This past week, the United States has been reeling from the Orlando massacre, when Omar Mateen opened fire with an assault rifle inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people and wounding many more. In the wake of such immense tragedy, people outside the situation often feel helpless and look for answers. Many of us (myself included) look towards our faith.

If you were one of the people who sent prayers of protection and healing in the wake of the events in Orlando or Paris or any of the many instances of horrific violence in your lifetime, you might have seen a certain kind of response from others: something along the lines of, "Prayer does nothing. Please just help."

Now, there's a general misunderstanding between people of faith and atheists about the nature of prayer. For us, we are helping. It's the most powerful tool we have. We are coming on the behalf of others to the most fundamental part of the universe while atheists just see someone locked in a room talking to nothing.

But that's a misunderstanding that won't ever be solved, especially not by one editorial. Instead, I want to talk directly to the people of faith who fall to their knees in the wake of the tragedies we don't understand.

I implore you to bring action alongside your prayers. For Christians like myself, it's explicit in our Scriptures: "If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2: 15-17 NKJV).

Instead, I find it's too easy to succumb to "hashtag prayers." In the same way, people involved in social issues will tweet or post something about showing support for an issue and have a sense of accomplishment without actually putting in any effort, we can believe that, by sending a quick word to the Big Man Upstairs, all the world's problems will be solved.

Spoiler alert: He already sent a solution. It's you. It's you and me and the rest of the Church who are meant to be the first line of defense when it comes to saving people from the things in this world that seek to harm them.

I wouldn't be so naive or presumptuous to believe I have the answers in the wake of Orlando. All I know is that I was put on Earth to be love incarnate towards everyone I meet, and I was taught that love is first and foremost an action.

As in the story of the Good Samaritan, "Go and do likewise."