Frederick Douglass once said, “I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.”
At first this sounds like an odd thing to say, but when you think about it, it’s a revolutionary statement packed full of meaning! He spent 20 years of his life reaching out to God, patiently waiting for God to do something about his situation. Meanwhile, God was even more patiently waiting for Douglass to do something.
We spend a lot of time wishing and hoping, and many of us praying, for certain outcomes. What we fail to realize is that we’ve been given power to act. A bike is hard to turn when it’s sitting still. But point it in the general direction that you want to go and move the wheels, and turning becomes a breeze!
If we want our lives to move forward, we need to be willing to move. Think about it. If you want to be out of debt, you have to DO something. Start working, work even more, and stop spending. If you want to lose 25 pounds, you have to DO something. Start exercising, eat better, and eat less.
It’s not easy and some things aren’t controllable. Some people take medications that affect their weight; some people lose jobs unexpectedly; some people endure terrible illnesses. Life is sure to throw crazy and sometimes oppressive things at us from time to time. But problems are guaranteed to continue unless we do what is in our power to make the changes. Our REAL priorities are reflected in our actions, not our words.
Jesus worked many miracles, but have you ever noticed how he had people do something, sometimes something very simple? He could have done the entire act himself, but we brought his people into the process. He didn’t wave a magic wand & randomly give them what they wanted. He had them do what they could do, and he did the rest, which amounted to the majority of the work. You can wait for a miracle, and if you’re doing your part, it may well happen. But are you doing what you can or are you waiting for a magic wand? Are you just praying, or are you praying with your legs?
