PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Prayer and praying men
Bounds, Edward M. (Edward McKendree), 1835-1913 · 35,176 words · 53 reading sections
Introduction
PRAYER AND PRAYING MEN PRAYER AND PRAYING MEN AUTHOR OF “THE INEFFABLE GLORY,” “PREACHER AND PRAYER,” “PURPOSE IN PRAYER,” ETC. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY REV. HOMER W. HODGE HODDER & STOUGHTON LIMITED : : LONDON Rev. Edward McKendrie Bounds was passionately devoted to his beloved Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. …
655 wordsSECTION 2Praying Saints Of The Old Testaments
Wesley had sufficient money and to spare during all his career. Bounds did not care for money. He did not depreciate it; he considered it the lowest order of power. Wesley died with “an eye beaming and lips breaking into praise.” “The best of all is God with us,” Bounds wrote the writer of these lines. “When He is rea…
713 wordsSECTION 3Praying Saints Of The Old Testaments
With a deep sense of his utter dependence upon God, and desiring above all the help of God, Jacob conditioned his prayer for protection, blessing and guidance by a solemn vow. Thus Jacob supported his prayer to God by a vow. Twenty years had passed while Jacob tarried at the house of Laban, and he had married two of h…
760 wordsSECTION 4Praying Saints Of The Old Testaments
“And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. “And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, an…
633 wordsSECTION 5Praying Saints Of The Old Testaments
(_Continued_) _Bishop Lambeth and Wainwright had a great M. E. Mission in Osaka, Japan. One day the order came from high up that no more meetings would be allowed in the city by Protestants. Lambeth and Wainwright did all they could but the high officials were obstinate and unrelenting. They then retired to the ro…
670 wordsSECTION 6Praying Saints Of The Old Testaments
Nothing can be simpler than these cases of God’s mighty deliverance. Nothing is plainer than that prayer has to do with God directly and simply. Nothing is clearer than that prayer has its only worth and significance in the great fact that God hears and answers prayer. This the Old Testament saints strongly believed. I…
671 wordsSECTION 7Praying Saints Of The Old Testaments
Solomon went to Gibeon to offer sacrifice, which always meant that prayer went in close companionship with sacrifice, and while there, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a vision by night, saying unto him, “Ask what I shall give thee.” The sequel shows the material out of which Solomon’s character was formed. What was his…
508 wordsSECTION 8Abraham, The Man Of Prayer
_Oh for determined men and women, who will rise early and really burn out for God. Oh for a faith that will sweep into heaven with the early dawning of the morning and have ships from a shoreless sea loaded in the soul’s harbor ere the ordinary laborer has knocked the dew from his scythe or the huckster has turned …
689 wordsSECTION 9Moses, The Mighty Intercessor
This was a case somewhat on the line of that of Job at the close of his fearful experience and his terrible trials, when his friends, not understanding Job, neither comprehending God’s dealings with this servant of His, falsely charged Job with being in sin as the cause of all his troubles. God said to these friends of…
746 wordsSECTION 10Moses, The Mighty Intercessor
Moses’ prayers are often found relieving the terrible stroke of God’s wrath. Four times were the prayers of Moses solicited by Pharaoh to relieve him of the fearful stroke of God’s wrath. “Entreat the Lord,” most earnestly begged Pharaoh of Moses, while the loathsome frogs were upon him. And “Moses cried unto the Lord …
650 wordsSECTION 11Moses, The Mighty Intercessor
“Therefore now go, and lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee. Behold my angel shall go before thee.” The rebellion of Korah was the occasion of God’s anger flaming out against the whole congregation of Israel, who sympathized with these rebels. Again Moses appears on the stage of action, thi…
756 wordsSECTION 12Elijah, The Praying Prophet
It must not be thought that because the 90th Psalm is incorporated with what is known as the “Psalms of David,” that David was the author of it. By general consent it is attributed to Moses, and it gives us a sample of the praying of this giver of the law of God to the people. It is a prayer worth studying. It is sacre…
789 wordsSECTION 13Elijah, The Praying Prophet
His prayers have the power to stay the benignant course of nature. He stands in God’s stead in this matter. The sober, passionless, unimaginative James, the brother of our Lord, in his Epistle, says to us: “See what prayer can do, by Elijah! Pray as Elijah prayed. Let the righteous man put forth to its fullest extent t…
