What We Do After We Pray Matters
We know that we should present our concerns to God. Paul writes that we shouldn’t worry about anything. Instead, we should pray about everything (Philippians 4:6-7).
But praying is just the first part. We must do our part too. We must pray and act accordingly.
When we in faith present a request to God, his unfathomable peace will fill us, protecting our hearts and our minds in Jesus.
Don’t Pray and Retract
Sometimes when we pray, we give our worry over to God only to take it back. We don’t trust him with the results. This shows we don’t believe he can—or will—answer our request. Or perhaps we fear the outcome, that God’s answer won’t be the answer we want.
This demonstrates that we think we know better and can do better than God. Though few people would actually state this as something they believe, their actions speak otherwise.
Don’t Pray and Passively Hope
Other times we pray and then wait for God to answer our request. Yes, sometimes all we can do is wait. But other times—perhaps most times—this is unwise. Instead, we should pray and act accordingly.
An example is someone praying for a new job but sitting back and waiting for an offer to spontaneously and unexpectedly come to them. This could happen, but it isn’t usually how people find a new job.
Instead, a person needs to apply for work. They must put forth effort to receive the employment they seek. At the very least, they need to let others know they want a new job. This is God-honoring action.
Prayer followed by inaction is lazy. We need to do what we can and trust God with the rest.
Pray and Then Act Accordingly
Instead, we should pray about everything that concerns us. We give our worry to God, and we don’t take it back. We also don’t passively hope for the results we want.
We pray in faith, trusting God for the outcome—to do what we’re unable to do ourselves. Then we do our part in cooperation with his part.
This may be that we pray and then do what we can to bring about the outcome we seek. This would be praying for a new job and then applying for one.
In other instances, we may turn our request over to God and then ask for Holy Spirit insight on what to do. This also is prayer followed by action.
Jacob’s Prayer
Recall the story of Jacob and his brother, Esau. Jacob tricked his brother into giving up his birthright. Later Jacob deceived his father into giving him the older brother’s blessing.
Esau reacted in anger, intent on killing his brother. Jacob fled for his life. Twenty years later he returns home. He’s worried. He’s afraid of what Esau will do to him and his family.
He prays. That night, God appears to Jacob, giving him a new name and a blessing.
The next day, Jacob prepares to meet his brother. He sends gifts to Esau. He bows before him. But Esau isn’t mad and embraces his brother. In this way, we see that God answers Jacob’s prayer and protects him (Genesis 32-33).
There are, however, different ways we can interpret Jacob’s preparation as he goes to meet his brother.
One is that he prayed but didn’t trust God with the outcome. He took it upon himself to bring about the results he wanted. This is why he developed his plan of what to do when he met his brother.
An alternate interpretation is that Jacob prayed, and God showed him what to do. God did his part to change Esau’s heart toward his brother, and Jacob did what he could do to show his brother his repentance.
Jacob prayed and acted accordingly.
We can support this assumption with the realization that between Jacob’s prayer and his actions was a supernatural encounter with God, who blessed him and gave him a new name.
Either way, we do know that Jacob didn’t pray and sit back to passively hope for a positive outcome. He acted.
From Jacob, we see that we should pray and act accordingly.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.
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