The Power of Prayer

[DaveC519]

POWER THROUGH PRAYER
By E.M. Bounds


"The praying which makes a prayerful ministry is not a little praying put in as we put flavor to give it a pleasant smack, but the praying must be in the body, and form the blood and bones. Prayer is no petty duty, put into a corner; no piecemeal performance made out of the fragments of time which have been snatched from business and other engagements of life; but it means that the best of our time, the heart of our time and strength must be given.

The praying which gives color and bent to character is no pleasant, hurried pastime. It must enter as strongly into the heart and life as Christ's strong crying and tears did; must draw out the soul into an agony of desire as Paul's did; must be an in wrought fire and force like the effectual, fervent prayer of James; must be of that quality which, when put into the golden censer and incensed before God, works mighty spiritual throes and revolutions.

Praying is spiritual work, and human nature does not like taxing, spiritual work. Human nature wants to sail to heaven under a favoring breeze, a full, smooth sea. Prayer is humbling work. It abases intellect and pride, crucifies vainglory, and signs our spiritual bankruptcy, and all these are hard for flesh and blood to bear. It is easier not to pray than to bear them. So we come to one of the crying evils of these times, maybe of all times- little or no praying. Of these two evils, perhaps little praying is worse than no praying. Little praying is a kind of make-believe, a salve for the conscience.

The little estimate we put on prayer is evident from the little time we give it. The time given to prayer scarcely counts in the sum of the daily aggregate. How feeble, vain, and little is such praying compared with the time and energy devoted to praying by holy men in and out of the Bible! How poor and mean our petty, childish praying is beside the habits of the true men of God in all ages! To men who think praying their main business and devote time to it according to this high estimate of its importance does God commit the keys of His kingdom, and by them does He work His spiritual wonders in this world. Great praying is the sign and seal of God's great leaders and the earnest of the conquering forces with which God will crown their labors."

[DaveC519]

POWER THROUGH PRAYER
By E.M. Bounds


"WE are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. “There was a man sent from God whose name was John.” The dispensation that heralded and prepared the way for Christ was bound up in that man John. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” The world’s salvation comes out of that cradled Son. When Paul appeals to the personal character of the men who rooted the gospel in the world, he solves the mystery of their success. The glory and efficiency of the gospel is staked on the men who proclaim it. When God declares that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him,” he declares the necessity of men and his dependence on them as a channel through which to exert his power upon the world. This vital, urgent truth is one that this age of machinery is apt to forget. The forgetting of it is as baneful on the work of God as would be the striking of the sun from his sphere. Darkness, confusion, and death would ensue.

What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men—men of prayer.

An eminent historian has said that the accidents of personal character have more to do with the revolutions of nations than either philosophic historians or democratic politicians will allow. This truth has its application in full to the gospel of Christ, the character and conduct of the followers of Christ—Christianize the world, transfigure nations and individuals. Of the preachers of the gospel it is eminently true.

The character as well as the fortunes of the gospel is committed to the preacher. He makes or mars the message from God to man. The preacher is the golden pipe through which the divine oil flows. The pipe must not only be golden, but open and flawless, that the oil may have a full, unhindered, unwasted flow.

The man makes the preacher. God must make the man. The messenger is, if possible, more than the message. The preacher is more than the sermon. The preacher makes the sermon. As the life-giving milk from the mother’s bosom is but the mother’s life, so all the preacher says is tinctured, impregnated by what the preacher is. The treasure is in earthen vessels, and the taste of the vessel impregnates and may discolor. The man, the whole man, lies behind the sermon. Preaching is not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow of a life. It takes twenty years to make a sermon, because it takes twenty years to make the man. The true sermon is a thing of life. The sermon grows because the man grows. The sermon is forceful because the man is forceful. The sermon is holy because the man is holy. The sermon is full of the divine unction because the man is full of the divine unction."

