“will praying change a tire?”
Yes. A little old lady prayed someone would come to help her change a tire. Some good Samaritan saw her stranded by the road and kindly offered to help her.
“will praying provide the warmth of a fire?”
Yes, and then some. The warmth of God’s love is greater than any earthly fire.
“will praying provide the sewn on button to make the coat warm?”
Yes. Through prayer God will provide the button, the thread and needle, and even the experienced hand to sew it back on.
“rather than depend on God for every little thing, there is first self reliance”
There is no proper self without God. Start with Him and everything else will fall into place as His plan permits. I have nothing against people learning every valuable skill, but the idea that we’re truly self-reliant and don’t need God is idiocy. It’s also idiocy to think prayer is not a valuable skill.
Well played, sir.
Maybe, “how not to turn every thread into a religion thread” should be on some list somewhere.