Prayer and Faith

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I think I pray a lot, but I really don't know and surely I could pray more. What I do know is that prayer works. He has blessed me many times over and He has never failed me. He has answered each and every one of my prayers. That's not to say that all of my prayers have been answered in the way I would have liked, but they were answered.

Which brings me to the point of this post. I have read twice now in this past week where parents have prayed that their child's health would be restored. They knew their child was very sick, and continued their prayers, but never considered seeking medical attention for their child. And, each time their child died before their very eyes, as they prayed.

One father, upon his conviction in a Wisconsin court, said the fact that his daughter was taken from him by God would not deter his faith in God. He added that sickness is the result of sin and that it was God's will that his daughter die.

Another father in Oregon, overwhelmed with grief in court admitted he now believes that God would have wanted him to take his child to the doctor, although at the time, he believed God would heal the child Himself.

Now I know that some of you might take this as an offense, but I believe we can not prayer alone will solve all of our desires. I believe that through prayer, we should follow God's lead and what we can to help Him help us.

By that, I mean pray first and take action. Speak out against those that don't follow God's way. Do what you can to change them. Pray for your elected officials, but also be active in either supporting them, or doing what you can to get rid of them. Pray that the kidnapper returns his victim unharmed, but join the search if you can.

I am very sure that He heard the prayers of those parents. Just as sure as I am that He told the parents to take their children to a doctor, but they did not hear Him. Prayer is important, but hearing Him is even more important.
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