By E.M. Bounds
It is prayer-force which makes saints.
Prayer in the time of trouble brings comfort, help, hope, and blessings.
Prayer, to the preacher, is not simply the duty of his profession, a privilege, but it is a necessity. Air is not more necessary to the lungs than prayer is to the preacher. It is absolutely necessary for the preacher to pray.
The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.
No sham praying was that of Elijah, no mere performance, no spiritless, soulless, official praying.
The real sermon is made in the closet. The man—God’s man—is made in the closet. His life and his profoundest convictions were born in his secret communion with God.
He knows not God who knows not how to pray.
Prayer freshens the heart of the preacher, keeps it in tune with God and in sympathy with the people, lifts his ministry out of the chilly air of a profession, fructifies routine and moves every wheel with the facility and power of a divine unction. 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.
The true ministry is God-touched, God-enabled, and God-made. The Spirit of God is on the preacher in anointing power, the fruit of the Spirit is in his heart, the Spirit of God has vitalized the man and the word; his preaching gives life, gives life as the spring gives life; gives life as the resurrection gives life.
The heart is the Saviour of the world. Heads do not save. Genius, brains, brilliancy, strength, natural gifts do not save. The gospel flows through hearts.
The space occupied by prayer in the Sermon on the Mount bespeaks its estimate by Christ and the importance it holds in His system.
Prayer is the appointed condition of getting God’s aid.
Prayer is God’s enabling act for man, living and life-giving, joy and joy-giving.
The men of mighty prayer are men of spiritual might. Prayers never die. Brainerd’s whole life was a life of prayer. By day and by night he prayed.
Prayer is the easiest and hardest of all things; the simplest and the sublimest.
Prayer is a trade to be learned. We must be apprentices and serve our time at it.
Prayer makes the man; prayer makes the preacher; prayer makes the pastor.
Men are God’s method.
It takes the whole man to pray, and prayer affects the entire man.
The secret of success in Christ’s Kingdom is the ability to pray.
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