PUTTING
FEET ON PRAYER

Topics: Abortion; Calling; Commitment; Dedication; Evangelism; Example; Guidance; Hearing God; Justice; Mission; Purpose; Responsibility

References: Matthew 7:7–8; Luke 18:1–8; Philippians 4:6; Colossians 4:2; 1 John 5:14–15

In a small apartment in Washington, D.C., a group of Christians are devoted to radical intercessory prayer. Each person in the group prays in shifts six days a week for eight hours each day. Then, in two-hour shifts, groups of six to ten gather on the steps of the Supreme Court to pray silently with red duct tape covering their mouths. The word “LIFE” is scrawled across the tape in black marker.

Matt Lockett, one member of the group, used to think of prayer like most of us do. “I knew it was something I was supposed to do,” he says. But in September 2004, Matt had a vivid dream in which he saw God end abortion in America in response to prayer.

“My whole life changed after that,” Lockett said. Lockett and his family sold their home in Denver, Colorado, and moved to the nation’s capital to join a budding prayer movement called The Cause. On the opening day of the Supreme Court session in October 2004, The Cause gathered on the court steps to pray.

From that point on, the members of The Cause have centered on prayer as a dynamic action rather than a passive event. “God has called us to put feet to our prayers,” Lockett says. “My understanding of prayer is this: Stop living the American dream and live God’s dream.”

—“A Cause Worth Fighting For,” Relevant (November–December 2006)