Prevailing Prayer (Updated, Annotated): A Thorough Study on the Subject of Prayer

by Dwight L. Moody

The two first and essential means of grace are the Word of God and prayer. Conversion comes through these, for we are born again by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever (1 Peter 1:23), and whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).

we should desire, or crave, the pure spiritual milk of the Word so we may grow by it (1 Peter 2:2), and we cannot grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ unless we also speak to him in prayer.

These two instruments of grace must be applied in the right proportion. If we read the Word and do not pray, we may become puffed up with knowledge, without the love that builds others up. If we pray without reading the Word, we will be ignorant of the mind and will of God, and become mystical and fanatical, and liable to be blown around by every wind of doctrine.

Let those of us who are parents set our own houses in order and be filled with Christ’s Spirit; then it won’t be long before our children will be inquiring what they must do to get the same Spirit.

There is a great deal more said in the Bible about praise than prayer, yet how few praise meetings there are!

We are not told that Jesus ever taught his disciples how to preach, but he taught them how to pray. He wanted them to have power with God; then he knew they would have power with man.