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bounds/power.I_1.html

[Michael The Disciple]

We find very few threads talking about the most important aspect of discipleship. Prayer itself. Fellowship with God. Your life with God. People are reluctant to talk about their prayer life.

Maybe because they know many will accuse them of lifting themselves up. Others maybe are convicted by their own lack of it. Nonetheless prayer needs to be talked about.

It needs to be taught as any other doctrine from scripture. It needs to be discussed on a personal level to encourage its role in the Christian life. It needs to be modeled so the new convert can see what it looks like and how it can bring results.

[Rhoni]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

We find very few threads talking about the most important aspect of discipleship. Prayer itself. Fellowship with God. Your life with God. People are reluctant to talk about their prayer life.

Maybe because they know many will accuse them of lifting themselves up. Others maybe are convicted by their own lack of it. Nonetheless prayer needs to be talked about.

It needs to be taught as any other doctrine from scripture. It needs to be discussed on a personal level to encourage its role in the Christian life. It needs to be modeled so the new convert can see what it looks like and how it can bring results.

Intercessory prayer is a ministry and few can really keep up the continual battle with demonic forces. The more you pray the more the devil tries to destroy you because more is accomplished through prayer than any other thing we could do.

[iceniez]

One thing that is lacking for sure,I have heard from older Saints of how much prayer was taught.Interesting the one thing the disciples asked Jesus to teach them is to pray.I think the lack of prayer is the equivelant of laying down your wepons on a battelfield.

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Rhoni

Intercessory prayer is a ministry and few can really keep up the continual battle with demonic forces. The more you pray the more the devil tries to destroy you because more is accomplished through prayer than any other thing we could do.

True it is hard but surrender is not an option. If one quits or diminishes their prayer life satan has overcome them. To him its not a light thing and he does not play fair. Only the destruction of ones walk with Yeshua makes him happy.
And if our prayer life meaning "our life with Yeshua" ceases he is well pleased and we are lost.

[Sister Alvear]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

True it is hard but surrender is not an option. If one quits or diminishes their prayer life satan has overcome them. To him its not a light thing and he does not play fair. Only the destruction of ones walk with Yeshua makes him happy.
And if our prayer life meaning "our life with Yeshua" ceases he is well pleased and we are lost.

I love to pray...I love to pray alone in the night hours...I cannot imagine having a friend and not talking to him...I am glad that Yahweh is our friend...

Do you always use Hebrew?

[DaveC519]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

We find very few threads talking about the most important aspect of discipleship. Prayer itself. Fellowship with God. Your life with God. People are reluctant to talk about their prayer life.

Maybe because they know many will accuse them of lifting themselves up. Others maybe are convicted by their own lack of it. Nonetheless prayer needs to be talked about.

It needs to be taught as any other doctrine from scripture. It needs to be discussed on a personal level to encourage its role in the Christian life. It needs to be modeled so the new convert can see what it looks like and how it can bring results.

Hello Michael,

I first came across E.M. Bound's book over 15 years ago. Other than the Bible itself, it is the one book which has had the single most important impact on my life. I have come to realize over the years since then that prayer and communion with the Lord is of utmost importance. The first thing I do after rising each morning is seek out my prayer closet. I have found it to be indispensable in my walk with the Lord. As King David said, "early will I seek Thee" (Ps 63:1).

[DaveC519]

Originally Posted by Rhoni

Intercessory prayer is a ministry and few can really keep up the continual battle with demonic forces. The more you pray the more the devil tries to destroy you because more is accomplished through prayer than any other thing we could do.

Hello Rhoni,

It's true the enemy fights against our prayers, but nothing causes more fear in the forces of hell than a saint upon their knees in intercession before God.

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Sister Alvear

I love to pray...I love to pray alone in the night hours...I cannot imagine having a friend and not talking to him...I am glad that Yahweh is our friend...

Do you always use Hebrew?

Actually I use very little Hebrew. Usually just when naming the Messiah or God. I find it enriches my fellowship with him.