The Danger of Casual Prayers—Why You Need to Work WITH God Instead

Working with God! Is that even possible?

We understand that working for God is something that may be done by people employed by a church or ministry in the way I was employed by the hospital. No personal connection is required. But working alongside God to help bring His will to pass through a ministry of prayer? Can we do that?

Jesus said in John 10:14 that the Father knew Him and He knew the Father. This knowledge helped Him to work perfectly with His Father. It would be worthwhile to see what Jesus said about His Father that would help us work together with Him effectively in a ministry of prayer.

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24 NKJV).

Jesus describes the Father here, saying that God is a Spirit. God is many things with many attributes, yet it was only this one that Jesus emphasized.

If we’re going to know and understand God the Father, we have to understand what Jesus said about Him. He is a Spirit. Now, that sounds super basic, but notice what Jesus emphasized. “Those that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Jesus not only described the way that we worship God but also showed us how all of our interactions with God must be. This may not be the way that people engage religiously. But again, according to Jesus, the way that we engage with Almighty God must be in the spirit. Why? Because He is a Spirit.

This means that those who work together with Him in prayer must do it in the spirit as well. That isn’t impossible for us to do because every human is a spirit. We have a soul. We live in a body. When prayer is limited to our feelings and what we see and what we hear, and is confined to this world and our physical senses, we are absolutely diminished in our potential in working with God. Why? Because God is a Spirit. We are the most effective in working together with Him in prayer when we are communicating with Him according to this truth of who He is. God is a Spirit.

Can people who don’t have a deep relationship with God still get their prayers answered? Technically yes. In fact, people who have no relationship with God at all get their prayers answered. That’s how they get saved. That’s a major answer indeed.

When a person prays with absolute confidence of God’s will in a matter, they can confidently receive the answer when they pray. That confidence to receive is faith, and faith is the hand that receives from God. Just from these two verses you can see this truth.

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him (1 John 5:14-15 NKJV).

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them (Mark 11:24 NKJV).

The Word of God expresses His will, and so it is the best place to look before praying. The revealed will of God in the Word provides solid ground to pray from.

God is faithful to watch over His word to perform it and delights in answering the prayers of those who are looking to Him in trust.

Gratefulness for the Word and for the answer to the promise is the most common engagement with God in this level of prayer.

However, a prayer life that remains at this level can default toward what I would call an unconscious McDonald’s or Amazon attitude.

• Look at the menu or catalog (the promise).

• Place your order (in the act of prayer).

• Say thank you when you receive your order (continue on with your life).

You would rarely ever know the people at McDonald’s and Amazon filling your order, much less yearn to know them. You may even get agitated with them if they are slow or don’t fill your order exactly as you have placed it. It doesn’t even really matter to you if a robot fills the order, just as long as it gets filled. That may work for McDonald’s and Amazon, but God isn’t McDonald’s. He’s not Amazon. He’s not a corporation, and He’s definitely not a robot. He is a Spirit. He can be known and loved. In fact, He longs to be known and loved.

So while it is correct that to receive answers to some prayers requires little to no interacting personally with God, there is an aspect of prayer that will change the life of any believer who discovers it. It’s a way of praying that unlocks the heart of God and allows you to cooperate and work with Him. It takes prayer to a level of spiritual engagement that is not common.

For that, intimacy is required. Vital connection and aware- ness of God, who is a Spirit, is a must.

As far back as Adam and Eve, there is record that humans were able to work and fellowship with God. Their job was to guard and take care of the garden, and they also shared pre- cious communion with the Creator. Broken fellowship was one of the great tragedies of Adam and Eve’s sin. Their response to the temptation to look to themselves for right and wrong was a choice to function independently from God. How sad that they fell for the temptation to be like God when they were already made in His image. They were already like Him. Sin fractured that image and their ability to represent God.

God wasted no time in doing what was necessary to make a way for this first couple to have an element of interaction with Him. This required the lives of innocent animals, whose skins became Adam and Eve’s clothes (see Genesis 3:20-23).

The next person who had a notable relationship with God is another Old Testament man, Enoch.

When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah. After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived in close fellowship with God for another 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters. Enoch lived 365 years, walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him (Genesis 5:21-24 NLT).

I heard an older minister say that at the end of one day when Enoch was walking with God, he was closer to God’s house than his own. So God said, “Why don’t you just come home with Me. My home is closer.” You’ll not find that in scripture, but it is an interesting thought.

How did Enoch have close fellowship with God, who is a Spirit? He couldn’t see or reach out and touch Him. He couldn’t hear Him with his natural ears. His example was good for any of us to follow. Enoch walked with God by faith. He spoke to God, believing God would hear and that he would be answered.

It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him (Hebrews 11:5-6 NLT).

Coming to Him isn’t a privilege for just a few lucky people. The last sentence of this verse is a tremendous promise for anyone who wants to come to Him. Anyone is welcome to fellowship with Him. The condition of this promise is simple. It is that you believe that He exists and He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.