The reality of prayer

by Edward M. Bounds

When Christ, with a sad and sympathising heart, looked upon the ripened fields of humanity, and saw the great need of labourers, His purposes were for more labourers, and so He charged them, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”

In Ephesians, chapter three, Paul reminds those believers of the eternal purposes of God, and how he was bowing his knees to God in order that that eternal purpose might be accomplished, and also that they “might be filled with all the fullness of God.”

We see in Job how God conditioned His purposes for Job’s three friends on Job’s praying, and God’s purposes in regard to Job were brought about by the same means.

In the first part of Revelation, (chapter eight) the relation and necessity of saintly prayers to God’s plans and operations in executing the salvation of men is set forth in rich, expressive symbol, wherein the angels have to do with the prayers of the saints.

Prayer gives efficiency and utility to the promises. The mighty ongoing of God’s purposes rests on prayer. The representatives of the Church in Heaven and of all creation before the throne of God “have every one of them golden vials of odours which are the prayers of the saints.”

We have said before, and repeat it, that prayer is based not simply upon a promise, but on a relationship. The returning penitent sinner prays on a promise. The child of God prays on the relation of a child. What the father has belongs to the child for present and prospective uses. The child asks, the father gives. The relationship is one of asking and answering, of giving and receiving. The child is dependent upon the father, must look to the father, must ask of the father, and must receive of the father.

We know how with earthly parents asking and giving belong to this relation, and how in the very act of asking and giving, the relationship of parent and child is cemented, sweetened and enriched. The parent finds his wealth of pleasure and satisfaction in giving to an obedient child, and the child finds his wealth in the father’s loving and continuous giving.

Prayer affects God more powerfully than His own purposes. God’s will, words and purposes are all subject to review when the mighty potencies of prayer come in. How mighty prayer is with God may be seen as he readily sets aside His own fixed and declared purposes in answer to prayer. The whole plan of salvation had been blocked had Jesus Christ prayed for the twelve legions of angels to carry dismay and ruin to His enemies.

The fasting and prayers of the Ninevites changed God’s purposes to destroy that wicked city, after Jonah had gone there and cried unto the people, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed.”

Almighty God is concerned in our praying. He wills it, He commands it, He inspires it. Jesus Christ in Heaven is ever praying. Prayer is His law and His life. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to pray. He prays for us “with groanings which cannot be uttered.” All these show the deep concern of God in prayer. It discloses very clearly how vital it is to His work in this world, and how far-reaching are its possibilities. Prayer forms the very center of the heart and will of God concerning men. “Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Prayer is the pole star around which rejoicing and thanksgiving revolve. Prayer is the heart sending its full and happy pulsations up to God through the glad currents of joy and thanksgiving.