Power Through Prayer?

Recently I finished Power Through Prayer by E. M. Bounds.  Actually, I listened to it.  I got the audio version of Power Through Prayer (actually, it was a giveaway of the month from christianaudio).  The book is written for pastors, but I think it has some good thoughts for us all.  Here are some thoughts I had (not necessarily directly in the book – I appreciated the book because it’s thought provoking).

Prayer is something we, as believers, pay a lot of lip service to.  How shocking would it be if a missionary came to your church and said,"Actually, we don’t need any more prayer – just open your chequebooks to the first page and write the following…"

Or who among your Christian friends has ever confided to you,"Lately I’ve been praying too much.  I just can’t stop myself.  It’s destroying my family life and I think it’s finally time to get help."

(I was tempted to title this post No prayer needed.  Thanks anyway.  But I just couldn’t do it)

Sure, we talk about it.  But do we really value it?  Really?

A point that Bounds made is that God is not so much looking for better procedures and methods, but better people.  Of course, he meant in part people who pray – who are transformed by God through prayer, and whose circumstances are also transformed by that invisible Hand. (you can see how this relates to our "most important thing" series – who you are is important, but the most important is your focus on God Himself, who is trustworthy and transforming).

I love methods.  We Christians love to talk about better methods and strategies, and that’s not a bad thing (remember results, doing, being and God yet again).  But sometimes I wonder if God would rather have a bumbling minister accomplish more than the talented, polished, brilliant strategist, when the bumbling minister prays.  Why?  Because the glory is more likely to go to God.

Though I might not agree with Bounds on every point, I did appreciate his balanced, non-formulaic view of prayer.  He didn’t give us a 6-steps-to-praying-success program, and he didn’t tell us that we should spend 23% of our day in prayer, or that we should pray using a certain format.  But he does challenge us to think about these things seriously.  Just because God doesn’t give us a mandate to pray for 1 hour per day (or whatever) doesn’t mean that time isn’t an important factor.

Of course, in the end, the apostle Paul says to never stop praying.  I think there’s the idea not only of persistence, but of constancy, or being in an attitude of prayer all the time.  Not that we walk around with hands clasped, serious face, and a gentle but probing voice (you’ve met someone like that, haven’t you?).  But simply that we’re constantly aware of God’s presence, and with that awareness comes interaction.  We’re constantly talking with Him about the things we’re seeing, conversations we’re having, things we’re doing.

But this can’t replace that concentrated, focused time of prayer.

Bounds warns that praying a little can be worse than not praying at all.  When we pray a little, do we feel like we’ve done our duty – that we’re sufficiently holy?  That’s when we’re really in trouble, isn’t it?  (This could apply to a lot of good works, couldn’t it?)

When we’re feeling sure of ourselves, when we’re feeling powerless to avoid sin, when we’re facing challenges, when we’re looking for new ones, when we’re not seeing God work in the lives of friends and family, when we’re wanting progress to continue – well, come to think of it – anytime! we need to pray.  Not because prayer is powerful, but because God is.