0:01  finish this sentence the greatest tragedy in life is
0:06  when I think in the past I would have
0:08  said the greatest tragedy of life is
0:10  when a parent loses a child or or when a
0:12  young child loses their parents but a
0:15  few years ago my brother said the
0:17  greatest tragedy in life is when we stop talking to God
0:20  now what he meant was is
0:23  for the Christian the greatest tragedy
0:26  in life is when we stop talking to God
0:30  I had never heard anyone say that before
0:31  but the more I thought about it the more it made sense
0:33  this is Brad Bright
0:36  welcome to the God is the issue podcast where I
0:38  show how God is the issue in every issue
0:42  if you're a Christian what would
0:44  you say was the greatest moment in your life
0:46  getting married having your first child
0:49  or becoming a child of God
0:52  now let me ask you three more related questions
0:54  what happens when you
0:56  stop talking to your spouse or your
0:58  spouse stops talking to you the
1:00  relationship dies right what happens
1:02  when you stop talking to your child or
1:04  your child stops talking to you again
1:07  the relationship dies
1:08  so what happens when you stop
1:11  talking to God the relationship dies now
1:15  folks I'm not talking about your salvation
1:17  I'm talking about experiencing
1:19  the joy and peace of your salvation I'm
1:22  talking about how to make the Christian Life
1:25  work folks if you're not talking with
1:27  God throughout the day I already know
1:29  the Christian Life life is not working
1:30  for you because the Christian Life is
1:32  simply a relationship with the Living
1:34  God and good relationships require good
1:38  communication so if the most important
1:40  relationship in your life is your
1:42  relationship with God and if it is true
1:45  that if you stop talking to God your
1:47  relationship with him will die then
1:49  what's the greatest tragedy for a
1:50  Christian it's when we stop talking to
1:53  God you see God created us for
1:55  relationship with him so the more you
1:58  talk with God the more your relationship
2:00  goes the less you talk with God the more
2:03  your relationship dies so that's a great
2:05  reason to talk with God isn't it that's
2:08  how you make the Christian Life work
2:10  however there are many other good
2:11  reasons to talk with God let me ask you
2:14  who's more powerful you or God is there
2:17  power in prayer no there's not prayer is
2:20  simply talking with God the power is in
2:23  the one to whom we pray you see God can
2:25  do more in the blink of an eye than you
2:27  or I can do in an entire lifetime
2:30  my mom and dad launched Campus Crusade for Christ
2:32  on the UCLA campus in 1951 that spring
2:35  they tried to launch it twice and twice they failed miserably
2:40  no one responded to the gospel
2:42  after a lot of soul searching
2:44  that dawned on them that they had been
2:46  working hard but not praying just as
2:49  hard so they organized a 24-hour prayer
2:51  train they got everyone praying and that
2:53  fall my dad went and spoke in one of the
2:55  leading sororities on campus the women
2:57  responded overwhelmingly the next night
2:59  the same same thing happened that fall
3:01  campus Crusade for Christ exploded onto
3:04  the campus scene folks that's why we
3:08  should pray that's just another reason
3:11  that the greatest tragedy in life is
3:12  when we stop talking to God not just
3:14  because the relationship dies but
3:16  because we can accomplish very little of
3:18  real value on our own see God's a lot
3:21  more powerful than we
3:23  are but what's another reason to talk to
3:25  God well let me ask you who's smarter
3:27  you or God do you remember the story of
3:31  the Israelites in Joshua chapter 9 God
3:34  had commanded the Israelites to wipe out
3:36  the inhabitants of the land because of
3:37  their sin however the
3:42  Gibeonites who were nearby
3:44  Joshua and the leader swore an oath to the
3:47  Gibeonites guaranteeing they would not
3:49  wipe them out three days later they
3:51  found out they'd been conned but it was
3:53  too late the Gibeonites
3:56  Joshua the leader of God's people if Joshua
4:00  had just talked with God first he would
4:03  not have been duped have you ever been
4:05  fooled can you think of anything in your
4:07  life that might be different today if
4:09  you had talked with God
4:10  first well my my wife's little sister
4:13  Paula hit her years she went wild she
4:15  would sneak out she would lie like a pro
4:18  finally her mom who was a new believer
4:21  asked God to show her every time Paula
4:24  lied or snuck out from that day forward
4:28  Paula would get caught every time time
4:30  and often in very unexpected ways
4:33  finally Paula went to her mom and said I
4:36  give up I can't fight against you and
4:40  God have you ever been fooled I'm
4:44  guessing you didn't talk to God about it
4:45  first I've been guilty of that James 1:15
4:48  says if any of you lacks wisdom you
4:50  should ask God and it will be given to
4:53  you can you think of pain you might have
4:56  avoided if you had talked with God about
4:57  it first you see the greatest tragedy in
4:59  life is when we stop talking to
5:02  God now here's another reason to talk
5:04  with God who knows the future you or God
5:07  what happens when you fire before you aim
5:09  what happens when you act before you
5:12  pray which is do you think is wiser to
5:14  pray and then plan or the plan and then
5:16  pray you see if God knows the future and
5:19  you don't why would you act without
5:21  praying first once again the greatest
5:24  tragedy in life is when we stop talking
5:26  to God and here's one more reason to
5:28  talk with God
5:30  if you succeed without God's help who
5:33  gets the
5:35  glory I remember a number of years ago I
5:37  was trying to launch a new project I
5:38  tried three times and each time it
5:40  failed it failed miserably it fell flat
