{"id":92254,"date":"2025-11-19T16:42:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T22:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=92254"},"modified":"2025-11-19T16:43:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T22:43:15","slug":"dont-hide-behind-your-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dont-hide-behind-your-prayers\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Hide Behind Your Prayers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Clay Gentry<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re called to be people of prayer. Jesus Himself taught that we &#8220;<em>ought always to pray and not lose heart<\/em>&#8221; (Luke 18:1). However, if we are honest, sometimes our prayers are merely a pious way of being inactive. It is easy to hide behind the sincerity of prayer, shielding ourselves from action. It may surprise us, but there are moments when God stops fervent praying and gives a counter-command: &#8220;Enough talking. It&#8217;s time to act.&#8221; Prayer is meant to lead to action, not paralysis.<\/p>\n<h2>When God Says, &#8220;Get Up and Go&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>Multiple times in Scripture, God stopped prayers for action.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Stop Praying, Start Crossing<\/strong>: When Israel was trapped by Pharaoh&#8217;s army and the Red Sea, Moses earnestly began to pray. God&#8217;s response? &#8220;<em>The Lord said to Moses, &#8216;Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward&#8217;<\/em>&#8221; (Exodus 14:15). God had provided the path; Moses needed to stop lamenting and start moving.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stop Praying, Start Investigating<\/strong>: After a defeat caused by hidden sin, Joshua fell on his face in prayer and mourning. God&#8217;s reply was sharp: &#8220;<em>The Lord said to Joshua, &#8216;Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned&#8230;<\/em>&#8216;&#8221; (Joshua 7:10). Joshua couldn&#8217;t pray away the consequences; he had to deal with the obedience problem in the camp.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stop Praying, Start Reconciling<\/strong>: Jesus imagined a worshipper at the altar, ready to offer their most sacred gift. His command? If you remember that your brother has something against you, &#8220;<em>leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift<\/em>&#8221; (Matthew 5:23-24). The work of reconciliation is more urgent than the most beautiful ritual before God.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The Dead Prayer Trap<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;<em>Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead<\/em>&#8221; (James 2:17). When we attempt to substitute effort, courage, and obedience with words alone, we fall into the trap of dead faith. To keep our faith alive, we must close the Prayer-Action Gap.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pray for the church to grow &#8211; then go and encourage and evangelize others.<\/li>\n<li>Pray for the hurting to be comforted &#8211; then go comfort the hurting.<\/li>\n<li>Pray for the less fortunate &#8211; then go and alleviate their need.<\/li>\n<li>Pray for better relationships &#8211; then go practice humility and kindness.<\/li>\n<li>Pray for forgiveness of our sins &#8211; then go and forsake the sin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Prayer is not an end unto itself; it is the engine that connects us to the power of God. Obedience is how that power moves through us. Don&#8217;t hide behind your prayers. Pray, then go.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Clay Gentry We&#8217;re called to be people of prayer. Jesus Himself taught that we &#8220;ought always to pray and not lose heart&#8221; (Luke 18:1). However, if we are honest, sometimes our prayers are merely a pious way of being inactive. It is easy to hide behind the sincerity of prayer, shielding ourselves from action.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1543,1510],"class_list":["post-92254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-good-works","tag-prayers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28624,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-non-believers\/","url_meta":{"origin":92254,"position":0},"title":"Is it wrong to pray for non-believers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: One thing I am noticing when I am praying is that I pray for non-believers to somehow find Jesus and God. Is it wrong to pray for them? Answer: Praying that nonbelievers might hear the gospel is a wonderful prayer. Paul offered similar prayers, \"Brethren, my heart's desire and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49297,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thoughts-and-prayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":92254,"position":1},"title":"Thoughts and Prayers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford People in our society say lots of dumb things. Surely among the most foolish, though, are the denials of the power of prayer. This usually comes up after mass shootings, when conservatives send \"thoughts and prayers\" on behalf of the victims' families. In reply, progressives sneer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/prayer-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":67666,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-ask-for-forgiveness\/","url_meta":{"origin":92254,"position":2},"title":"Is it wrong to ask for forgiveness?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, I hope you are well, My question here is twofold. First, I was taught that we shouldn't ask for forgiveness; instead, we should thank God for his forgiveness. This, though, feels both right and wrong. This confuses me a bit because nowhere in the Scripture does it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16366,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-respond-to-the-prayers-of-the-alien-sinner\/","url_meta":{"origin":92254,"position":3},"title":"Does God respond to the prayers of the alien sinner?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In my study of God's Word, I've come to the conclusion that God does not respond to the prayers of an \"alien sinner\" when asking for God's blessings on himself.\u00a0 However, what are your thoughts on whether God responds to an \"alien sinners\" prayers when praying for someone else?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88905,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-heaven-really-hear\/","url_meta":{"origin":92254,"position":4},"title":"Does Heaven Really Hear?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dan Gulley Charles Swindoll tells about a Ziggy cartoon. \"Ziggy is standing, looking up at a mountain. The sky is dark, and there's one cloud up there. Ziggy says, 'Have I been put on hold for the rest of my life?' \" Swindoll continues, \"Sometimes prayer feels like that,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24980,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-bother-praying\/","url_meta":{"origin":92254,"position":5},"title":"Why bother praying?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If what you say is true, then why bother praying at all? You are more or less saying that God will do whatever He wants to do no matter what you pray for. If you are right, then please explain. Answer: I don't know which page you are referring\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}