MEN OF PRAYER: POWERFUL AND NEEDED
Do you believe in prayer? Do you believe that prayer is powerful? How important is prayer in your daily life? Is your prayer life vibrant and growing?
E.M. Bounds wrote a little book about 90 years ago entitled “The Weapon of Prayer.” I have a reprint copy on my shelf that sold for $1.45 in 1975. While the monetary value of such a book may appear insignificant, the topic that Bounds highlights is of unsurpassed worth.
In the first chapter, Bounds focused on the necessity of prayer. According to Bounds, “Nothing is more important to God than prayer in dealing with mankind.” Bounds continued, “Failure to pray is failure along the whole line of life. It is failure of duty, service, and spiritual progress.” Bounds asserted further that “Prayer cannot be retired as a secondary force in this world. To do so…is to make God secondary and …the prayer ministry is an all-engaging force.”
With the third chapter Bounds emphasized the necessity of praying men. He stressed the critical need within churches to have pastors who engage in fearless proclamation of God’s Word. Bounds then offered, “In close connection with this, must we have men of prayer, men in high places and low places who hold to and practice Scriptural praying.” Bounds declared further that “Praying men are the one commanding need of this day…for… in doing God’s work there is no substitute for praying.”
In 1854 at the age of 20, Charles Haddon Spurgeon began preaching at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London where he served for 38 years. Growth occurred in membership, facilities, and new ministries during Spurgeon’s tenure. According to various sources, a group of people who came to tour the Tabernacle asked Spurgeon what was the key to his success and the success of the church. Spurgeon took the group down to the boiler room in the church’s basement where 100 men were praying. (A source that I read some time ago indicated that 400 men prayed in the basement every time Spurgeon stood in the pulpit to preach). Spurgeon reportedly told the curious visitors, “There, my friends, is the secret to my success.”
Praying men are both powerful and necessary. We learn from scripture that “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective“(James 5:16). Against this backdrop Bounds affirmed the need for men “whose prayers will give to the world the utmost power of God.”
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for the opportunity to communicate with you in prayer. Thank you for the power of prayer. May I be a prayer warrior who regularly and continually engages the weapon of prayer. Thank you for hearing and answering prayer. May I pray without ceasing and encourage other men to do likewise. Amen.
Daniel