890 wordsSECTION 14Elijah, The Praying Prophet
The immortal test of Elijah made in the presence of an apostate king, and in the face of a back-slidden nation and an idolatrous priesthood on Mount Carmel, is a sublime exhibition of faith and prayer. In the contest the prophets of Baal had failed. No fire from heaven falls from heaven in answer to their frantic cries…
651 wordsSECTION 15Elijah, The Praying Prophet
Then it was, as James records, “And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” Elijah’s importunate, fiery praying and God’s promise brought the rain. Prayer carries the promise to its gracious fulfillment. It takes persistent and persevering prayer to give to the promise its la…
720 wordsSECTION 16Hezekiah, The Praying King
_One can form a habit of study until the will seems to be at rest and only the intellect is engaged, the will having retired altogether from exercise. This is not true of real praying. If the affections are laggard, cold, indifferent, if the intellect is furnishing no material to clothe the petition with imagery an…
723 wordsSECTION 17Hezekiah, The Praying King
“And it came to pass when King Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.” His very first impression was to turn to God by going to the “house of prayer.” God was in his thoughts, and prayer was the first thing to be done. And so he sent messe…
680 wordsSECTION 18Hezekiah, The Praying King
Note what Hezekiah did in this emergency, sorely pressed, and see the gracious result: “Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord, saying, “I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Heze…
700 wordsSECTION 19Hezekiah, The Praying King
“And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day? “And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken: Shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten d…
637 wordsSECTION 20Ezra, The Praying Reformer
_Before the Great War there were many signs of a new interest in_ PRAYER _and new hope from its exercise. How these signs have multiplied is known to every one. This one thing at least that is good the War has done for us already. Let us not miss our opportunity. Prayer is not an easy exercise. It requires encourag…
669 wordsSECTION 21Ezra, The Praying Reformer
Very naturally, seeing these dreadful evils in the Church and in the society of Jerusalem, he was distressed. The sad condition of things grieved him, so much so that he rent his garments, plucked his hair, and sat down astonished. All these things are evidences of his great distress of soul at the terrible state of af…
557 wordsSECTION 22Nehemiah, The Praying Builder
_We care not for your splendid abilities as a minister, or your natural endowment as an orator before men. We are sure that the truth of the matter is this: No one will or can command success and become a real praying soul unless intense application is the price. I am even now convinced that the difference between …
651 wordsSECTION 23Nehemiah, The Praying Builder
It seemed all right to pray for his people, but how was a heathen king, with possibly no sympathy whatever for the sad condition of his city and his people in a captive land, and who had no interest in the matter, to be so favorably affected that he would consent to give up his faithful cup bearer and allow him to be g…
698 wordsSECTION 24Nehemiah, The Praying Builder
Let it not be thought that this was the plea of self-righteousness as was that of the Pharisee in our Lord’s time who professedly went up to the temple to pray, who paraded his self-righteous claims in God’s sight. It was a prayer after the fashion of Hezekiah, who reminded God of his fidelity to Him and of his heart’s…
385 wordsSECTION 25Samuel, The Child Of Prayer
_That was a grand action by Jerome, one of the Roman fathers. He laid aside all pressing engagements and went to fulfill the call God gave him, viz., to translate the Holy Scriptures. His congregations were larger than many preachers of to-day but he said to his people, “Now it is necessary that the Scriptures be t…
689 wordsSECTION 26Samuel, The Child Of Prayer
Israel for years had been under bondage to the Philistines and the ark was housed in the home of Abinadab, whose son Eleazer was appointed to keep this sacred testimony of God. The people had gone into idolatry and Samuel was disturbed about the religious condition of the nation. The ark of God was absent, the people w…
753 wordsSECTION 27Samuel, The Child Of Prayer
Then it was that Samuel followed the bent of his mind, “And Samuel prayed unto the Lord.” It seemed that in every matter concerning this people, with which Samuel was connected, he must pray over it. How much more now when there was to be an entire revolution in the form of government, and God was to be displaced as th…
