God Doesn't Want You to "Just Pray" - A Pastor's View
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'"
Matthew 22:37
I've heard it when someone didn't want to have a hard conversation. I've heard it when a mom doesn't know what to do with her daughter. I've heard it when a storm is coming and the family didn't want to evacuate. And I heard it last week from people who don't know (or don't want to talk about) how to deal with the violent culture in our country.
Maybe you have people like that in your life.
You know the conversation. Every time you suggest “Why don’t we try x,y or z” they shoot back with “what we really need to do is just pray”.
It puts you in a horribly awkward position.
If you disagree, you sound like you’re coming out against prayer.
If you agree, you’ve just effectively shutdown all further action or even discussion about strategy.
Can it be that something that sounds so spiritual can actually stop some very spiritual work?
Before you freak out, I believe in prayer. I pray every day. Less than I should. But I pray. And, I believe all authentic, effective work in our world is rooted in prayer.
But I don't think it's God's will that we stop with prayer. And sometimes it's used as an excuse not to do anything else.
What begins in prayer should usually end in some kind of strategic action. Scripture is filled with strategy if you look for it.
Strategy is not the enemy. Apathy is. Overly simplistic thinking is.
Someone reminded me recently that Jesus told us to love God not only with all our hearts, but with all our minds and might too.
Thinking, arguing and talking strategy for positive change is one way to love God with your mind.
So pray. Pray about the wayward child. But then also create a plan to win her back.
Pray for sobriety. But then develop a plan of action to make it come about.
Pray for an end to our culture of violence (and yes the means to propagate it) but also be open to discussing laws and ideas to bring those changes about.
So use your mind. And your strength. And your soul.
So next time you hear someone say, "Prayer is the answer." I would suggest being skeptical. It is part of the answer. It is the beginning and the end of the answer. But it is not THE answer. God wants people who pray AND. Not people to JUST pray.
