Jesus was a Man of intense and frequent prayer. The Gospels have numerous accounts of Jesus withdrawing to pray.
Prayer is a thread that ran throughout His life and ministry.
The disciples were men of prayer, as were members of the early church. When Peter was imprisoned by Herod, “constant
prayer was offered to God for him by the church” (Acts 12:5).
The apostle Paul repeatedly stated that we must always be in prayer: “For God is my witness, … that without
ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers” (Rom. 1:9); “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy” (Phil. 1:3–4); “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess.
5:17).
As you read the New Testament looking for references to prayer, you are going to find them popping up from the
pages frequently and almost insistently—they not only tell us about prayer but compel us to pray. Prayer is the
undergirding foundation for all good works, all miracles, and all spiritual fruitfulness. God desires to have
a praying people!
However, the Scriptures state that there are times when we are not to pray. Instead, we are to act. Prayer
must never be a substitute for speaking to others and acting toward others as the Holy Spirit desires. We must
never hide behind a shield of prayer, saying to God, in effect, “I would obey You, but I'm too busy praying.” Our
lives are to be in balance: pray and do. Trust and obey. Hear and follow. The Scriptures plainly tell us that we
are to be active doers of God's Word. (See James 1:22; John 13:17.)
One of the best examples of this in the Bible is in Joshua 7:1–13:
But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan … took of the accursed
things; so the anger of the LORD
burned against the children of Israel.
Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai … and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the country.” So the
men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up, but
let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai
are few.” So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai. And the
men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck
them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.
Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening, he
and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord GOD, why have You brought
this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had
been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before
its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off
our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”
So the LORD said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also
transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have
both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could
not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to
destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. Get up, sanctify
the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the LORD God of Israel: “There is an
accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing
from among you.” ’ ”
Immediately after God had given the Israelites a great victory at Jericho, Joshua sent men to spy out Ai. Although
Ai wasn't nearly the city that Jericho was, the Israelites were soundly defeated. It was a serious setback that
caused grief and fear to fill the Israelite camp.
What was the difference in the approaches of the Israelites to Jericho and Ai? First, God gave Joshua a mandate
to defeat Jericho and accompanied it by a promise that He would give Jericho into Joshua's hand. Furthermore, God
gave Joshua the military strategy by which the victory was to be won. (See Josh. 6.) The victory was God's, and
He received full glory for it.
When God gives instructions, He is very precise. He doesn't deal with generalities. He uses specific methods
for specific circumstances. Jericho is the only city in the Scriptures that was taken by the Israelites, because
the priests and the people carried the ark of the covenant around it once a day for six days and then seven times
on the seventh day.
God no doubt had a battle plan for Ai, but Joshua didn't wait to receive it. Joshua sent out spies just as he
had for Jericho, and when they came back with a report that Ai could easily be taken, Joshua dispatched a few thousand
men without consulting God. He relied solely on prideful human opinion.
• Recall an experience in your life in which you were facing a major challenge or decision and you did not
pray and receive God's guidance before proceeding. What was the result in the short term? The long term?
Second, God had commanded as a part of the victory over Jericho that the people of Israel not touch the “accursed
things”—items that were considered unclean according to the Law, including the personal effects of the people of
Jericho. They were only to take the silver, gold, bronze, and iron vessels for the treasury of the house of the
Lord, and burn the rest. Joshua gave very clear instructions to the men of Israel: “By all means abstain from the
accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse,
and trouble it” (Josh. 6:18).
Achan did not obey. He brought accursed things into the camp, including a beautiful Babylonian garment. He also
took two hundred shekels of silver and wedges of gold for himself. He buried them in the ground inside his tent.
Had Joshua sought God's face before moving against Ai, I have no doubt that God would have revealed to Joshua
what Achan had done. The problem could and should have been resolved before any assault was made on Ai. If it had
been, I also have no doubt that the Israelites would have been successful a second time, again without any loss
of Israelite life.
• In looking back over some of your heartaches and failures, is there a time you can recall when something
needed to be changed or corrected before you took a specific action? Do you believe the Lord would have revealed
that to you if you had prayed about the situation?
• What new insights do you have into this passage from Joshua 7:1–13?
The Importance of Asking the Right Question
When the men of Israel returned in defeat, Joshua turned immediately to prayer. He tore his garment, an act
of grief, and he fell on his face in humiliation before the ark of the covenant until nightfall. All of the elders
joined him in this act. Joshua cried out to God, “Why did You do this to us?”
Joshua asked the wrong question. It is a question that many of us ask when trouble strikes us. Our first impulse
is to blame God for the tragedy or problem that is overwhelming us. We cry out, “Why? Why me? What did I do to
deserve this? Why did You allow me to get in this mess?” Although these questions may be our initial responses,
they are the wrong questions to ask. The appropriate questions to ask are: “What did I do that was wrong? How did
I get into this mess? What can I do to correct this situation?”
Sometimes we need to change a habit or correct a bad attitude. We may need to confront our own sin and error.
In the vast majority of cases, God is not at all the cause for our trouble or need. We human beings are at fault,
either collectively or individually.
When Joshua had ceased pouring out his hurt, frustration, and questioning to God, God said, “Get up! Why are
you lying on your face? Israel has sinned and that is the reason for your defeat.”
When we go to God in prayer, we must be willing to hear what God says to us. Often, people go to God in prayer
about a situation, voice their petition, and never stop to hear back from God. In fact, they never even give it
a thought that God might want to say something to them. We must wait when we voice our petitions to God to hear
His response.
