Prayer and action cannot be separated

Direction is more important than location. But his hearing is not a license to use prayer to bail us out of the messes of an undisciplined spiritual life. I will go with Paul writing to the Romans, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Rom. 6:1). He was writing about law and grace and baptism, but I think the question applies to life and prayer as well.

What a Christian looks like has changed over the years. Preachers are just as likely to wear a t-shirt or hoodie with jeans and sit on a stool as they are to stand behind a podium and wear a tie and jacket. Hair styles and clothing, along with acceptance of tattoos and piercings have made the instruction to dress modestly (as in not stand out) challenging for many.

However, what a Christian looks like regarding words and action have not changed. Matching words and action have always been part of what it means to be faithful to God and people. I agree that God can take people from any place and pull them into his kingdom. But once there, it is important to take on the characteristics of the king. This might require some reflection on outward appearance, but it absolutely does require reflection on spiritual disciplines.

It should be clear that prayer is available to us anywhere, anytime. However, to fit prayer in during the lulls in our day (which is a good thing) cannot replace time set aside for prayer. In the Gospels, Jesus would spend time teaching and healing, then he would go away to a quiet place to pray. Action and prayer were inseparable for Jesus.

The focus of Jesus’ prayers was to keep him centered on what is important: God’s holiness and will, God’s kingdom on earth, the source of our sustenance, being forgiving in order to be forgiven, and guidance.

When asked by his disciples how to pray he responded with what Christians call, “the Lord’s Prayer.” It has nothing to do with material gain, but everything about it affects our physical existence in a world losing its mind to be “seen.”

In both Luke and Matthew the prayer is followed by, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find.” (It is in the next chapter in Matthew). How we pray, or not, and what we do cannot be separated. The spiritual and physical are linked so tightly that to anyone paying attention we cannot hide the truth of our prayer life.

The Bible praises those whose actions and prayers match. In the story of Cornelius in Acts 10 we read of his actions before we read that he prayed. Action preceded prayer.

The ancient Christian writer and bishop, Cyprian of Carthage wrote, “Moreover, those who pray should not come to God with fruitless or naked prayers.

“Petition is ineffectual when it is a barren entreaty that beseeches God. . . Thus Holy Scripture instructs us, saying, ‘Prayer is good with fasting and almsgiving.’ . . . Thus for instance, Cornelius the centurion, when he prayed had a claim to be heard. For he was in the habit of doing many alms-deeds towards the people, and of every praying to God. [That’s why] and angel . . . said, ‘Cornelius, your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering to God.” Cyprian, Treatise 4, On the Lord’s Prayer:32).

One gets the impression that most of our prayer life is hidden from view of most people. It was Jesus’ instruction in the Sermon on the Mount to not pray in order to be seen by people but to, “go into your room and shut the door and pray.” (Mt. 6:6).

In Luke 18:9-14, a Pharisee is doing what Jesus said not to do and thanking God he was not like other people, and a tax-collector “standing far off” who prayed, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” It is the prayer of the tax-collector that has survived the centuries and come to us as the “Jesus prayer.”

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.” That prayer will affect our actions.