What Are You Doing About It? 12/20/2022

 Good Morning,

I will be eating at a Waffle House this morning and my coffee will be their brand. I have been looking forward to it for a couple of days. 

James 4:17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good, and does not do it, to him it is a sin. 

I receive many prayer requests from people in different situations and I pray for them and request God's will to be done in that situation. I am a staunch believer in prayer and praying for others. Many years ago while I was still doing youth work in our church A teenage girl was all stressed out about an upcoming exam for some subject. She said it was imperative that she passed this test with at least a C grade to keep up her GPA.  I was curious as to why she was struggling in this class. I asked her how her studying was going. Her reply was this. "Not too good. I get distracted and I was on the phone the other night for two ours with my boyfriend. I asked her what she wanted God to do. Her reply was interesting. I would like God to help me recall all I learned for me to get a good grade." I said, are you planning on studying a lot more? "No", was her reply. "I don't have time to study tonight. He just needs to help me," I was prepared to pray for her to get some sleep and stay awake during the test if she were to stay up late or all night long. 

I believe that we should pray, but I also believe that when faced with something that is needed we can expect God to leave some of the work to us.  There are times when I am asked for advice and then asked to pray for help in some type of personal thing for others. Yet when given the chance to do something about their plight, they do nothing to help the cause except to create excuses. I have prayed about finances for people and when I ask if they have a written budget they reply with a no. It like praying about cleaning your house. You might pray for help and God sends someone your way to help.. Yet you keep habits that are poor housekeeping to say the least. People then wonder if God is listening and often they whine when they don't believe their prayers are answered. The right prayer request from this young lady would have been for God to help her prioritize her life and find time to study and then do it. If the effort was put in, I could then see praying for recalling lessons learned. 

Food for thought. 

Marty