An Old Word

If all my books were taken away except three, the one I would hold the longest would be that well worn, marked up Bible that has been my companion in the pulpit and study for many a year.  The second most important book is one I have carried along the journey now for nearly fifty years.  It is Oswald Chamber's daily devotional guide, "My Utmost for His Highest."   The third to which I would cling is one written by E.M. Bounds entitled "Prayer."   Actually, "Prayer" is a compilation of the seven books this great man of prayer wrote prior to his death in 1913.

 

While I have many books on prayer, if I could only have one, it would be this volume written by E,M. Bounds.  So many pages are marked with underlinings, but the one I have gone to the most and the one which speaks volumes to me is one about the church.  It reads, "What the church needs today is not more or better machinery, not new organizations or more and novel methods.  She needs men whom the Holy Spirit can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.  The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men.  He does not come on machinery, but on men.  He does not anoint plans, but men--men of prayer."

 

It is such an old word.  Over a hundred years old.  But, such a powerful word for the present age.  The church and its servants, male and female, depend too much on things other than prayer.  If there is anything missing in the church today it is a strong and determined commitment to pray.  Have a fellowship meal and draw a crowd.  Have a prayer meeting and have no worries about filling a room. What Bounds wrote over a hundred years ago speaks a powerful penetrating word to the church of our day.