All We Can Do is Pray?

[Ruth]

Does it ever bother anyone here when someone says to you or you hear another person say "Well, I guess all we can do now is pray."

"All we can do now is pray?"

I hear this so often that it has just reached a point that I have to speak out.

All you can do? Was it ever up to us in the first place? Are we seriously thinking that now that we have exhausted all of our wonderful human abilities - we are going to 'let' God have a hand in it?

Now that we realize we are helpless in the situation we are going to shrug our shoulders and say - well, I guess we are down to the bottom of the cookie jar and all that is left it this measly crumb we call prayer?

Before anyone speaks the words “Well, I guess all we can do now is pray.” We need to seriously remember that Prayer is a privilege! Prayer is something that is our greatest asset in fighting the war - any war. God is our strength. He is the one who causes all good things out of anything the wicked heart can manifest just as He turned what man thought was the destruction of Jesus - our hope - to be the greatest gift of all time.

Now before anyone jumps in and says that they never use the phrase carelessly as I am inferring here – then that is wonderful and you are applauded for having the right heart. But my concern is how our words are being heard by unbelievers. We should never give the slightest hint that we feel that prayer is the last step before no hope at all. Prayer is our hope in every way and we should be sure the unbelievers know that is how we fell.

Prayer is not ALL we can DO! It is our privilege and it is everything!


God bless all.
Ruth

[Ort]

2:
I can see how you might take that phrase, but to me, when I say "all we can do is pray", I am saying that we as humans can do nothing apart from God. I am praying because I am giving it fully to Him, laying it at His feet, asking His help and His wisdom regarding the matter. IMHO, I do not think saying "all we can do is pray" should be seen in a negative or derogatory light. Maybe if one knows the attitude of the one making that statement, then one can determine how it was meant when it was said. Does that make sense?

[Ruth]

2:
I can see how you might take that phrase, but to me, when I say "all we can do is pray", I am saying that we as humans can do nothing apart from God. I am praying because I am giving it fully to Him, laying it at His feet, asking His help and His wisdom regarding the matter. IMHO, I do not think saying "all we can do is pray" should be seen in a negative or derogatory light. Maybe if one knows the attitude of the one making that statement, then one can determine how it was meant when it was said. Does that make sense?

Yes, it does make sense and I have heard this response to my concerns before. And I will respond now as I have done in the past to your wonderful heart:

If even ONE person hears your words in the same light that I have expressed here and they do not understand how you intended it - then don't you think that we can come up with a better way of saying it so there is no doubt?

Maybe we can start saying something like:

The best thing we can do is pray because God is ultimately our great hope - I am going to take this to Him in prayer and know that the situation - no matter how it turns out - is going to be in His hands and no matter how we see things - to know that as we put it in His hands we can trust Him in the outcome.

We should help people know - beyond any doubt - that we are confident in God and in our prayers. We need to help people see that sometimes answer to prayer is different than what we have asked for and to trust God in His reasons for however it turns out.

We have inadvertently helped to promote a message that God is like a genie in a bottle kind of approach. I think this has happened because of the enemy skewing our message and we have not given more precise answers to correct the error.

Rather than helping them see that God's will is what we seek because it is always perfect rather than giving them a false impression that we are to ask for our will and God will or will not give it to us. Do you see what I am trying to say here?

I think because people have used the expression - almost with a sigh - "all we can do now is pray" as if there is no hope and furthering the incorrect inferrance that it will take an act of God now to save the situation and since we all know that an act of God is pretty slim - then all that is left to do is pray and resign ourselves to defeat - has diminished the worlds view of both God and the hope that is in prayer and we need to redesign the message so there is NO DOUBT that we put all of our hope in prayer.

I hope you see what I am trying to say here.

[Adelphe]

Ruth,
I agree whole heartedly with you. I get where you're coming from on this one, makes me wsh I had a printer that worked so I could print out your above statement and post it on my fridge!!! ;)

[Ort]

Yes, it does make sense and I have heard this response to my concerns before. And I will respond now as I have done in the past to your wonderful heart:

If even ONE person hears your words in the same light that I have expressed here and they do not understand how you intended it - then don't you think that we can come up with a better way of saying it so there is no doubt?

Maybe we can start saying something like:

The best thing we can do is pray because God is ultimately our great hope - I am going to take this to Him in prayer and know that the situation - no matter how it turns out - is going to be in His hands and no matter how we see things - to know that as we put it in His hands we can trust Him in the outcome.

We should help people know - beyond any doubt - that we are confident in God and in our prayers. We need to help people see that sometimes answer to prayer is different than what we have asked for and to trust God in His reasons for however it turns out.

We have inadvertently helped to promote a message that God is like a genie in a bottle kind of approach. I think this has happened because of the enemy skewing our message and we have not given more precise answers to correct the error.

Rather than helping them see that God's will is what we seek because it is always perfect rather than giving them a false impression that we are to ask for our will and God will or will not give it to us. Do you see what I am trying to say here?

I think because people have used the expression - almost with a sigh - "all we can do now is pray" as if there is no hope and furthering the incorrect inferrance that it will take an act of God now to save the situation and since we all know that an act of God is pretty slim - then all that is left to do is pray and resign ourselves to defeat - has diminished the worlds view of both God and the hope that is in prayer and we need to redesign the message so there is NO DOUBT that we put all of our hope in prayer.

I hope you see what I am trying to say here.

