[ampaterry]

The early Egyptians depended on annual flooding of the Nile for their good crops. Receding flood waters left a rich black silt and assured the harvest. When the river failed to flood, it meant that the poor soil could produce very little, leading to a winter of hunger, so people thronged to their temples asking their gods to make the Nile overflow. Today the Aswan Dam controls the river's flow, and scientific planning sends the floods downriver at just the right time. In other places farmers often faced droughts that caused crop failure and poverty. All they could do about it was to pray for rain. But now vast irrigation systems have alleviated this condition.

Does this mean that prayer is no longer necessary? Far from it! We've met some of our need for physical power, but our spiritual strength is actually weakened when we depend on mechanical resources rather than on God.

We now control our environment in so many ways; when it’s cold, we have a thermostat that brings the heat on higher. When it rains and snows, we hardly notice in our tight, modern, climate controlled houses. We buy most of our food from Kroger, and some of us even forget that it requires rain and a good season to bring the food to us. As we become more isolated from the fundamentals of our daily needs, we have to make a special effort to remember that all comes from God. We must never neglect him, for without his blessings, we could not draw our next breath!

Revelation 3:17-21 (KJV);
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

May God bless each one of you -