Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Get Your Prayer On!

E.M. Bounds is one of my favorite writers on the topic of prayer.
Let me show you why:

"We can do nothing without prayer. All things can be done by importunate prayer. It surmounts or removes all obstacles, overcomes every resisting force and gains its ends in the face of invincible hindrances."
- E. M. Bounds

"Faith, and hope, and patience and all the strong, beautiful, vital forces of piety are withered and dead in a prayerless life. The life of the individual believer, his personal salvation, and personal Christian graces have their being, bloom, and fruitage in prayer."
- E. M. Bounds

"God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. They outlive the lives of those who uttered them."
- E. M. Bounds

"Other duties become pressing and absorbing, and crowd our prayer. "Choked to death" would be the coroner's verdict in many cases of dead praying if an inquest could be secured on this dire, spiritual calamity."
- E. M. Bounds

"We can never know God as it is our privilege to know Him by brief repetitions that are requests for personal favors, and nothing more."
- E. M. Bounds

"To say prayers in a decent, delicate way is not heavy work. But to pray really, to pray till hell feels the ponderous stroke, to pray till the iron gates of difficulty are opened, till the mountains of obstacles are removed, till the mists are exhaled and the clouds are lifted, and the sunshine of a cloudless day brightens - this is hard work, but it is God's work, and man's best labor."
- E. M. Bounds

"Prayer is the easiest and hardest of all things; the simplest and the sublimest; the weakest and the most powerful; its results lie outside the range of human possibilities - they are limited only by the omnipotence of God."
- E. M. Bounds

"Prayer puts God's work in His hands - and keeps it there."
- E. M. Bounds

Is prayer something you struggle to accomplish? Something that comes easy to you? Something you've improved upon over time? Something you long to do more of?

6 comments:

  1. I loved each and every one of these quotes. Each one. Thanks for the post!

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  2. Wow! Rachel, you are amazing. I loved this one--"God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. They outlive the lives of those who uttered them." They outlive the lives of those who uttered them! Thank you for sharing this, girlfriend!!

    Love ya!
    Susan

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  3. Great quotes Rachel! I struggle with finding time to pray. It seems like I have time for all the other things around me, but when I try to pray Satan puts a lot obstacle in my way.I'd like to make prayer a daily thing not just a 'gotta an emergency let me pray thing'. I read all of your posts about prayer and I got great advice from them!Thank you!

    Sarah

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  4. This post on prayer is so timely for me. I've been having so much trouble praying lately. Whenever I try, my mind starts to wander or I become so incredibly sleepy that I just can't focus. I'm more than concerned about this because I feel such a 'disconnect' between me and the Lord and I hate that feeling.

    I made certain decisions earlier this year to stay on the right path (Rachel, you know) and draw nearer to the Lord. But it's been hard to do the past couple weeks. Not that I've taken any steps backwards, but I'm having trouble keeping my mind on the road ahead. How do I get past this?

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  5. i love prayer.And thank you for introducing E.M BOUNDS to me.I have a reminder on my wall that prayer changes things.I truly believe it.Thank you rachel fo that reminder.Prayer is important.

    Sheena Jeremiah

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  6. Some profound quotes here.

    Prayer-the inhaling and exhaling of heaven.

    Jean
    http://www.jeanmatthewhall.blogspot.com

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