Pray for rain... But First!

An article from the Australian Christian Channel by Ramon Williams (17.08.2004)

Four hours after the Service, a faint rainbow seemed to promise better times
ahead.

Then you remember for 3 consecutive days starting last Sunday, rains rained down Sydney.. (yet more is to be hoped for coming..)

How amazing is that! prayers and God's action, they go hand in hand. Pray and ask. Pray and trust. Pray and wait. Pray and pray.. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Facts are:
· God is always generous, and He longs always to bless His people according to His perfect knowledge.
· God knows our needs, even before we realize of them (and could ask Him).

Question is: Why pray then?

Some thoughts:
· God likes His people to pray to Him.
· Prayer is the means by which God is fulfilling our needs through our prayers.
· Through praying is our communication channel with God. No relationship can develop and be nurtured without the presence of communication.
· Praying is a sign of our dependence on God.

Yet another further thought from Oswald Chamber..

We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the
biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.

A take-away message:
· With regard to the articles, yes, "We are a people in a dry land, living in materialistic rebellion against God. The drought reminds us to turn back to God."

A quote by Oswald Chamber..

To say that "prayer changes things" is not as close to the truth as saying,
"Prayer changes me and then I change things." God has established things so that
prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things.
Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working
miracles in a person’s inner nature.

Thus they go together..

p.s. the topic of prayer is always one of much interest for me.