Prayer Works When Life Is Good

Audio is at -

http://www.adrian.warnock.info/2006/01/prayer-works-when-life-is-good.htm

The sun and the wind were arguing who’s power was greatest the wind proposed this test "See the man walking on that road the one who can take his cloak shall be determined most powerful." Since the wind devised the test he chose to go first. He blew very hard but for all his bluster the man only cluched the cloak the tighter. The sun was now offered his chance. The sun smilled down on the man and soon he began to grow warm by and by the man removed his cloak and sat down on a log to enjoy the sun. When the man arose he forgot that he had left his cloak lying on the log and happily continued on his way. .

Moral: Adversity makes one more determined to hold to what protection he has while prosperity can easily loosen his grip.

PRAYER is that protection. When all is well with us, we are tempted quite simply not to pray!

When life is Good, when the sun is shinging down on us, when prosperity comes our way, when we are healthy, wealthy and content, a danger bell should ring in our ears.

If suffering is the seed causes faith to grow, well-being can cause it to whither away.

This is why many of the great saints of the past speak of almost being tempted to pray for troubles. For trouble is Gods megaphone which wakes us from our comfortable bed of slumber.

Listen to what this blogger shared a couple of years ago-

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A BLOGGER ADMITED A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO-

I haven’t prayed in nearly two years. Not seriously, fervently, spontaneously, and personally, anyway. Here and there I have led the church or a church group in prayer, and I have sat down and prayed with people who needed comfort, but I have not devoted any real time to communication between me and God alone.....

...for nearly two years I have brought Him few requests of any kind and none of a personal nature. During that time, I have made decisions based on my own reasoning, solved problems using the tools at my disposal, and generally tried to change the things I could, accept the things I could not, use my rational abilities to discern the difference, and in the process generally lost all sense of God’s presence in my life.

Sunday night, however, I prayed. I prayed seriously, fervently, spontaneously, and personally. Lying wide awake at 2:38 a.m. next to a beloved wife suffering through two full minutes of dry, racking coughs through which she could barely breathe, I realized anew just how powerless I am and how pointless it is to go through life not leaning on God. So I began praying silently. I prayed for healing for my wife. She kept coughing, but I prayed anyway. I prayed for an elderly friend of ours experiencing health problems. I prayed for Todd. I prayed for a friend of mine going through seemingly insurmountable marital problems. I started praying and the floodgates opened, both in my prayers and in my tears. I realized that even though I had lost the feeling of God’s presence in my life, He had of course never left me.

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What are the dangers of life being good that cause our prayer life to wither away?

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1. I was Forgetful in the busyness of life

We tend to forget what life used to be like. Before God blessed us. Life was tough then, we prayed then.

I know for me, I remember a time when I got a job I loved. It sucked me in, filled too much of my time, took too much of my emotional energy and enthusiasm. There was little left for my wife, children or my God. O I still prayed but it had none of the fervor that my prayers have had when times have been tough.

Often we pray in times of trouble focussing on God then the trouble really starts when we get answer "didnt I do a good job in that interview" instead we should be saying "I am grateful for what God has done for me which I DO NOT DESERVE"

LEARN in time of prosperity, remember the God who did it- what is your speech like?- tilts to "I did this... I I I should be God God God

prosperity is as much a test as adversity. People fail this test more. disappear froom church or cell too busy

-God does it two weeks they are complaining- they think they did it.....

We as a church pray for growth, when the church grows, do we think "what a good church" or "what an amazing thing God has done for us"?

We need to remind ourselves of what God has done for us! We should always have a sense of wonder that he has done for us - Paul puts it this way in