Exodus 14:15 NKJV And the LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.

We understand that the situation was desperate. The Egyptian army was closing in on the children of Israel. Every option appeared to be an impossibility! Moses did what any one of us might be inclined to do: he prayed. However, we see that this was the wrong thing to do in this moment. It wasn’t time to pray, it was time to act. God speaks to Moses and says, “Why do you cry to Me?” The answer seemed apparent – I am crying out to You because there is nothing else to do. We are facing certain destruction unless You do something.

There is a time to pray, and there is a time to act! There are times in which if we continue to pray and not act, we are going against God’s will. Now, I know full well what 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says about praying without ceasing. I am not saying that we do not need to continue to keep a prayerful heart throughout our day. What I am saying is that it is wrong to pray because of the wrong motives. Sometimes we pray selfish prayers, asking for things to meet our selfish desires and motivations. Those are the wrong kinds of prayers to pray. Yes, we can pray for ourselves, but it should be with the purpose of asking that God’s will be done in us.

It is wrong to pray with the purpose of controlling a situation. We must never forget we are praying to God. We should not pray in order for others to hear what we are praying so that someone will change their ways. God alone has the ability to change someone’s heart.

It is wrong to pray with the purpose of avoiding action or buying time. Many, when asked to do something, say “Let me pray about it,” and they never pray. They may think about it or talk to others about it, but they don’t really pray about it. For them, prayer is more of a delaying method than a means of seeking the face of God.

It is evidence of the nature we received from Adam that we can take something as good and right as prayer and use it in a wrong way. May God help us learn to pray for the right reasons, and may He also guide us in the times when we need to act on what He has already told us to do.