The Reality of Prayer

The Reality of Prayer by Edward M. Bounds

The Reality of Prayer, by Edward M. Bounds, treats prayer as the central, indispensable business of the Christian life and of God's own working in the world. Bounds distinguishes prayer as the broadest term for communion with God, supplication as its intensified form of urgent personal need, and intercession as its outward-reaching confidence exercised on behalf of others. He grounds all true praying in the Fatherhood of God and the believer's sonship, insisting that prayer is not a subjective exercise for training character but a real transaction in which God answers by giving the very thing asked. God's will, promises, and purposes are shown to be conditioned upon prayer throughout Scripture, from Moses's intercession for Israel to God's covenant with His Son that the heathen would be given as inheritance only through asking. Bounds surveys Jesus Christ as the supreme teacher and example of prayer, tracing His praying through His baptism, the choosing of the twelve, the feeding of the multitudes, the transfiguration, Gethsemane, and the cross. He examines the Lord's Prayer as the elementary pattern for all believers and the Sacerdotal Prayer of John 17 as the higher, priestly intercession for the unity, sanctification, and glorification of His people. Special attention is given to Gethsemane, where Christ's plea that the cup pass from Him is treated as the one exception to His lifelong conformity to the Father's will, illustrating the difference between mere submission and full conformity in prayer. The work then turns to the Holy Spirit as the believer's indispensable Helper in prayer, the "other Christ" who indwells, teaches, and intercedes within the praying soul with groanings that cannot be uttered. Bounds argues that the gift and continuing fullness of the Holy Spirit are themselves secured only through persistent, importunate prayer, citing Pentecost, the apostolic church, and Paul's prayers for the Ephesians as proof that spiritual power and church advance depend wholly on praying believers. Throughout, Bounds contrasts genuine, heart-felt praying with formal, habitual, or merely ceremonial praying, insisting that real prayer is serious, effortful work requiring faith, perseverance, poverty of spirit, reconciliation with others, and abiding union with Christ, and that it is this quality of praying — not eloquence or learning — that moves God, advances the Gospel, and forms godly character in those who pray.

By Edward M. Bounds · First published 1911 · Genre: Christian Non-fiction, Religious Theology, Devotional · 16 chapters · 40,025 words

First lines

_I am the creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God and returning to God; just hovering over the great gulf; till a few moments hence I am no more seen; I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this end He came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price give me the Book of God! Lord, is it not Thy word-"If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God? Thou givest liberally, and upbraidest not. Thou hast said, if any be willing to do Thy will he shall know. I am willing to do; let me know Thy will. "_-JOHN WESLEY.

Similar titles

Genres

Tags

prayer · prayer life · intercession · supplication · Christian devotion · spiritual communion · answered prayer · God's promises · faith · perseverance · spiritual work · Jesus Christ

What this Textopian page supports

The Reality of Prayer is listed on Textopian as an essay by Edward M. Bounds, dated 1911 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Good citation fit

Contents

More by Edward M. Bounds