Putting Your Prayers In Your Feet

I am reading David Blight’s magisterial biography of Frederick Douglass, who easily ranks as one of the most eloquent spokesmen for racial justice to ever appear on the American scene.  Douglass was born a slave on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. 

He rose from his inauspicious beginnings to international fame as a leading figure in the movement to abolish slavery, one of the principal advisors of President Abraham Lincoln during the civil war, and a key architect of the Reconstruction period.  His writings and speeches about the cancer of white supremacy and how it tears at the fabric of America are as powerful now as I’m sure they were 200 years ago when they were first written. 

As I read chapter after chapter of his incredible legacy and amazing achievements, the same five words keep lurking in the background of my thoughts: he was born a slave.  Considered from any angle, the life he lived is absolutely breathtaking.  Considering that he was born a slave, it is even more so. 

The story of how he gained his freedom is quite instructive.  Douglass says that after years of praying for his freedom, one day his prayer got in his feet and he ran away!

 How many of your prayers ever get to your feet?

The story of how Douglass gained his freedom is a reminder of how powerful prayer can be when we take it seriously.  It’s so easy to see prayer as a religious exercise, a meaningless ritual, and an empty routine-- something that we do because we are supposed to, another item that we check off our to-do list . 

The scripture tells us that “faith without works is dead.” 

Far too often, our prayers pass through our lips without having passed through our minds, lingered in our imaginations, filtered through our hearts, or coursed down our veins into our hands and on to our feet.  And perhaps that is why some of prayers have not been answered.  Maybe God doesn’t take our requests seriously because it is apparent to him that we do not.

Let the story of how Fredrick Douglass gained his freedom both challenge and inspire you.  When our thoughts and actions line up with our prayer requests, it opens the door to the miraculous.