Yes, the prayer of the righteous is very effective. But sometimes God also asks us to use the beautiful voice He has given us to show His love, to express our needs and feelings, and to defend ourselves.
We have a great wonderful God, a good Dad who takes good care of us. He wants to hear us tell Him our needs, but sometimes He listens directly to our hearts and supplies our needs without us even asking Him. “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:7-8 NKJV). Since He likes to spend time alone with us, He wants to listen to us, and we must get into the habit of talking to Him every day.
That being said, like a good father, God does not want to do everything for us either. He wants to give us the wisdom to say the right words at the right time. He wants us to speak up. There are many examples in the Bible where people not only prayed to God for their deliverance, but they also pleaded their case to the authorities. We can think of Queen Esther, who not only prayed, but also pleaded her cause before the king, risking her life. Or the elderly woman in the city Abel of Beth Maachah (2 Samuel 20), who defended her entire city by skillfully speaking to the warrior who stood before the city.
Many Christians complain about their situations at work, in their family or even at their church. They pray for a change in their situation, for the hearts of their oppressors to be changed, but in front of them they say nothing. God can actually advise us not to open our mouths and let Him defend us (Acts 8:32). But at other times, we must make our case with His wisdom, with His instructions (Luke 12:11-12). Be careful: sometimes we hide behind prayer when God wants us to take our stand. We are afraid of being mocked or rejected if we dare to speak, so we just pray. But God does not want us to live in injustice, in fear of rejection or mockery. Therefore, we must consult the Spirit of God to tell us whether we should pray or speak.
Developing this courage in our daily life and in all our relationships, will be a great asset when we start dating a special person. We will not be able to remain silent for fear of losing this person. We also cannot wait for the other person to guess our needs. We will have to express our discomforts, our disagreements and our preferences. All our words must be seasoned with wisdom (Colossians 4:6), if we don’t want to destroy a promising relationship by miscommunication. So let’s practice to speak wisely now with our other relationships.
Finally, as a representative of the Kingdom of God, we must also be prepared to speak about our faith. It is not enough to pray for the unbelieving people around us; they must also be presented with the message of salvation. Being a good testimonial is an asset, but we must also be ready to talk about our experience. Again, the Spirit of God wants to lead us in this area. He will tell us when to pray, but also when to speak. Come on, let’s get ready: maybe today is when we’ll have to take the courage to assert ourselves.