The Complete Works of E. M. Bounds: Power Through Prayer, The Reality of Prayer, The Essentials of Prayer, The Weapon of Prayer, Satan: His Personality, Power And Overthrow and More

by E.M. Bounds

Consecration is the practical expression of true prayer.

Prayer creates an interest in consecration, then prayer brings one into a state of heart where consecration is a subject of delight, bringing joy of heart, satisfaction of soul, contentment of spirit. The consecrated soul is the happiest soul.

"Lord, in the strength of grace, With a glad heart and free, Myself, my residue of days, I consecrate to Thee. "Thy ransomed servant, I Restore to Thee Thy own; And from this moment, live or die, To serve my God alone."

We cannot possibly mark our advances in religion if there is no point to which we are definitely advancing.

We cannot contrast shapeliness with unshapeliness if there be no pattern after which to model. Neither can there be inspiration if there be no high end to stimulate us.

That which helps to make the standard of religion clear and definite is prayer. That which aids in placing that standard high is prayer.

The praying ones want all that God has in store for them. They are not satisfied with anything like a low religious life, superficial, vague and indefinite. The praying ones are not only after a "deeper work of grace," but want the very deepest work of grace possible and promised. They are not after being saved from some sin, but saved from all sin, both inward and outward. They are after not only deliverance from sinning, but from sin itself, from its being, its power and its pollution. They are after holiness of heart and life.

Prayer believes in, and seeks for the very highest religious life set before us in the Word of God.

The standard of a religious life is the stan...

The degree of our estimate of prayer fixes our ideas of the standard of a religious life.

The more there is of prayer in the life, the more definite and the higher our notions of religion.

The Scriptures alone make the standard of life...

When we make our own standard, there is delusion and falsity for our desires, convenience and pleasure form the rule, and that...

Whatever standard of religion which makes in it provision for the flesh, is u...

The most serious damage in thus determining what religion is by what others say, is in allowing current opinion, the contagion of example, the grade of religion current among us, to shape our religious opinions and characters.

Commonplace religion is pleasing to flesh and blood. There is no self-denial in it, no cross bearing, no self-crucifixion.

No standard of religion is worth a moment's consideration which leaves prayer out of the account.

So necessary is prayer, so fundamental in God's plan, so all important to everything like a religious life, that it enters into all Bible religion. Prayer itself is a standard, definite, emphatic, Scriptural.

Prayer fashions the pattern of a religious life. Prayer is the measure. Prayer molds the life.

Man's standard of religion has no prayer about it.

It is God's standard at which we are to aim, not man's.

Prayer sets something definite in the mind. Prayer seeks after something specific.

A low standard of religion lives hard by a low standard of praying.

Everything in a religious life depends upon being definite.

The sacrifice acceptable to God must be a complete one, entire, a whole burnt offering.

Consecration is but the silent expression of prayer.

The prayer life is the direct fruit of entire consecration to God, Prayer is the natural outflow of a really consecrated life. The measure of consecration is the measure of real prayer.

Scriptural standard of religion includes a clear religious experience.

There is a "good work in you," as well as a life outside to be lived.

The witness of the Spirit is not an indefinite, vague something, but is a definite, clear inward assurance given by the Holy Spirit that we are the children of God.

Without a high standard before us to be gained, for which we are earnestly seeking, lassitude will unnerve effort, and past experience will taint or exhale into mere sentiment, or be hardened into cold, loveless principle.

In religion, we must not only go on. We must know where we are going to.

It is important that we lose not sight of the starting point in a religious life, and that we measure the steps already trod. But it is likewise necessary that the end be kept in view and that the steps necessary to reach the standard be always in the eye.

This compassion has in it the quality of mercy, is of the nature of pity, and moves the soul with tenderness of feeling for others.

Compassion is moved at the sight of sin, sorrow and suffering.

Helplessness especially appeals to compassion.

Compassion runs out in earnest prayer, first of all, for those for whom it feels, and has a sympathy for them.

Prayer is natural and almost spontaneous when compassion is begotten in the heart. Prayer belongs to the compassionate man.

Christly compassion always moves to prayer. This sort of compassion goes beyond the relief of mere bodily wants, and saying, "Be ye warmed--be ye clothed." It reaches deeper down and goes much farther.

Compassion may not always move men, but is always moved toward men. Compassion may not always turn men to God, but it will, and does, turn God to man.

"Father of mercies, send Thy grace All powerful from above, To form in our obedient souls The image of Thy love. "O may our sympathising breasts That generous pleasure know; Kindly to share in others' joy, And weep for others' woe."

The soul's distressing state, its needs and danger all appeal to compassion.

"But feeble my compassion proves, And can but weep where most it loves; Thy own all saving arm employ, And turn these drops of grief to joy."

It is no wonder, then, that we find it recorded several times of our Lord while on earth that "he was moved with compassion." Can any one doubt that His compassion moved Him to pray for those suffering, sorrowing ones who came across His pathway?

The failure of the labourers is owing to the failure of prayer. The scarcity of labourers in the harvest is due to the fact that the Church fails to pray for labourers according to His command.

God is sovereign of the earth and of heaven, and the choice of labourers in His harvest He delegates to no one else. Prayer honours Him as sovereign and moves Him to His wise and holy selection.

"Lord of the harvest hear Thy needy servants' cry; Answer our faith's effectual prayer, And all our wants supply. "Convert and send forth more Into Thy Church abroad; And let them speak Thy word of power, As workers with their God."

The compassion of our Lord well fits Him for being the Great High Priest of Adam's fallen, lost and helpless race.

And if He is filled with such compassion that it moves Him at the Father's right hand to intercede for us, then by every token we should have the same compassion on the ignorant and those out of the way, exposed to Divine wrath, as would move us to pray for them.

"The Son of God in tears The wondering angels see; Be thou astonished, O my soul! He shed those tears for thee. "He wept that we might weep; Each sin demands a tear; In heaven alone no sin is found, And there's no weeping there."