The Necessity of Prayer
Edward M. Bounds
I. PRAYER AND FAITH
"A dear friend of mine who was quite a lover of the chase, told
me the following story: 'Rising early one morning,' he said, 'I heard the
baying of a score of deerhounds in pursuit of their quarry. Looking away to a
broad, open field in front of me, I saw a young fawn making its way across,
and giving signs, moreover, that its race was well-nigh run. Reaching the
rails of the enclosure, it leaped over and crouched within ten feet from where
I stood. A moment later two of the hounds came over, when the fawn ran in my
direction and pushed its head between my legs. I lifted the little thing to my
breast, and, swinging round and round, fought off the dogs. I felt, just then,
that all the dogs in the West could not, and should not capture that fawn
after its weakness had appealed to my strength.' So is it, when human
helplessness appeals to Almighty God. Well do I remember when the hounds of
sin were after my soul, until, at last, I ran into the arms of Almighty God."
-- A. C. DIXON.
IN any study of the principles, and procedure of prayer, of its activities
and enterprises, first place, must, of necessity, be given to faith. It is the
initial quality in the heart of any man who essays to talk to the Unseen. He
must, out of sheer helplessness, stretch forth hands of faith. He must
believe, where he cannot prove. In the ultimate issue, prayer is simply faith,
claiming its natural yet marvellous prerogatives -- faith taking possession of
its illimitable inheritance. True godliness is just as true, steady, and
persevering in the realm of faith as it is in the province of prayer. Moreover:
when faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live.
Faith does the impossible because it brings God to undertake for us, and
nothing is impossible with God. How great -- without qualification or limitation
-- is the power of faith! If doubt be banished from the heart, and unbelief made
stranger there, what we ask of God shall surely come to pass, and a believer
hath vouchsafed to him "whatsoever he saith."
Prayer projects faith on God, and God on the world. Only God can move
mountains, but faith and prayer move God. In His cursing of the fig-tree our
Lord demonstrated His power. Following that, He proceeded to declare, that large
powers were committed to faith and prayer, not in order to kill but to make
alive, not to blast but to bless.
At this point in our study, we turn to a saying of our Lord, which there is
need to emphasize, since it is the very keystone of the arch of faith and
prayer.
"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye
pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."
We
should ponder well that statement -- "Believe that ye receive them, and ye shall
have them." Here is described a faith which realizes, which appropriates, which
takes. Such faith is a consciousness of the Divine, an experienced
communion, a realized certainty.
Is faith growing or declining as the years go by? Does faith stand strong and
four square, these days, as iniquity abounds and the love of many grows cold?
Does faith maintain its hold, as religion tends to become a mere formality and
worldliness increasingly prevails? The enquiry of our Lord, may, with great
appropriateness, be ours. "When the Son of Man cometh," He asks, "shall He find
faith on the earth?" We believe that He will, and it is ours, in this our day,
to see to it that the lamp of faith is trimmed and burning, lest He come who
shall come, and that right early.
Faith is the foundation of Christian character and the security of the soul.
When Jesus was looking forward to Peter's denial, and cautioning him against it,
He said unto His disciple:
"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, to sift
you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fall
not."
Our Lord was declaring a central truth; it was Peter's
faith He was seeking to guard; for well He knew that when faith is broken down,
the foundations of spiritual life give way, and the entire structure of
religious experience falls. It was Peter's faith which needed guarding. Hence
Christ's solicitude for the welfare of His disciple's soul and His determination
to fortify Peter's faith by His own all-prevailing prayer.
In his Second Epistle, Peter has this idea in mind when speaking of
growth in grace as a measure of safety in the Christian life, and as implying
fruitfulness.
"And besides this," he declares, "giving diligence, add to your
faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to
temperance patience; and to patience godliness."
Of this
additioning process, faith was the starting-point -- the basis of the other
graces of the Spirit. Faith was the foundation on which other things were to be
built. Peter does not enjoin his readers to add to works or gifts or virtues but
to
faith. Much depends on starting right in this business of growing in
grace. There is a Divine order, of which Peter was aware; and so he goes on to
declare that we are to give diligence to making our calling and election sure,
which election is rendered certain adding to faith which, in turn, is done by
constant, earnest praying. Thus faith is kept alive by prayer, and every step
taken, in this adding of grace to grace, is accompanied by prayer.
The faith which pcreates powerful praying is the
faith which centres itself on a powerful Person. Faith in Christ's ability to
do and to do greatly, is the faith which prays greatly. Thus the
leper lay hold upon the power of Christ. "Lord, if Thou wilt," he cried, "Thou
canst make me clean." In this instance, we are shown how faith centered in
Christ's ability to do, and how it secured the healing power.
It was concerning this very point, that Jesus questioned the blind men who
came to Him for healing:
"Believe ye that I am able to do this?" He asks. "They said
unto Him, Yea, Lord. Then touched He their eyes, saying, According to your
faith be it unto you."
It was to inspire faith in His ability to
do that Jesus left behind Him, that last, great statement, which, in the
final analysis, is a ringing challenge to faith. "All power," He declared, "is
given unto Me in heaven and in earth."
http://www.raptureready.com/resource/bounds/1.htm
What do you think about EM Bound's first chapter?
Posted on
Monday, May 11, 2009
by Wildewood Church
filed under