E. M. Bounds
Chapter 12
Prayer and God’s Promises
In the Scriptures, we constantly encounter such words as “field,” “seed,” “sower,” “reaper,” “seedtime,” “harvest.” Employing such metaphors interprets a fact of nature by a parable of grace. The field is the world and the good seed is the Word of God. Whether the Word be spoken or written, it is the power of God unto salvation. In our work of evangelism, the whole world is our field, every creature the object of effort, and every book and tract, a seed of God. – David Fant, Jr.
God’s Word is a record of prayer — of praying men and their achievements, of the divine warrant of prayer, and of the encouragement given to those who pray. No one can read the instances, commands, and examples of statements that concern themselves with prayer without realizing that the cause of God and the success of His work in this world are committed to prayer. Praying men have been God’s appointed officers on earth. Prayerless men have never been used by Him.
A reverence for God’s holy name is closely related to a high regard for His Word. This hallowing of God’s name, the ability to do His will on earth as it is done in heaven, and the establishment and glory of God’s kingdom are as much involved in prayer. That “men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) is as fundamental to God’s cause today as when Jesus Christ enshrined that great truth in the immortal setting of the parable of the persistent widow.
As God’s house is called “the house of prayer” (Matt 21:13), because prayer is the most important of its holy offices, so, by the same token, the Bible may be called the book of prayer. Prayer is the great theme and content of its message to mankind.
God’s Word is the basis of, the directory of, and the prayer of faith. Paul said,
Let the mind of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Col 3:16)
As the Word of Christ dwells richly in us, we become transformed. The result is that we become praying Christians. Faith is constructed of the Word and the Spirit, and faith is the body and substance of prayer.
In many of its aspects, prayer is dependent on the Word of God. Jesus says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).
The Word of God is the support upon which the lever of prayer is placed and by which things are mightily moved. God has committed Himself, His purpose, and His promise to prayer. His Word becomes the basis and the inspiration of our praying. His Word becomes the basis and the inspiration of our praying. Under certain circumstances, persistent prayer may bring additional assurance of His promises. It is said of the old saints that they “through faith … obtained the promises” (Heb 11:33). There would seem to be the capacity in prayer for going beyond the Word, beyond His promise, and into the very presence of God Himself.
Jacob wrestled, not so much with a promise, as with the Promiser. We must take hold of the Promiser, or else the promise is useless. Prayer may well be defined as the force that vitalizes and energizes the Word of God, by taking hold of God Himself. By taking hold of the Promiser, prayer releases the personal promise. “There is none … that stirreth up himself to take hold of [me]” (Isa 64:7) is God’s sad lament. “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me” (Isa 27:5) is God’s recipe for prayer.
By scriptural authority, prayer may be divided into the petition of faith and that of submission. The prayer of faith is based on the written Word, for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17). It inevitably receives its answer — the very thing for which it prays.
The prayer of submission is without a definite word of promise, so to speak. However, it takes hold of God with a lowly and contrite spirit and asks and pleads with Him for that which the soul desires. Abraham had no definite promise that God would spare Sodom. Moses had no definite promise that God would spare Israel. On the contrary, there was the declaration of His wrath and of His purpose to destroy. Still, the devoted leader gained his plea with God when he interceded for the Israelites with incessant prayers and many tears. Daniel had no definite promise that God would reveal to him the meaning of the king’s dream, but he prayed specifically, and God answered definitely.
The Word of God is made effective and operative by the process and practice of prayer. The Word of the Lord came to Elijah, “Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 18:1). Elijah showed himself to Ahab, but the answer to his prayer did not come until he had pressed his fiery prayer upon the Lord seven times.
Paul had the definite promise from Christ that He would deliver him “from the people, and from the Gentiles” (Acts 26:17). Yet, we find that he exhorted the Romans in an urgent and solemn manner concerning this very matter:
Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints. (Rom 15:30-31)
The Word of God is a great help in prayer. If it is lodged and written in our hearts, it will form an outflowing current of prayer, full and irresistible. Promises, stored in the heart, are to be the fuel from which prayer receives life and warmth. Just as coal, which has been stored in the earth, gives us comfort on stormy days and wintry nights, the Word of God stored in our hearts is the food by which prayer is nourished and made strong. Prayer, like man, cannot live by bread alone, “but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4).
Unless the vital forces of prayer are supplied by God’s Word, prayer though earnest, even vociferous in its urgency, is flabby and void in reality. The absence of vital force in praying can be traced to the absence of a constant supply of God’s Word to repair the waste and renew the life. He who wants to learn to pray well must first study God’s Word and store it in his memory and thought.
