing Him, etc. to yelling and screaming at satan and his gang.
We don’t spend enough time asking God for His heart on our issues. We have one-sided conversations such that when God tells us the solutions to our problems (including what action we need to take) we don’t hear.
If I take each and every matter to Him and then listen to what He is saying, I will know whether to do, what to do, how to do, when to do, etc. I will receive the necessary direction.
I am definitely one for “praying and doing” but I now have a better appreciation of the fact that I am better off having the “doing” directed by God and in some cases (not all), that doing is actually more prayer.
As if to emphasise His point, just as I was finishing this post the Lord led me to listen to a message that brought two key related scriptures to mind:
Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. (1 Peter 5:7 NLT)
Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell Him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ. (Philippians 4:6,7 TPT)
The beauty of being in relationship with the Lord is that we really need not try to handle things in our own strength. He invites us, each day, to hand every worry, burden and care over to Him. Of what use is placing our problems in the Lord’s most capable hands through prayer and then snatching them right back through worry and anxiety?
To finish things off, He laid one final scripture on my heart.
Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on Him to guide you, and He will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with Him in whatever you do, and He will lead you wherever you go. Don’t think for a moment that you know it all, for wisdom comes when you adore Him with undivided devotion and avoid everything that’s wrong. (Proverbs 3:5-7 TPT)
It all boils down to intimacy with the Lord – laying our heads on His chest, sharing our hearts with Him, hearing His heartbeat and acting accordingly. Be it to take some specific action or simply to rest, trusting that He has everything under control.
Reflection
- Search your heart for one matter you have prayed about, yet you are still experiencing worry or anxiety.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to shine the torch on the root of that anxiety.
- Ask Him to reveal to you the underlying lie(s) you are believing.
- Where relevant, forgive any person (including God) that may be directly or indirectly involved in you believing the lie(s).
- Hand the lie(s) and worries over to the Lord.
- Ask Him for His truth on the matter.
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