E.M. Bounds wrote about prayer and the church more than a century ago, but these warnings from The Weapon Prayer are still relevant for preachers today:
- “Sacred work,–Church activities–may so engage and absorb us as to hinder praying, and when this is the case, evil results always follow. It is better to let the work go by default than to let the praying go by neglect. . . . How easy to neglect prayer or abbreviate our praying simply by the plea that we have Church work on our hands. Satan has effectively disarmed us when he can keep us too busy doing things to stop and pray.”[1]
- “Praying preachers have always brought the greater glory to God, have moved His Gospel onward with its greatest, speediest rate and power. A non-praying preacher and a non-praying Church may flourish outwardly and advance in many aspects of their life. Both preacher and church may become synonyms for success, but unless it rest on a praying basis all success will eventually crumble into deadened life and ultimate decay.”[2]
- “Preachers of the present age excel those of the past in many, possibly in all, human elements of success. They are well abreast of the age in learning, research, and intellectual vigour. But these things neither insure ‘power from on high’ nor guarantee a live, thriving religious experience, or righteous life. . . . Herein lies the great danger menacing the pulpit of today. All around us we see a tendency to substitute human gifts and worldly attainments for that supernatural, inward power which comes from on high in answer to earnest prayer.”[3]
Preacher, what is the condition of your prayer life today?
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[1] E. M. Bounds, The Weapon of Prayer (p. 3). Kindle Edition.
[2] Ibid., 54.
[3] Ibid., 58.
I began reading E.M. Bounds back in November and to be honest with you it showed me that I wasn’t praying as I should be and so in January I begin a series of sermons focused on prayer