![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/carla.jpg\")
By Carla Thomas\nTruth Contributor<\/p>\n
By Carla Thomas
\nTruth Contributor<\/p>\n
We are living in perilous times. I honestly can\u2019t remember a time on this earth when we weren\u2019t; however, every time something bad happens, the same declaration for more prayer is made.
\nAnother shooting. Pray. Another family struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Pray. Another child lost to violence. Pray.
\nPrayer is beautiful and necessary. It give us strength and hope. It centers us when the world feels like it is falling apart. It\u2019s understood why people turn to prayer when they are scared, hurting, angry or simply don’t know what else to do.
\nBut what I\u2019m trying to understand is this: When there is a call for more prayer after a tragedy, what are we expecting prayer to do? Are we praying for comfort and peace to help us through what has happened, or are we praying for something to actually change? And if we are praying for change, what are we expecting that change to look like, and how do we expect it to happen?
\nBlack people have been praying for a long time, and yet the world around us seems to be getting progressively worse. Here we are in 2026, and Black people are still being lynched, as in, found hanging from trees. Black people across this country are still being harassed and killed by police. We still have the police called on us for simply existing in spaces where someone decides we don’t belong. And now, we are watching pieces of our history being erased. At the same time, our own communities continue to struggle with violence, poverty, a lack of resources and opportunities, and the effects of generations of neglect.
\nWe\u2019ve prayed through slavery, Jim Crow, poverty, discrimination, violence and loss.
\nWe, as a people, stay praying.
\nIt\u2019s so easy to say, \u201cI’m praying for you\u201d or \u201cWe need to pray more.\u201d But prayer isn’t supposed to be the end of our responsibility. It should be preparation for the action that comes after.
\nGod works through us, as us. That is my belief. We are His hands, feet, eyes, ears and mouth in this world.
\nWhen we say, \u201cPray for our city,\u201d are we also going to show up at city council meetings? Are we willing to hold our city leaders accountable?
\nWhen we are praying for God to feed the hungry, are we willing to buy the food?
\nWhen we pray for God to comfort the hurting, are we willing to sit beside them?
\nWhen we pray for justice, are we willing to speak up when something is wrong?
\nWe keep praying, \u201cGod, fix this,\u201d when maybe our prayer should be, \u201cGod, what can I do to fix this?\u201d
\nIf it\u2019s important enough that we need to ask for prayer, then it\u2019s definitely important enough for us to take action. Prayer without a corresponding action is an excuse to do nothing.
\nRev. Martin Luther King Jr. understood that prayer and action had to go together. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, King made it clear that we can\u2019t just sit around waiting for things to get better. He was a minister. He was a man of faith. But he also understood that change requires people willing to do the work. He called those people \u201ccoworkers with God.\u201d
\nKing prayed, but then he marched. He preached, but then he organized. His belief in God did not excuse him from confronting injustice. It compelled him to confront it.
\nAnd he wasn\u2019t just calling out individuals. He was calling out the church, too.
\nAre our churches just talking and praying about what people are going through, or are they actually showing up and doing something about it?
\nThat question isn\u2019t just for churches, but nonprofits, community organizations, government, elected officials, and every one of us.
\nIt is easy to say, \u201cwe need to pray for our community.\u201d It is harder to walk into that community, listen to the people who live there and commit ourselves to doing something about what they are facing.
\nPrayer is supposed to give us the strength and courage to do the work, especially when the work is hard. But prayer can\u2019t take the place of our responsibility to do something.
\nWhen we say, \u201cI\u2019m praying for you\u201d or \u201cWe need to pray,\u201d maybe we should start adding, \u201cNow what can I do?\u201d
\nPrayer and action are not an \u201ceither\/or.\u201d They work together.
\nJesus didn\u2019t just pray. He acted. He fed, healed and served the people. And His ultimate act was laying down His life.
\nSo pray without ceasing, but after you pray, listen. The answer to prayer is never going to be a miracle falling from the sky. Ever. It\u2019s going to be an assignment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Carla Thomas Truth Contributor We are living in perilous times. I honestly can\u2019t remember a time on this earth when we weren\u2019t; however, every time something bad happens, the same declaration for more prayer is made. Another shooting. Pray. Another family struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Pray. Another child lost to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,252],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[360],"class_list":["post-20387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial-opinion","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20387"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20389,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20387\/revisions\/20389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20387"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=20387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}