2: Yes, I see. You do have a point. If I say that phrase, I will be more careful to put it in a different context. To say it as a positive thing to denote the Lord's complete control over the matter, and not as a heavy handed sigh of defeat. Yes, I do understand what you are saying. Good point.

[JAYNA]

Recently a lady at my church had a grandbaby die. I don't know medical terms but in my layman terms the baby was born with half a heart. They knew this when he was in the womb. Prayer was at the top of everyone's list. And amazingly the baby was born with problems but not near as much as it could have been. We were all praising God because he had miraculously brought this baby into the world. And also the baby came home and was doing quite well. Of course the parents had their ups and downs, scares, uplifts, etc. but the baby seemingly continued to slowly get stronger. Until he was 16 weeks old. Again, I'm dumb on this stuff, but from what I understand fluid had built on the heart and they had to do surgery. Well the baby crashed during it and was on life support for 24 hrs after that.

Michelle told us (the church) that they had been blessed with a whole staff of christian doctors and nurses that were taking care of this baby. The doctors told them that 'it was all in God's hands now, that there was nothing else left to do but pray'. Meaning they had done everything humanly possible for the baby and there was nothing else left for them to do. They held unceasing prayers sessions (doctors included) for 24 hrs. (Please understand this family are prayer warriors anyway, so they had never stopped praying.)

Anyway it WAS in God's hands and He brought him home to him. Sometimes there is just nothing else humanly possible to do and people say this, but in cases such as this it wasn't a 'last ditch effort' but truly knowing that prayer was the only thing left. Doctors can only do so much, but we definitely take our kids (ourselves and everyone else) to them in hopes of healing them. But God is the great physician and He has the last word.

[Ruth]

Recently a lady at my church had a grandbaby die. I don't know medical terms but in my layman terms the baby was born with half a heart. They knew this when he was in the womb. Prayer was at the top of everyone's list. And amazingly the baby was born with problems but not near as much as it could have been. We were all praising God because he had miraculously brought this baby into the world. And also the baby came home and was doing quite well. Of course the parents had their ups and downs, scares, uplifts, etc. but the baby seemingly continued to slowly get stronger. Until he was 16 weeks old. Again, I'm dumb on this stuff, but from what I understand fluid had built on the heart and they had to do surgery. Well the baby crashed during it and was on life support for 24 hrs after that.

Michelle told us (the church) that they had been blessed with a whole staff of christian doctors and nurses that were taking care of this baby. The doctors told them that 'it was all in God's hands now, that there was nothing else left to do but pray'. Meaning they had done everything humanly possible for the baby and there was nothing else left for them to do. They held unceasing prayers sessions (doctors included) for 24 hrs. (Please understand this family are prayer warriors anyway, so they had never stopped praying.)

Anyway it WAS in God's hands and He brought him home to him. Sometimes there is just nothing else humanly possible to do and people say this, but in cases such as this it wasn't a 'last ditch effort' but truly knowing that prayer was the only thing left. Doctors can only do so much, but we definitely take our kids (ourselves and everyone else) to them in hopes of healing them. But God is the great physician and He has the last word.

What a touching story. Thank you for sharing this. I am so pleased to hear that prayer was the first and most important part of ministering to these people and it should be this way every time.

It is unfortunate when so many don't realize that God is our first hope - not our last.

Thank you again for sharing - this was a wonderful encouragement.

[JAYNA]

What a touching story. Thank you for sharing this. I am so pleased to hear that prayer was the first and most important part of ministering to these people and it should be this way every time.

It is unfortunate when so many don't realize that God is our first hope - not our last.

Thank you again for sharing - this was a wonderful encouragement.

Your welcome!! :) Its a very tough time for them but they have Jesus. Also the mom had a very hard time getting pregnant with this child and doesn't think she'll be able to have more. This was there 1st child. The baby's room of course is still in the house and its very sad for them. I'm sure Sunday (Mother's Day) was very hard on her.
Keep them in your prayers as it is very hard. :)

[Ruth]

Your welcome!! :) Its a very tough time for them but they have Jesus. Also the mom had a very hard time getting pregnant with this child and doesn't think she'll be able to have more. This was there 1st child. The baby's room of course is still in the house and its very sad for them. I'm sure Sunday (Mother's Day) was very hard on her.
Keep them in your prayers as it is very hard. :)

Will do sis! How very sad in so many ways. It is such a blessing though that she knows Jesus. He will get her through this.

[Ruth]

Bttt With the elections looming, I wanted to remind everyone of our privilege of prayer.

So often, I hear people say "all I can do is pray"

Fellow Christians - that is EVERYTHING!

[mattfivefour]

Ruth, what you have said about prayer being not something we should do among other things, but EVERYTHING ... is right on. About 5 weeks ago, in another thread, I posted some words on prayer, by the great Irish preacher, C.H.Mackintosh who lived in the 1800s.

Part of what he said is: "praying and planning will never do together. If I plan, I am leaning more or less on my plan; but when I pray, I should lean exclusively upon God. Hence, the two things are perfectly incompatible; they virtually destroy each other. When my eye is filled with my own management of things, I am not prepared to see God acting for me; and, in that case, prayer is not the utterance of my need, but the mere superstitious performance of something which I think ought to be done, or it may be, asking God to sanctify my plans. This will never do. It is not asking God to sanctify and bless my means, but it is asking Him to do it all Himself."