Passing the buck to God

[Stan]

AND no, I am not talking about tithing...

Was in Church yesterday, as is my custom, and the prayer during the Church service was typical prayer...

Lord Bless those who need help kind of prayer, or as they used to say Bless the colporters etc. Bless the teachers in the divisions, or schools etc

Then I thought, we are passing the buck to God, rather than US doing something we should to help the widows, the teachers, the needy etc, we delegate this to God to do.

It is clear from the word of Jesus, it is something WE MUST DO. We need God to bless our ACTIVE efforts and give us a vision of what WE CAN DO.

Some words of EGW I read in the past, "if all you do is pray, soon you will even cease to do that" or something similar to that.

NO THROWING STONES AT ME... :)

[phkrause]

I hear you Stan, never thought of it that way. Usually when I pray those thoughts, I include myself to be able to help those that do those things.

[Stan]

on Judgement day, "Dear Jesus, well I thought about doing something and I prayed you would do something"

[Naomi]

OUCH!!!

[Gerr]

Yeah, bless the hungry, but offer no help to feed them. Bless the needy, but do not lift a finger to help them!

[Tom Wetmore]

To paraphrase a famous thought - "Ask not what your God can do for you, but ask what you can do for your God."

[Naomi]

To paraphrase a famous thought - "Ask not what your God can do for you, but ask what you can do for your God."

[Stan]

We see children adults and senors being hurt, even dying of starvation, and illness.

We say "Why doesn't God do something about that, can't he see what is happening?"

God sees children being hurt, even dying of starvation, and illness.

God says "Why don't those people do something, can't they see what is happening?"

Turns out, we might be held accountable .

Just sayin'

[M. T. Cross]

Stan this is something I have been saying for years!!! No matter what God(s) one might pray to, you can't sit around and expect that one can do nothing themselves. It kind of goes back to that old saying "God helps those that help themselves".

It seems to me that the people that are just turning everything over to God, pray and wait, are usually the first ones to wonder why God lets bad things happen, things that a little human action could have prevented. The Divine and deity certainly will help and aide us, but it won't do the work for us.

To take it further, its much the same as blaming God or the Devil for the bad that happens in this world, or even at times giving glory to God for the most mundane things. I fully believe that if we were indeed created in Gods image that we can give ourself some credit at times. An example of this: A lady posted on facebook one cold morning that her husband had gotten the tractor started so that he could plow the driveway. She went on to claim that God had made that tractor start. It was most likely that her husband employed the proper use of the glow plug to warm the engine before trying to start it and that was the cause of the engine starting. Give God the gratitude for her husband being smart enough to do that, but God did not start the John Deere......

[Naomi]

Yes, Stan, there are so many being hurt. Sadly, all too often it is the helpless and guiltless.

We do what we can in our own little corner of the world, but it does not even touch the tip of the iceburg.

And, yes, we might be held accountable (:

So, what is the answer?

Just askin' ......

[M. T. Cross]

Yes, Stan, there are so many being hurt. Sadly, all too often it is the helpless and guiltless.

We do what we can in our own little corner of the world, but it does not even touch the tip of the iceburg.

And, yes, we might be held accountable (:

So, what is the answer?

Just askin' ......

Ask yourself, for everything you pray about, what you can DO outside of praying?

[Tom Wetmore]

This reminds me of what Phillip Yancey said after 9/11. Years before he had written the book, "Where is God When it Hurts?" which was republished shortly after 9/11. Many people asked him, "So, where is God in all of this?" Yancey responded that he saw God at ground zero of that horrible tragedy. God was there in the form of all those who responded to help in so many ways. We are His hands and feet. That puts new meaning to the old song, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".

[Woody]

This goes along with my thoughts of late - that prayer is kind of worthless unless you DO something about your prayer. The prayer needs to motivate you to DO not sit.

[Gail]

I guess if you are not in a position to help, you may as well ask for a blessing for that other person! With corporate prayer, if it piques something in you it just might be the Spirit doing it!

[Stan]

Appreciate many of the comments, and I am not trying to marginalize prayer by any means, I was talking about passing the responsibility on to God, when we should be actually doing something.

There are many times, then we can only hang on to prayer and to hope.

[Naomi]

Originally Posted By: Naomi

Yes, Stan, there are so many being hurt. Sadly, all too often it is the helpless and guiltless.

We do what we can in our own little corner of the world, but it does not even touch the tip of the iceburg.

And, yes, we might be held accountable (:

So, what is the answer?

Just askin' ......

Ask yourself, for everything you pray about, what you can DO outside of praying?

EC I believe you misunderstood my statement. I am pretty involved with the needs of the community, as I believe we all have an obligation to do. However, the issues are so huge, and ever increasing, what can be done ouside of our circle of influence?

[LifeHiscost]

Yes, Stan, there are so many being hurt. Sadly, all too often it is the helpless and guiltless.

We do what we can in our own little corner of the world, but it does not even touch the tip of the iceburg.

And, yes, we might be held accountable (:

So, what is the answer?

Just askin' ......

Perhaps in our prayers we might claim these promises, if we believe ourselves to be favored of God so much as to be privileged to be used by Him.

"[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight."Phil 2:13 AMP Brackets their's LHC

"Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better."Colossians 1:10 NLT

After all, if we can't claim those promises, this is about all we have left.

"We are all infected and impure with sin.

When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,

and our sins sweep us away like the wind."Isaiah 64:6 NLT

I'm suggesting that this below is what these people are asked to do by the King of kings.

"Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven."Matthew 5:16 AMP

And that fulfills this request also.

"“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

Matthew 11:27-29 NLT

God blesses!

[M. T. Cross]

EC I believe you misunderstood my statement. I am pretty involved with the needs of the community, as I believe we all have an obligation to do. However, the issues are so huge, and ever increasing, what can be done ouside of our circle of influence?

Indeed I did, apologies.

What we can do is hope that what we do to help influences others to get involved. Part of the problem I think is that people try to be modest and keep the help they give others quiet because they are doing it from the heart and not for attention. But think about it, many people that may be willing to involve themselves in helping in certain areas may not even know the help is needed.

I don't have a real solution, just some thoughts.

[Neil D]

Appreciate many of the comments, and I am not trying to marginalize prayer by any means, I was talking about passing the responsibility on to God, when we should be actually doing something.

There are many times, then we can only hang on to prayer and to hope.

Kinda takes to concept of "faith" and "trust" out of the intellectual relm and placing it in the "blue collar" catagory of doing something, eh?