Sincere Prayer & Responsible Action — Culture, Spirituality and the Gospel

Bonhoeffer, a few months before he was imprisoned wrote to his best friend Eberhard Bethge...

I believe that in every moment of distress God will give us as much strength to resist as we need. But it is not given to us in advance, lest we rely on ourselves and not on God alone. I believe that God is no timeless fate but waits for and responds to sincere prayer and responsible actions. - Letter and Papers from Prison - Vol 8

Sincere Prayer and Responsible Action should be the two values that sustain us and help us overcome life's travesties.

Upon facing life's vagaries the temptation most people give into is to rely on oneself too much; very few err on the side of too much praying. Nevertheless, we need both sincere prayer and responsible action in obedience. In His humanity, Jesus' primary values were prayer and obedience as He walked through suffering (Heb 5:7-8). If we are to be conformed to His image, our values should be His - Sincere Prayer and Responsible (obedient) action.