Prayer and Action

Tom Moore

      A poor man who lived in the country broke his leg in an accident. That meant he was laid up for a long while, unable to work. His family was large and needed help. Someone got up a prayer meeting at the church to pray for this family. While the people were praying and asking God to help the family, there was a loud knock on the door of their home. Someone tiptoed to the door, opened it, and there stood a young farm boy who said, “My dad could not attend the prayer meeting tonight, so he just sent his prayers in a wagon.” And there was the wagon loaded with meat, potatoes, apples, and other things from the farm.

      Friends, we know that prayer is required, vital, and powerful. But too many fail to realize that prayer does not relieve one of personal responsibility. Perhaps, the words of John will make the point clear for all of us. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him” (1 John 3:16-19).