Behind the scenes, these folks refuse to give up on the idea that the first step forward in any situation – no matter how bad – is to pray

3 min read

… You do not have, because you do not ask. -James 4:2

Do you ever wish there was something you could do to make a situation better? Sure you do.

We all encounter situations every day that remind us we live in an imperfect world.

Someone is hurt or sick.

A relationship is fractured.

A need arises.

Yet another crisis develops.

As believers, how do we respond to these situations? Do we just sigh and shake our heads?

Or do we exercise our privilege of taking these matters directly to the throne of grace?

In the verse quoted above, James – known for putting things bluntly – says the reason we don’t have __________________ may very well be because we have not asked. In other words, God would be willing to do _____________________ on our behalf but because we did not make the request of him, he has not acted.

Let that sink in.

God’s way of working in our world is that he wants to be asked before he intervenes. In his wisdom, he has ordained prayer as the method for invoking his power and provision.

Of course, this isn’t to say that God never does anything without being asked. When rain falls, it falls on the garden of the farmer who prayed for it as well as the neighboring farmer who just assumed the rain would come.

Yet, as a general rule, God wants to be asked – not presumed upon.

As Jesus said,

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

– Jesus, Matthew 7:7

The World Could Use Some Prayer Activists About Now

A prayer activist is simply someone who believes the first step forward in any situation is to commit it to God in prayer. The first move, the best move, in their estimation, is to pray.

They don’t save prayer as the last resort when everything else has failed. They are quick to take every problem and turn it into a prayer request.

Prayer activists are quite optimistic about the outlook because they believe God is still on the Throne. And they are confident to approach him because they believe Jesus has already gone before them.

“The first move, the best move, in their estimation, is to pray.”

But a prayer activist is also realistic. They understand that the situation they are praying about may not turn out exactly the way they hoped. They are at peace with that.

Why? Because they know that even if the situation doesn’t turn out as they hoped, it will not be because they did not ask.

It’s a new day with God. Run with it.