The First Resort

The First Resort

All the believers devoted themselves . . . to prayer. Acts 2:42

“ALL WE CAN DO NOW IS PRAY.” It’s often a statement of resignation, the last words we say before giving up, a desperate plea in a desperate situation after all other recourse has been attempted. Human nature tends to default to self-reliance, which means that whenever we face a problem, need, or crisis, we immediately do everything we can to deal with it ourselves. Some people pray along the way; others hardly think about prayer until all other options run out. But we have to become spiritually minded people to default to prayer in the first place. Otherwise, it becomes our last resort.

Think of the message that conveys. When prayer is nothing more than a last resort, we use God to fill in the gaps of our own abilities, as if human effort is primary and God is our supplement. He becomes our backup plan. But when we saturate our lives in prayer, covering every situation with a request to know God’s will and be empowered to carry it out, he becomes the priority and we become his helpers. Prayer up front acknowledges that God is up front—that he is the driving force in our lives. The difference between the two approaches tells us a lot about how we see God, ourselves, and our world. Where we place prayer in our priorities says something about where God fits in our lives.

God is gracious to answer prayers of last resort, even if they relegate him to last-resort status. But we are designed to begin, continue, and end with prayer in everything—in stewarding our families, carrying out our business, relating to others, living out the gospel, and influencing the world. Prayer is not only for those critical moments of relational, health, and financial concerns but for constant communication with our source of life at all times. It should pervade our lives more than the food we eat and the air we breathe. A life saturated in prayer may face no fewer problems than a life without it, but they are different problems and managed in entirely different ways, filled with purpose and fruitfulness—and with God involved every step of the way.

We need more Christians for whom prayer is the first resort, not the last.