Prayer and action; faith and works
We are living in a fallen world. If you read the Bible and believe it to be the infallible, inerrant word of God, then you know that the closer we get to the Messiah’s return, the worse it gets. Prior to Christ’s return there is no massive revival where everybody celebrates the kingdom of God being established and ruled by Christians. Jesus Christ alone treads the winepress, “and the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses (Revelation 19:14).” It is the Messiah who smites the nations and rules them “with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15).” The teaching that man establishes the kingdom of God and rules over it in order for Christ to return is errant and heretical. It has misled the masses.
We cannot stop the march of prophecy, but I believe we can determine our place in it both individually and collectively as a nation. If you think prayer alone will do it, you are mistaken. If you think acts alone will do it, you are mistaken. As is written in James 2:17-18: “Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, you have faith and I have works: show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” Prayer and action work hand in hand. Yes, the Lord will answer prayer in many ways. But there are many accounts in the Bible where prayer was only answered when man was willing to step out in his faith and take action.
I know that your letters, emails and phone calls to the elected officials, even to ministries, have virtually no effect. And to those many who are writhing in daily prayer, you may say that without that prayer things would be far worse. Others might say that if you took action to back up your prayer, it would be more effective. Raw nerves being poked, I know. Romans 12:21 says, “Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” Jesus told us much the same in the Sermon on the Mount. The generations have collectively allowed our communities and our nation to fall so far away from God that it will be no small task to restore, or revive our nation. Those of us alive today are complicit in this whether we want to admit it or not. We need to repent, pray, act.
If we are to change our community or our nation, it will not be done on prayer alone. It will not be done on action alone. The two working together may determine a better place in the prophetic end times. But we will have to have fervent prayer and just as fervent action. We may need to take to the streets and demand accountability. We may need to inspire the younger generation to know God’s laws and why it is important for society to follow them. We may need to call them to action. In a survey of even Jot readers done before the election, over 90% of the respondents who wanted to do something to change the outcome of the election only wanted to pray. What to do? We need to pray AND ACT.
