PRAYER & SPIRITUAL WARFARE

E. M. Bounds
Chapter 8

General Charles James Gordon, the hero of Khartoum, was a truly Christian soldier. Shut up in the Sudanese town, he gallantly held out for one year, but finally was overcome and slain. On his memorial in Westminster Abbey are these words: “He gave his money to the poor, his sympathy to the sorrowing, his life to his country, and his soul to God.” – Homer W. Hodge

Prayer governs conduct, and conduct makes character. Conduct is what we do; character is what we are. Conduct is the outward life; character is the unseen life, hidden within, yet evidenced by that which is seen. Conduct is external, seen from without; character is internal, operating within. In the economy of grace, conduct is the offspring of character. Character is the state of the heart; conduct is its outward expression. Character is the root of the tree; conduct is the fruit it bears.

Prayer is related to all the gifts of grace. Its relationship to character and conduct is that of a helper. Prayer helps to establish character and to fashion conduct. Both, for their successful continuance, depend on prayer. There may be a certain degree of moral character and conduct independent of prayer, but there cannot be any distinctive religious character and Christian conduct without it. Prayer helps where all other aids fail. The more we pray, the better we are, and the purer and better our lives become.

The very end and purpose of the atoning work of Christ is to create religious character and make Christian conduct.

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:14)

In Christ’s teaching, it is not simply works of charity and deeds of mercy that He insists upon, but inward spiritual character. This much is demanded, and nothing short of it will suffice.

In the study of Paul’s epistles, there is one thing that stands out clearly and unmistakably — the insistence on holiness of heart and righteousness of life. Paul did not seek to promote what is termed “personal work.” The leading theme of his letters is not deeds of charity. Rather, it is the condition of the human heart and the blamelessness of the personal life that form the burden of Paul’s writings.

It is character and conduct that are most important elsewhere in the Scriptures, too. The Christian religion deals with men who are lacking spiritual character and are unholy in life. It aims to change them so that they become holy in heart and righteous in life. It aims to change bad men into good men.

Here is where prayer enters and demonstrates its wonderful ability and fruit. Prayer drives toward this specific end. In fact, without prayer, no such supernatural change in moral character can ever be effected. The change from badness to goodness is not brought about “by works of righteousness which we have done,” but according to God’s mercy, which saves us “by the washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5). This marvelous change is brought to pass through earnest, persistent, faithful prayer. Any assumed form of Christianity that does not effect this change in the hearts of men is a delusion and a snare.

The office of prayer is to change the character and conduct of men. In countless instances, change has been brought about by prayer. At this point, prayer, by its credentials, has proven its divinity. Just as it is the office of prayer to effect this, it is the major work of the church to take hold of evil men and make them good. Its mission is to change human nature and character, influence behavior, and revolutionize conduct.

The church is God’s factory on earth. Its primary duty is to create and foster righteous character. This is its very first business. Its primary work is not to acquire members or amass numbers. Its aim is not to get money or engage in deeds of charity and works of mercy. Its work is to produce righteousness of character and purity of the outward life.

A product reflects and partakes of the character of the manufacturer that makes it. A righteous church produces cleanliness of heart and purity of life. It can produce nothing else. Unrighteous conduct is born in prayerlessness. The two go hand in hand. Prayer and sinning cannot keep company with each other. One or the other must, of necessity, stop. Get men to pray, and they will quit sinning. It works so much upon the heart that evildoing becomes repugnant. It lifts the entire nature to a reverent contemplation of high and holy things.

Prayer is based on character. What we are with God determines our influence with Him. It was the inner character, not the outward appearance, of such men as Abraham, Job, David, Moses, and others that had such great influence with God in the days of old. Today, it is not so much or words, but what we really are that counts with God. Conduct affects character, of course, and counts for much in our praying.

At the same time, character affects conduct to a far greater extent and has a superior influence over prayer. Our inner life gives color to our praying.

Bad living means bad praying and, in the end, no praying at all. We pray feebly because we live feebly. The stream of prayer cannot rise higher than the fountain of living. The force of the prayer closet is made up of the energy that emerges from the flowing streams of life. The weakness of living grows out of the shallowness and shoddiness of character.

Feebleness of living reflects its weakness in the praying hours. We simply cannot talk to God strongly, intimately, and confidently unless we are living for Him, faithfully and truly. The prayer closet cannot become sanctified to God when the life is alien to His laws and purpose. We must learn this lesson well. Righteous character and Christlike conduct give us a particular and preferential standing in prayer before God. The Word gives special emphasis to the part that conduct has in imparting value to our praying.

Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer, thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity. (Isa 58:9)

The wickedness of Israel and their heinous practices were definitely cited by Isaiah as the reason why God would turn His ears away from their prayers. “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood” (Isa 1:15)

The same sad truth was declared by the Lord through the mouths of Jeremiah: “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble” (Jer 11:14). Here, it is plainly stated that unholy conduct is a hindrance to successful praying. It is clearly suggested that, in order to have full access to God in prayer, there must be a total abandonment of conscious and premeditated sin.

We are commanded to pray, “lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting” (1 Tim 2:8). We must pass the time we live here in a rigorous abstaining from evil if we are to keep our privilege of calling upon the Father. We cannot, by any process, divorce praying from conduct. “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in his sight” (1 John 3:22).

James declared that men ask and yet do not receive because they ask amiss and seek only the gratification of selfish desires. (See James 4:3.)

Our Lord’s command to watch and pray always is to cover and guard all our conduct. Then we may come to our prayer closet with all its force secured by a vigilant guard kept over our lives.

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. (Luke 21:34)

Quite often, Christian experience collapses on the rock of conduct. Beautiful theories are marred by ugly lives. The most difficult thing about piety, because it is the most impressive, is to be able to live it. It is the life that counts. Our praying suffers, as do other phases of our religious experience, from bad living.

In early times, preachers were ordered to preach by their lives or not preach at all. Christians everywhere ought to be reminded to pray by their lives or not pray at all. The most effective preaching is not what is heard from the pulpit, but what is proclaimed quietly, humbly, and consistently. It is preaching that exhibits its excellencies in the home and in the community. Example preaches a far more effective sermon than instruction. The best preaching, even in the pulpit, is strengthened by the preacher living a godly life.

The most effective work done by people sitting in the pews is preceded by, and accompanied with, holiness of life, separation from the world, and severance from sin. Some of the strongest appeals are made with mute lips by godly fathers and saintly mothers. These parents, around the fireside, fear God, love His cause, and daily show their children and others around them the beauties and excellencies of Christian life and conduct.

The best prepared, most eloquent sermon can be marred and rendered ineffective by questionable practices in the preacher. The most active church worker can have the labor of his hands weakened by worldliness of spirit and inconsistency of life. Men preach by their lives, not by their words. Sermons are delivered, not so much in and from a pulpit, as they are in tempers, actions, and the thousand and one incidents that crowd the pathway of daily life.

Of course, the prayer of repentance is acceptable to God. He delights in hearing the cries of penitent sinners. But repentance involves not only sorrow for sin, but also turning away from wrongdoing and learning to do well. A repentance that does not produce a change in character and conduct is a mere sham that should deceive no one. Old things must pass away. All things must become new. (See 2 Corinthians 5:17.)

Praying that does not result in right thinking and right living is a farce. We have missed the whole office of prayer if it fails to purge character and correct conduct. We have failed entirely to understand the virtue of prayer if it does not bring about the revolutionizing of the life. In the very nature of things, we must either quit praying or quit our bad conduct. Cold, formal praying may exist side by side with bad conduct, but such praying, in God’s estimation, is no praying at all. Our praying advances in power just as much as it rectifies the life. A prayerful life will grow in purity and devotion to God.

The character of the inner life is a condition of effective praying. As the life is, so the praying will be. An inconsistent life hinders praying and neutralizes what little praying we may do. Always, it is the prayer of the righteous man that avails much. (See James 5:16.) Indeed, one may go further and say that it is only the prayer of the righteous that avails anything at all, at any time. To have an eye to God’s glory and to be possessed by an earnest desire to please Him in all our ways gives weight, influence, and power to prayer. To possess hands busy in His service and to have feet swift to run in the way of His commandments insure an audience with God. The oppression of our lives often breaks the force of our praying and, not infrequently, is as a door of brass in the face of prayer.

Praying must come out of a clean heart and be presented and urged with the “lifting up [of] holy hands” (1 Tim 2:8). It must be strengthened by a life aiming, unceasingly, to obey God, to attain conformity to the divine law, and to come into submission to the divine will.

Let it not be forgotten that, while life is a condition of prayer, prayer is also the condition of righteous living. Prayer promotes righteous living and is the one great aid to uprightness of heart and life. The fruit of real praying is right living. Praying sets him who prays to the great business of working out his salvation with fear and trembling. (See Philippians 2:12.) It causes him to watch his temper, conversation, and conduct. It leads him to walk circumspectly and redeem the time. (See Ephesians 5:15-16.) It enables him to walk worthy of the vocation to which he is called, with all lowliness and meekness. (See Ephesians 4:1-2.) It gives him a high incentive to pursue his pilgrimage consistently by shunning every evil way to walk in the good. (See Psalm 199:101.)