5:42  finally one evening I got down on my
5:44  knees beside my bed and poured out my
5:46  frustration to God and then I started
5:49  listening and here's what God said he
5:53  said Brad you've been working really
5:55  hard to get this launched haven't you
5:56  and I said responded Yes Lord I have and
5:59  again he asked you've been working
6:01  really really really hard to get this
6:03  launched haven't you and again I
6:04  responded Yes Lord I
6:06  have and then he asked the clincher
6:10  he said if you had succeeded who would have
6:12  gotten the credits me or
6:16  you and folks then it dawned on me I'd
6:19  been working hard but I hadn't been
6:21  praying hard I would have gotten the
6:23  credit you see God loves me but he does
6:26  not share his glory with me you know
6:28  likewise if my dad had succeed and
6:29  launching Campus Crusade for Christ
6:31  without really praying about it first
6:34  who would have gotten the
6:35  credit you see if you act without
6:38  praying aren't you in effect saying God
6:41  I've got this I don't really need you is
6:45  that really what you want to communicate to
6:48  God the greatest tragedy in life is when
6:52  we stop talking to God but here is what
6:55  I know and I know it's often true most
6:58  people don't pray because either they
7:00  don't have confidence that God will
7:01  answer or they feel like they don't know
7:04  how to pray if either of those describe
7:06  you please go to brightmedia.org and
7:08  download your free copy of how you can
7:10  pray with confidence my dad wrote it a
7:12  number of years
7:14  ago but now let's move on from the
7:16  personal application of the of why we
7:17  should pray to the cultural application
7:19  if the greatest tragedy in life in the
7:22  life of a Christian is when you we stop
7:24  praying don't you think the same would
7:26  be true for our nation you know you can
7:28  only blame the secular progresses for
7:30  America's problems if you think they are
7:32  more powerful than God otherwise the
7:35  buck buck stops with us let me ask you
7:38  when was the last time you asked God to
7:39  bring Spiritual Awakening to
7:41  America if we're serious shouldn't we be
7:44  asking him every day over 40 years ago
7:47  my dad wrote a booklet called your five
7:49  duties as a Christian citizen we updated
7:51  it a few years ago and renamed it your
7:52  seven duties as a Christian citizen it's
7:54  a very practical guide to cultural and
7:56  political engagement for a Christian
7:58  Living in America it talks about getting
8:00  informed voting helping to elect godly
8:02  people but do you know what the first duty
8:05  is to pray pray that God will bring
8:09  Spiritual Awakening to
8:12  America what's the core problem in
8:14  America today is it the economy
8:16  inflationary spending foreign policy
8:18  climate change immigration immorality
8:20  abortion homosexuality transgenders
8:22  broken families dads
8:25  racism no the core problem is our view
8:28  of God we can trace all our societal
8:31  problems to our view of God as a nation
8:34  I challenge you to start asking this one
8:36  question if we had a Biblical view of
8:38  God how would it affect how we view
8:41  inflationary spending racism illegal
8:43  immigration abortion and fatherhood and
8:46  the list goes on if our view of God is
8:48  our core problem then Spiritual
8:51  Awakening is the only solution can can
8:53  you bring Spiritual Awakening to America
8:56  I can't but God can so if you're you're
8:59  trying to fix America without talking to
9:01  God about America how successful do you
9:04  think you will be you can't even fix
9:06  yourself so how on Earth are you do you
9:08  think you can fix America without
9:09  without asking God to act folks before
9:12  you ever Vote or volunteer or contact
9:15  your Senator or write a check your first
9:17  duty is to pray ask God for Wisdom ask
9:20  God to act in the 1980s I work for US senator
9:24  Bill Armstrong of Colorado and in
9:26  private here is what he said as a US
9:28  senator can't turn America around I
9:31  can't even stop the slide the best I can
9:33  do is slow it down think about that a
9:37  God-fearing United States Senator said
9:40  that do you want to win or lose the
9:42  culture War I assure you if you're not
9:45  praying you're losing you're not smart
9:47  enough to fix America you're not
9:48  powerful enough to fix America and
9:50  neither am I and despite popular opinion
9:53  folks not even Donald Trump is powerful
9:56  enough to fix America the only solution
9:58  is for God to intervene so we need to
10:01  ask and not ask just once but ask every
10:03  day for our country our economy our
10:05  culture our leaders our churches for our
10:08  families for our neighbors and for
10:12  ourselves by the way on May 22nd we will
10:15  be celebrating the National Day of
10:16  Prayer I encourage you to participate go
10:19  to the National Day of Prayer website to
10:20  find out how you can join in prayer with
10:22  other Christians who are concerned about
10:24  the future of America 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says
10:29  pray without ceasing how do you do
10:33  that may I make a suggestion ask
10:35  yourself the following question 30 times
10:38  every day for the next month here's the
10:41  question have I prayed about this yet
10:44  make a sign that says have I prayed
10:45  about this yet put it on your desk on
10:47  your kitchen caner tape it to your
10:48  bathroom mirror or to your dashboard you
10:50  see the greatest tragedy in life is when
10:53  we stop talking with God so as Mark
10:55  Wahlberg says stay prayed up see God is
10:59  the issue in every issue especially
11:01  prayer because prayer is nothing more
11:05  than talking with God
11:06  himself this is Brad Bright thanks for
11:09  joining me today if you found this
11:10  podcast helpful please like subscribe or
11:13  share God bless and stay prayed up