565 wordsSECTION 28Daniel, The Praying Captive
_It is a wonderful historical fact that the men of prayer have always been the men of power in the world. I want to convince you about this. Some of you men--and I am glad to see such a large number of men here to-night--if you are arguing with some friend in the workshop, be sure and ask him why it is that the men…
657 wordsSECTION 29Daniel, The Praying Captive
But Daniel appeared upon the stage of action. At his suggestion the execution of the rash edict was held up, and he immediately called his three companions into counsel, and he urged them to unite with him in a concert of prayer that God would discover to Daniel the dream with the interpretation thereof. In answer to t…
654 wordsSECTION 30Daniel, The Praying Captive
It was then that he had a very strange experience and a still stranger revelation was made to him by some angelic being. It is worth while to read the scripture account: “And behold a hand touched me, which set me on my knees, and upon the palms of my hands. “And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, und…
472 wordsSECTION 31Faith Of Sinners In Prayer
_A certain preacher whose sermons converted many souls received a revelation from God that it was not his sermons or works by all means but the prayers of an illiterate lay brother who sat on the pulpit steps pleading for the success of the sermon. It may be in the all-revealing day so with us. We may believe after…
683 wordsSECTION 32Faith Of Sinners In Prayer
It is a question worthy of earnest consideration, how far the present-day Church is responsible for the unbelief of sinners of these modern times in the value of prayer as an agency in averting God’s wrath, in sparing barren lives and in giving deliverance. How far is the Church responsible for the precious few mourner…
728 wordsSECTION 33Faith Of Sinners In Prayer
Another illustration follows this case very quickly. The son of King Jeroboam fell sick, and was about to die. And this wicked, indifferent king, posted his wife off to Ahijah, the prophet of God, to ask him to say what would be the result of the illness of the child. She attempted to practice a deception upon the old …
702 wordsSECTION 34Paul, The Teacher Of Prayer
And God told Jeremiah in answer to this inquiry what to do, and what would occur, but as in another case, that of Johanan, Zedekiah proved false, and would not do as God instructed Jeremiah to tell him. At the same time it proved conclusively that Zedekiah had not lost his faith in prayer as a means of finding out the …
695 wordsSECTION 35Paul, The Teacher Of Prayer
It is no surprise then that he should give such prominence to prayer in his preaching and writing. We could not expect it to be otherwise. As prayer was the highest exercise in his personal life, so also prayer assumed the same high place in his teaching. His example of prayer added force to his teaching on prayer. His…
756 wordsSECTION 36Paul, The Teacher Of Prayer
Let it be noted before we go any further that Paul wrote directly under the superintendency of the Holy Spirit, who guarded Paul against error, and who suggested the truths which Paul taught. We hold definitely without compromise in the least to the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, and as Paul’s writings are part…
699 wordsSECTION 37Paul, The Teacher Of Prayer
Paul’s teaching is to the effect that prayer is essentially a thing of the inner nature. The spirit within us prays. So note Paul’s directions: “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, without wrath.” “Wrath” is a term which denotes the natural, internal motion of plants and fruits, swelling with juice. The natural …
738 wordsSECTION 38Paul, The Teacher Of Prayer
In writing to the Philippian Church, Paul recounts the situation, and shows the transmuting power of prayer as follows: “Some indeed preach Christ of envy and strife; and some also of good will; “The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds; “But the other of love, kn…
470 wordsSECTION 39Paul And His Praying
_In the life of Frank Crossley it is told how one day in 1888 he had said good-bye at the station to his friends, General and Mrs. Booth; but before they steamed out he handed a letter to them giving details of a sacrifice he had resolved to make for the Army. He came home and was praying alone. “As I was praying,”…
756 wordsSECTION 40Paul And His Praying
