That is because prayer has become a euphemism for inaction today in just the same way that faith was in the apostle James' time (James 2:14-17).

The consequences of this trend are devastating.

It means, to give just one example close to my heart, that children in North Korea are starving to death because Korean-American churches are praying about it.

My own realization that prayer had become synonymous with paralysis was at our weekly campus fellowship meetings. Every week we shared about the struggle of making grades a priority over doing our quiet time. Or we confessed to each other about the problem of falling into the typical law student's obsession with firm names and law journals.

But repentance rarely came. Our solidarity in confession soon made us feel comfortable to sin the same sins week after week. That is, we ended up reinforcing each other's bad habits through group prayer.

If you are still skeptical about the paralyzing effect that prayer has today, consider those occasions when believers do not pray about doing things.

Whenever believers want to guarantee that an activity gets done, they do not pray about it. That is why these same churches that pray about the poor, their own sins, etc. with little visible results are not having any difficulties enjoying picnics or basketball fellowships. Simply put, because they do not risk praying about these events. They just do them.

Of course, the abuse of prayer, like the mischaracterization of faith, is no reason to stop praying or relying on faith. For prayer can initiate action.

But there is such a thing as dead prayer. As Jesus pointed out, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter." (Matthew 7:21).

The defining characteristic of a dead prayer then is that it substitutes itself for action. When prayer is considered compassion, or a prayer meeting is considered in and of itself to be a form of community service, then you have dead prayer. The mentality of the dead prayer goes, why give money to clothe a homeless refugee when you can pray about it? Or why organize volunteering at an AIDS hospice when you can have a group prayer meeting instead?

My father was always fond of saying, "Do what God has enabled you to do. And pray for what only God can do." That wise saying helps one avoid sinfully putting God to the test (Matthew 4:7) or being like the servant who buries his talent (Matthew 25:14-30).

What's wrong with prayer in our time is that we're praying in lieu of the wrong things. We ought to be praying about beach, sports, and amusement fellowships rather than about feeding, clothing, and caring for the oppressed and impoverished. In other words, prayer should be taking the time of fun activities rather than of compassion.