Your Unexplored Gold Mine

In Queensland, Australia some poor workmen tried to eke out a living on their plot of land. They lived in poverty, not knowing that there on Mount Morgan beneath their feet was one of the largest gold deposits in the world. They lived in bread lines with gold of inestimable value being theirs.

Many Christians live as spiritual paupers because they fail to mine their greatest asset —- prayer.

Trials and tribulations are gold mines from which we get some of life’s greatest treasures.

Often we pray: “Lord, when am I going to get out of this?,” instead of “Lord, what am I going to get out of this?”

Helplessness is rarely seen as a blessing. When it is realized, it often drives us to prayer, which otherwise might have been neglected.

It often appears we are surrounded by unimaginable blessings which come disguised as overwhelming obstacles. Prayer is the means of taking advantage of those unimaginable blessings.

Prayer gives us the ability to face the unfaceable, to bear the unbearable, to pass the breaking point without breaking.

Scripture reminds us, “You have not because you ask not.”

I sometimes pray, “Lord, you taught me to ask, and I am about to do so, leaving the result to you.”

Remember, prayer is not a supernatural credit card, an opiate to tranquilize nervous Christians, a campaign to persuade God to do something, or a magic wand to keep evil away.

Keep in mind respectfully the one to whom you are praying.

Be mindful of in whose name you are praying. To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray what you believe Jesus would pray were He there praying; You are His proxy.

Young Robert Louis Stevenson said to his mother, “You can’t be good without praying.” She asked how he knew. He said, “Because I’ve tried.”

If you are not praying you are staying.

Don’t harbor a secret sympathy for sin.

Now get out there in your spiritual gold mind and start digging — pray.