Today I have a guest blogger, my friend, Laura Smolnikova, whom I have known for 28 years. This was originally posted on September 18, 2023, on Laura’s blog, Under a Slovak Sky. Laura is British, the wife of a Slovak pastor and mother of four wonderful children. I have been enjoying her blog for several years. While I know this will be of value to all my readers, I have a number of Slovak readers I particularly want to know of Laura’s blog, which always blesses me.
And Jesus said to them, “Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
Luke 24: 38-39
Jesus is real and His help in my life is real and impacts me in a real flesh and bones way. It isn’t just airy-fairy, pie-in-the-sky, hypothetical help but necessary, practical and solid help in my daily life – as I make decisions about the day ahead, carry out my varied and numerous tasks and interact with others. Occasionally I have a strong sense of His blessing and presence in some matter. Always, even when I don’t realize it, He is faithfully helping, filling and enabling me in all of the humdrum moments of my day. He sustains me and give me my very breath. I am who I am by His grace. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). This and many verses like it are in the present tense. God is helping right now!
But far too often I pray and live as though this were not true. I say “pray and live” because these two things are tightly interwoven. I pour out my heart before Him in prayer and then walk away from my prayer time, not in the confidence that He answers prayer but with the expectation that He will not. I live my day leaning on my own understanding, in my own strength and according to my own agenda – to all intents and purposes a functional atheist. Prayer that is not followed by faithful living is no better than murmuring and worrying before the Lord. The prayer of faith is seen in a life of obedience. Prayer does not mean passively waiting around for God’s supernatural intervention or a sense of being energized with power from above, whether with supernatural patience, love, or courage. Real prayer is followed by faith in action – life that flows out of a heart that trusts God to provide all that is needed for obedience moment by moment. The fact remains that God’s help becomes experiential and not just theoretical as I lean into it and not while I am still waiting for it. My experience of God’s help will always be very limited if I wait for feelings before I step out in faithful obedience.
The Latin phrase “ora et labora” (pray and work) expresses this tension between prayer and my activity. There is God’s part and there is mine. I cannot do his job and He will not do mine. I must choose to step out in faith because He will not do it for me. But He does fill and strengthen me in every step I take. He does give wisdom, guard, deliver and help me as I pursue His ways. Nevertheless, I cannot get away from the fact that I have a part to play. Spirituality is not passivity. Passivity is not faith. Faith says “I believe, Lord, that you go before, behind, around and within me as I step into these next 24 hours, to strengthen and enable me to live according to your will, to resist evil and pursue good, to be wise and discerning and speak truth, to bear the fruit of the Spirit, to walk in the works You have prepared for me, to face and overcome the obstacles that will cross my path today and in all of it to maintain a quiet and peaceful heart.” Faith speaks and then faith acts.
I obey, not because I trust in myself, but because I trust Him to supply me with the strength to do so. But to pray and then not obey and do the good works He has already prepared for me (Ephesians 2:10) is really a denial of faith and means my prayer is little better than a collection of meaningless phrases. God is good, today and every day. He is faithful to His word and to His promises. He has promised to help me. But He has also asked me to believe and in believing to obey.
“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”
Psalm 121: 1-2
God answers prayer and the prayer of faith can move mountains. The problem is with my perspective, my faulty memory and my inability or refusal to see His answers to prayer, and a resulting failure to walk in obedience. Joy grows the more I recognize His help and walk in step with Him, cultivating a thankful heart.
“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of rigtheousness.”
Isaiah 41:10
Whether we believe it or not, He is there and ready to help.
Will you believe it?