When he consult God’s Word, we find that no duty is more binding, more exacting, than that of prayer. On the other hand, we discover that no privilege is more exalted, no habit more richly owned of God. No promises are more radiant, more abounding, more explicit, more often reiterated, than those that are attached to prayer. “All things whatsoever” are received by prayer because “all things whatsoever” (Matt 21:22) are promised. There is no limit to the provisions included in the promises to prayer and no exclusion from its promises. “For every one that asketh receiveth” (Luke 11:10). The word of our Lord is to this all-embracing effect: “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (John 14:4).
Here are some of the comprehensive and exhaustive statements of the Word of God about prayer, the things to be taken in by prayer, and the strong promise made in answer to prayer: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17); “continue in prayer” (Col 4:2); “continuing instant in prayer” (Rom 12:12); “in every thing by prayer … let your requests be made known unto God” (Phil 4:6); “always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1); “men [should] pray every where” (1 Tim 2:8); “praying always with all prayer and supplication” (Eph 6:18).
What clear and strong statements those are that are put in the divine record to furnish us with a sure basis of faith and to urge, constrain, and encourage us to pray! How wide the range of prayer in the divine revelation! How these Scriptures incite us to seek the God of prayer, with all our needs, with all our burdens!
In addition to these statements left on record for our encouragement, the sacred pages teem with facts, examples, incidents, and observations, stressing the importance and the absolute necessity of prayer and putting emphasis on its all-prevailing power.
The greatest benefit of the rich promises of the Word of God should humbly be received by us and put to the test. The world will never receive the full benefits of the Gospel until this is done. Neither Christian experience nor Christian living will be what they ought to be until these divine promises have been fully tested by those who pray. By prayer, we bring these promises of God’s holy will into the realm of the actual and the real.
If asked what is to be done in order to render God’s promises real, the answer is that we must pray, until the words of the promise are fulfilled.
God’s promises are too large to be mastered by aimless praying. When we examine ourselves, we discover that our praying does not rise to the demands of the situation. It is so limited that it is little more than a mere oasis amid the waste and desert of the world’s sin. Who of us, in our praying, measures up to the promises of our Lord? “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).
How comprehensive, how far reaching, how all-embracing! How much is here, for the glory of God, how much for the good of man! How much for the manifestation of Christ’s enthroned power, how much for the reward of abundant faith! How great and gracious are the results that grow from the exercise of believing prayer!
Look at another of God’s great promises and discover how we may be strengthened by the Word as we pray and on what firm ground we may stand to make our petitions to our God: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). In these comprehensive words, God turns Himself over to the will of His people. When Christ becomes our all in all, prayer lays God’s treasures at our feet.
Early Christianity had an easy and practical solution to the situation. The first Christians received all that God had to give. That simple, short solution is recorded in 1 John 3:22: “Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”
Prayer coupled with loving obedience is the answer to all ends of all things. Prayer joined to the Word of God hallows and makes sacred all God’s gifts. Prayer is not simply to receive things from God, but also to be able to give a blessing. Prayer makes common things holy and secular things sacred. It receives things from God with thanksgiving and hallows them with thankful hearts and devoted service.
In 1 Timothy 4:4-5, Paul gave us these words: “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” God’s good gifts are to be holy; not only by God’s creative power, but also because they are made holy to us by prayer. We receive them, appropriate them, and sanctify them by prayer.
Doing God’s will — having His Word abiding in us — is an imperative of effective praying. But, it may be asked, how are we to know what God’s will is? The answer is by studying His Word (see 2 Timothy 2:15), by hiding it in our hearts (see Psalm 119:11), and by letting the Word dwell in us richly. (See Colossians 3:16.) “The entrance of thy words giveth light.” (Ps 119:130).
To know God’s will in prayer, we must be filled with God’s Spirit, who makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (See Romans 8:27.) To be filled with God’s Spirit, to be filled with God’s Word, is to know God’s will. It is to be put in such a frame of mind and state of heart that it will enable us to read and correctly interpret the purposes of the infinite. Such filling of the heart with the Word and the Spirit gives us an insight into the will of the Father. It enables us to rightly discern His will and puts a disposition of mind and heart within us to make it the guide and compass of our lives.
Epaphras prayed that the Colossians might stand “perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Col 4:12). This is proof positive that not only can we know the will of God, but that we can know all the will of God. And not only can we know all the will of God, but we can do all the will of God. In addition, we can do all the will of God as an established habit instead of an occasional impulse. Still further, it shows us that we not only can do the will of God eternally, but from the heart, cheerfully, without holding back from the intimate presence of the Lord.
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