You Keep Praying for the Life You Refuse to Build — Faith Without the Work

You've been praying for a life that you are at the same time refusing to build.

My friend, this is gonna be a great conversation between you and me

because I have made every mistake that I'm about to share with you.

So as I always say, I'm in the business of saving people time.

We're gonna have a little conversation around these prayers that we sometimes

throw out into the night sky for a different life, and we're kinda sitting

around waiting for everything to just to work out, and that, that our prayer,

that our desire for a different life is kind of like a kind of, instead

of a deep spiritual connection with God, we're basically outsourcing

the fact that we're not acting.

Somebody once said it's like asking heaven to do your pushups for you.

You know, for many years I'd be like praying.

It's like, "I want this to happen, and I really want this to change," and, and

I'd be there going, "Why doesn't my life magically rearrange the way that I want it

to?" It's like I wanted the harvest, but I wasn't really in the business of planting.

I kinda thought I was.

I would write goals and I'd write in my journal and I'd, you know, try and

stay fit, but I was kinda like waiting and waiting and praying, hoping that

everything was just going to align.

Earlier this week I did a message about, you know, stop

waiting for people to save you.

You know, you're…

That, uh, no one's coming to the rescue.

You need to step into your own life.

And this is a kind of a more spiritualized version.

I know I've got a diverse group of listeners, but, you

know, what's the old saying?

There's no atheist in a foxhole.

All of us have always thrown a prayer somewhere, right?

Like wherever you're at in your spiritual journey, all of us at some

where have been in a situation like, "Oh, Lord, uh, dear God, help me."

And you're praying that, you know, that the new car arrives on your

driveway or that, that you win the lottery or that the person that you

like suddenly says yes, and we're just kind of vaguely praying and hoping

that this thing is just gonna happen.

And so I would like to suggest to you that grace, that the action of God isn't

a substitute for human action That, that the grace God gives us is the energy, the

insight, the wisdom, the encouragement, the power to do the things that we

probably already know that we need to do, but we're not actually doing them

because they're kind of difficult and hard, and we just blame God for it.

It's like, "Well, I would have done it, but, you know, I prayed that my

career would change, and it didn't." And I-- look, uh, God is infinite, right?

God has infinite patience, and God needs infinite patience, 'cause if I was God

and I was looking at me or you sometimes, I'd be like, "Are you serious? Really?

Like, you're just throwing vague prayers into the night sky for a new career,

and you're actually not doing anything?"

Like it's like, uh, God-- if God has hair, He'd be pulling on it 'cause He'd

be just like, "You, you have thought of maybe, like, going to university or

starting a business or f-finding the courage to ask someone out? Like, have

you thought of taking some action?" Because I believe that as our spirituality

deepens, what we do get is promptings.

This has been huge for me lately, is, uh, I gotta say this really carefully, 'cause

if I get this wrong, it, it actually-- my technical listeners will understand

this is a Neo-Pelagian heresy, which won't make a sense to a lot of people.

But it's kind of like, if you just try harder and be more disciplined,

uh, God's just gonna do what you want.

It's not that, but as I've tried to live a more disciplined, prayerful

life, I do sense more frequently that I get what I just call inspirations.

I get ideas, and it's basically, text this person, do this, buy that

gift, do that, just try this, do this thing, and it's, it's just I get

these ideas that I believe is grace.

I genuinely believe that.

I, I do.

And I know some of my listeners will go, "Don, this is crazy talk." Cool.

You do you.

But I'm just saying that the more we grow in our love for each other and

for God, and we deepen our spiritual sense, I, I do believe that we get these

insights and this empowerment to act.

The, the more we come alive, like, you know, good spirituality

should really do what?

Wake you up, make you alive, make you interested in the world around

you, make you interested in serving people, giving you inspirations

and energy to live your potential.

So let's not outsource that in vague prayers.

Let's actually get into the driver's seat and cooperate with

this endless resource of capacity that can be made available to us.

All right?

So somebody once said that God moves the person who is already moving.

God moves the person who is already moving.

You know, Mother Teresa of Calcutta's story is really interesting, and I've

shared it many times on stage, but, you know, she was actually an English teacher.

We all kind of know her, if you're familiar with her story, as this

incredible person who served the poor.

But she started off as an English teacher, and then through a whole

series of experiences, she ends up, you know, profoundly touched

by one person's suffering, and then she begins to serve more people.