Paul had a spiritual trait which was very marked and especially promised, and it was that of prayer. He had a profound conviction that prayer was a great as well as a solemn duty; that prayer was a royal privilege; that prayer was a mighty force; that prayer gauges piety, makes faith mighty and mightier; that much pray…
657 wordsSECTION 41Paul And His Praying
Paul’s religion was born in the throes of that three days’ struggle of prayer, while he was in the house of Ananias, and there he received a divine impetus which never slackened till it brought him to the gates of the eternal city. That spiritual history and religious experience projected along the line of unceasing pr…
762 wordsSECTION 42Paul And His Praying
“But Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, Do thyself no harm; for we are all here.” Never was prayer so beautiful, never more resultful. Paul was an adept at prayer, a lover of prayer, a wondrous devotee of prayer, who could pursue it with such joyous strains, under such conditions of despondency and despair. Wha…
743 wordsSECTION 43Paul And His Praying
It requires no strained interpretation to read into this simple record the fact that Paul must have been praying when the angel appeared unto him with that message of encouragement and assurance of safety. Paul’s habit of prayer and his strong belief in prayer must have driven him to his knees. Such an emergency with h…
694 wordsSECTION 44Paul And His Praying
“And now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” The Lord had emboldened the timid Ananias to go and minister to Paul, by telling him, “Behold he prayeth.” And so we have in this reference Paul’s prayerfulness intensified by the exhortation of Ananias. Praye…
670 wordsSECTION 45Paul And His Praying
“We give thanks to God always for you, making mention of you in my prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope.” Not to quote all he says, it is worth while to read his words to this same Church of true believers further on: “Night and day praying exceedingly tha…
703 wordsSECTION 46Paul And His Requests For Prayer
_I desire above all things to learn to pray. We want to sound the reveille for the Christian warriors. We desire to find truth of the lack of real praying. What is it? Why is it? Why so little time spent in prayer when Christ, who had command of His time, chose to spend great part of it in INTERCESSION? “He ever li…
680 wordsSECTION 47Paul And His Requests For Prayer
“I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers for me.” Prayers by others for Paul were valuable because they helped him. Great helpers are prayers. Nothing gives so much aid to us in our needs as real prayers. They supply n…
706 wordsSECTION 48Paul And His Requests For Prayer
By prayer enemies are to be swept out of the way. By prayer prejudices are to be driven out of the hearts of good men. His way to Jerusalem would be cleared of difficulties, the success of his mission would be secured, and the will of God and the good of the saints would be accomplished. All these marvelous ends would …
513 wordsSECTION 49Paul And His Requests For Prayer
(_Continued_) _We announce the law of prayer as follows: A Christian’s prayer is a joint agreement of the will and his cabinet, the emotions, the conscience, the intellect, working in harmony at white heat, while the body co-operates under certain hygienic conditions to make the prayer long enough sustained at hig…
684 wordsSECTION 50Paul And His Requests For Prayer
What hidden, mysterious mighty force can add courage to apostolical preaching, and give bolder utterances to apostolic lips? There is one answer, and it is that prayer can do the deed. What force can so affect and dominate evil that the very results of evil will be changed into good? We have the answer in Paul’s words…
660 wordsSECTION 51Paul And His Requests For Prayer
“And that we may be delivered from wicked and unreasonable men.” He has in mind a race-course, on which the racer is exerting himself to reach the goal. Hindrances are in the way of his success and must be removed, so that the racer may finally succeed and obtain the reward. The “Word of the Lord” is this racer, as pr…
691 wordsSECTION 52Paul And His Requests For Prayer
Summing it all up, we find that Paul feels that the success of the Word, its liberty and largeness, are bound up in their prayers, and that their failure to pray would restrict its influence and its glory. His deliverance from unreasonable and wicked men as well as his safety, he asserts, are in some way dependent upon…
344 wordsSECTION 53*** End Of The Project Gutenberg Ebook Prayer And Praying Men ***
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. Archaic or variant spelling has been retained. New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Updated editions will re…
205 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.