Anyone who knows me will likely tell you that I have talked (or perhaps they would use the word 'ranted') about this before. I may not be a devout Christian, a trained minister, or a religious expert of any kind; however, this is something that I care about. So, am I qualified to even be talking about this? No, probably not. Am I going to anyway? Most definitely.

Now, I'm sure that most everyone has seen some sort of "meme" which seems to be insulting prayer. Perhaps it claims prayer is futile, or perhaps it says, quite bluntly, that prayers can't feed the hungry. As a Christian, this hits a little close to home. Yet, for the longest time, I would simply dismiss these apparent insults as just that: insults that should be dismissed. Then one day I thought, "Hey, maybe these aren't just insults. Maybe there is a hint of truth in these."

Before you freak out and throw holy water at me or call me a heretic, allow me to explain.

I'm not saying that prayer inherently doesn't work, but I am saying that it doesn't work how you may think it does. Today, too many Christians are using prayer (and God) as a sort of "Celestial handyman". Too many Christians think that all they have to do is pray, that praying is all they are supposed to do. Prayer may not be inherently ineffective, but when this is your mindset, it may as well be. In the end, it isn't those hateful or ignorant images that are causing the most harm to Christianity. In the end, it is the Christians themselves who are causing this damage and creating this ignorance, simply because they are allowing themselves to be molded into this stereotype that honestly makes Christianity look ignorant and stupid.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that you shouldn't pray, I'm saying that praying isn't the only thing you should do. You can't bow your head, close your eyes, say a quick prayer and then just get up and completely forget what you just spoke to God about. You just spoke with God, that should be on the forefront of your mind! You just asked God to help provide food for your hungry neighbor? Don't just continue to ignore them! Allow God to work through you to see your prayers answered!

The simple truth is that if you ask anything of God, you cannot simply assume that He will take care of it and leave it at that. You can't pray your neighbor out of poverty and hunger! All I ask is that when you do pray, work to make that prayer into a reality. Allow yourself to be the conduit through which your own prayer is answered. You may even witness a miracle.