This is especially true when we are praying in the aftermath of a setback or defeat in our lives. It is also
vitally important that we do this anytime we find ourselves blaming God for our troubles. We must be willing to
listen for His explanation, which is very often a correction.
Once the Lord reveals to us what we need to correct, the time for prayer has ended. There is nothing more to
be said—no excuses, no attempt to justify what we have done or what has happened. We must accept what the Lord
says and immediately move to obey Him. Our obedience may include asking Him to forgive us and to help us to obey
Him in the future. But our actions of obedience must follow quickly. There are usually amends to be made or specific
actions to be taken that will help right the wrong.
In Joshua's case, he rose early the next morning, organized Israel by tribes, and discovered who had taken the
accursed things. He moved quickly to correct the problem. In fact, he resolved the situation before the day ended.
After the sin had been cleansed from the camp, the Lord said to Joshua,
Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have
given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and its king as
you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush
for the city behind it. (Joshua 8:1–2)
When Joshua did as God commanded, the people were successful. No Israelite lives were lost, the city was brought
to desolation, and there was great bounty added to the camp of the Israelites.
There are times when we find it much easier to pray about our sins than to turn our back on them. It is easier
to pray for another person than to do something practical to help that person. It is easier to pray for our relationship
with another person than to take steps to make amends or to reconcile. It is easier to pray about our indebtedness
than to curb our spending habits. But at these times God calls us to get up off our knees and deal with the problems
that we have created for ourselves. Then, and only then, will He bless us.
• In what ways are you being challenged in your prayer life?
Four Principles for Deciding Whether to Pray or Act
The story from Joshua gives us four key principles that we can use to test whether we should keep praying or
start acting:
First, there is a time to wait before God in prayer and a time to act. The time to wait is when we do
not have a clear understanding, direction, or mandate from God to act. Until we know what to do regarding a specific
circumstance, need, problem, relationship, or opportunity, we should remain in prayer.
The time to act is when the Lord reveals to us anything that needs to be corrected or changed in our lives.
Sometimes the change is a new behavior we need to develop or a new step we are to take.
Second, blaming God in prayer is a waste of time. Anytime you are holding God responsible for your troubles,
you are in error. God does not do bad things to people. God does good things for people. He may have
allowed your own error or sin to result in something bad in your life, but He has allowed it so that you might
learn from it, correct the situation, and move forward to greater blessing. He may have allowed a tragic circumstance
to occur in your life, but He has a plan for good to come from it as you yield your life to Him and trust Him to
use this tragedy for a much greater and higher blessing in your life and the lives of those around you.
Third, when God shows you an error that needs to be corrected, correct it immediately. You may need to
ask the Lord how and when you should take specific actions, especially if someone else is involved, but take very
specific steps to correct your error immediately.
Certainly we can pray as we take the steps that God has ordered. We don't have to be on our knees or in a secluded
place to pray. Our prayers don't cease, but our period of “waiting” on the Lord should end at the moment God reveals
to us what we are to do. No excuses, and no delays.
Fourth, don't substitute prayer for action. Do not compound your error by thinking that you can “pray
the problem away.” If God has revealed to you an error that involves your job, your marriage, your children, your
church relationships, your friendships, your health, your finances … those errors will not be resolved fully or
solely by prayer. His command to us is, “Deal with this!”
We may not be able to achieve full reconciliation, arrive at a total solution, or meet the entirety of need
through one conversation or one action. We may need to deal with the problem, and then deal further with the problem,
and then deal even further with the problem. Most problems are not created in a day or resolved in a day. Our prayer
as we deal with the situation is to be constant: “Lord, give me courage to do this, give me wisdom to know how
to do this, give me strength to persist in doing this.” This kind of prayer complements our action; it is not a
substitute for action.
God requires us to take initiative. We must have a zeal for doing what is right in His eyes if God's work in
us is going to continue and if His kingdom is going to continue to be expand. He asks us to pray so He can guide
and direct our initiative, but He expects us to work, speak, exert, give, share … in a word, do.
If we fail to deal with a problem after God reveals it to us, we are cheating ourselves of future success. The
roadblock to our success doesn't disappear or vanish. It remains until we attend to it. How much better to act
on it quickly than to delay or to turn away and deny that the roadblock exists.
What the Word Says
I will say to God, “Do not condemn me;
Show me why you contend with me.…
Seek for my iniquity
And search out my sin.” (Job 10:2, 6)
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
Show me your ways, O LORD;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day. (Ps. 25:4–5)
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow You Holy One to see corruption.
You will show me the path of life. (Ps. 16:9–11)
What the Word Says to Me
• What new insights do you have into the balance between prayer and action in God's Word?
• In what ways are you being challenged in your prayer life?
Opening the Way to Future Success
When we act on the problems that the Lord reveals to us in prayer, we take one step closer to realizing the
full potential that the Lord has placed within us. We come closer to receiving more of the abundant blessings He
has for us. We grow deeper in our relationship with the Lord, for we experience anew His mercy and loving forgiveness.
And we have greater insight into the righteousness, justice, and perfection of God. We see with renewed insight
the glory that belongs to God alone. He is the One who is refining us and perfecting us, teaching us and training
us to be His people. How blessed we are to have a relationship with Him! How awesome to know that we can come to
God in prayer and always, always, always be welcomed with loving and everlasting arms, even if we hear words
of correction from Him.
From Talking With God: Discover New Insights to Help Deepen Your Prayer
Life by Charles Stanley. Copyright 1997 by Charles Stanley.