And it's like the, the ministry and, and the growth and the impact

that she had sort of developed because she was really surrendered

to God and because she was doing.

She was doing.

You know, there's this idea in my faith tradition of contemplatives in action,

which is kind of like you contemplate, you, you, you try to be in touch with the

divine, but then you act, you do things.

You, you be… Let me simplify it.

Maybe you're not a person of faith.

Let me make it like this.

Like, the world needs just good action.

The world needs good actors.

The word-- By actors, I mean people who act, people who do good things.

So remember we started this message, you've been praying for a life that

you're refusing to build, like you're outsourcing it to vague prayers.

God wants you to act.

He wants you to build.

And as you begin to build and your heart is open, you may take a wrong step and

you'll get something wrong, and you'll go down a wrong path, and you'll back

up and you'll try another one, but God rewards the person who is trying.

Like sitting in your room all day, praying that the phone rings or the text message

comes through or the business opportunity appears, it's not gonna happen.

There is this great big world out there, and you're supposed

to be in it doing things.

Doing things, trying things, building things, learning things.

Just get started.

Stop waiting for some profound miracle.

If a profound miracle comes your way, just do this.

Say thank you.

Just say thank you.

Like, you know, if a profound miracle happens, that's great.

That is what I call icing.

That's icing on the cake.

The cake is still underneath.

The icing's the best part, but you can still enjoy the cake by doing real things.

All right.

So I gotta, gotta wrap up.

Have I done this right?

Have I got through to you?

Both and, both and.

Both prayer, hope, deep spiritual core, but then action.

Like for me now, uh, God is like on the sidelines of my life cheering.

You know, I had this experience.

My father, it's, it's, it's-- it would've been his, I think, 93rd

birthday today if he was alive.

And one of the memories I have of him is I was young, and I'd finished my degree,

and I was teaching, and I was a new sch- high school teacher, and I loved it.

And it was… I just loved working with young people, and I was

coaching a, a sporting team, and we made it into the grand final.

I think the boys were like… It was under 15, so the boys were like 14 years of age.

And these guy- these were the best kids.

I absolutely loved working with them.

And we made it through the final, and it was this huge

day, and we won the grand final.

It was the biggest day.

And I remember my father, this was a few years just before he died, and I

remember seeing him in the stands, and I remember him being there when we won.

And I also had this other memory, uh, a few years after that when I was playing

in a, a final myself, and Karen's dad was there, and I remember him coming

up to me, and he was so proud of me.

And those memories of those two men are kinda like at the moment how I

conceptualize what God's doing in my life.

Like, He's in the grandstand, and He's cheering, going, "Go. Go. Yes." Is He

saying yes to absolutely everything?

No, probably not.

Like, He's probably got plenty of things He still wants to teach me and show me.

But I no longer get paralyzed by going, "Am I doing the right thing?

Is this what-- W- what about this?

What if I just pray that this thing happens?" I think God's in the

grandstand going, "Jonathan, do it.

Go.

Do it.

Do more.

Go more.

Keep going." And I believe that He's in the grandstand of your life, too.

And stop praying for just things to drop into your lap.

Pray and work.

Pray and work.

In Latin, we-- what is it?

Ora et labora, faith and work, prayer and work.

So get started.

Stop waiting for the miracle.

Stop praying for the life you refuse to build.

Stop praying for the life that you refuse to build.

Oh, people are not gonna like this.

Some people are gonna go, "This is sacrilege."

No, it's life All right, housekeeping.

Come follow me on Instagram, jdoylespeaks, one word.

Just type in jdoylespeaks, you'll find me.

Uh, everything else is on the website, jonathandoyle.co.

If you like this podcast, you wanna hear more, please make sure you've

subscribed, and I would love it if you could share it with people,

'cause I just wanna reach more people.

That's all I want.

That's all I want.

I got everything else I need.

I got health, I got faith, I got family.

It's all good.

I just wanna reach more people.

So if you can help, that'd be great.

You ready?

Let's finish.

Some of you are gonna recognize this.

It's a quote that's attributed to basically every saint in history.

Somehow it's one of those magical quotes that every saint apparently said, but

you'll know it, but it's beautiful.

Let's finish with this, "Pray like everything depends on God,

work like everything depends on you, then go and build it."