I often pray to grow in faith. Yesterday someone challenged me to do something different. “We’re always praying for what we think we need,” he said, “How about praying for using what we already have?”
This struck me as incredibly wise. If I hunkered down and said, “Today I’m going to do every single act of kindness I can and pray for every single hurting person I know.” I could change lives. It wouldn’t take a miracle. It would just take greater effort.
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If I dug in again tomorrow and prayed for every angry person I know, and then concentrated the day after on doing something concrete for the poor, the world would start changing. No act of God would be required–just my actions, putting the faith He has given me to better use.
I hope I am already doing more with the treasure God has given me than the servant who buried the single bag of silver his master entrusted to him. Unfortunately, I’m probably not investing it as well as the servant who received five bags (Matthew 25:14-30).
There’s nothing wrong with praying for more faith. Part of the answer to my prayer, however, may arise from using the faith I already have.
