“Pray About It…Then, Be About It…”

This quote came to me one day, while experiencing a “self-pity” moment. While dealing with a debilitating health challenge, I prayed intensely for the Lord to give me some relief and ultimately heal me.

I realized that I was praying…and then doing nothing. No research, no exercises, no diet implementation…nothing. I just sat still and waited for God to do His thing.

Then I reflected on this story from the movie Facing the Giants:

“I heard of a story of two farmers praying to God for rain to come. Both prayed, but only one prepared the land to receive it. Who do you think trusted God more to send the rain?”

"God will send the rain when He is ready. You need to prepare your land to receive it."

I wanted blessings that I was not preparing myself to receive.

Cases in Point:

Prayer: “Lord, please help me win a Marathon.”

Your Actions:  You won’t even walk around your house.

Prayer: “Lord, send me a wife.”

Your Actions:  You currently have No job, No house and No means to take care of her.

Prayer:  Lord, please bless me with a brand, new car.

Your Actions:  You fail to wash, change the oil, keep clean or maintenance your current car.

Prayer: Lord, please let me win $1 million dollars.

Your Actions: You are a horrible manager of your current finances.

The Bible says:

Revelation 3:7-8 (NIV):

7 ...“What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name."

James 2:14-17 (NKJV):  Faith Without Works Is Dead

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Psalm 23:4 (NKJV):

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Powerful Quotes:

“Don’t complain about results you are not getting based on the work you are not doing.”

“Actions trump Good Intentions.” – Janette McGowen

“Actions prove who someone is; Words just prove who they want to be.”

“Life has no remote. Get up and change it yourself.”

“Pray when you feel like worrying. Give thanks when you feel like complaining. Keep going when you feel like quitting.”

Serenity Prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

“You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. This is how prayer works.” – Pope Francis

"Often the answer to our prayer does not come while we are on our knees, but while we are on our feet serving the Lord and serving those around us.” - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“If you are going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill

We should all PRAY for God’s blessings, while, through faith, preparing ourselves to receive them.