Realities of Prayer — E.A. Johnston

The Conversion of E. M. Bounds's Son Through Prayer

There is a Baptist preacher by the name of Marian Price who had the rare opportunity and privilege to lead the son of E. M. Bounds to Christ. In 1976, Marian Price visited on several occasions Osborne Bounds, who lived in Washington, Georgia, and who was in his eighties at the time and still unconverted.

It was through the prayers of many and the witness of Marian Price that led Osborne Bounds to Christ before he died. Marian Price is a man of prayer, and he's just written a book on prayer, which I want to commend to you today, friends.

Learning the Habit of Prayer Through Christian Literature

It's important for us to read Christian literature, especially on the subject of prayer. The booklet is called Realities of Prayer, and if you get a copy, you'd be greatly blessed. I want to read you a little bit from the first chapter, which is entitled The Habit of Prayer.

Prayer is work, spiritual work, but work nonetheless. As with any serious labor, prayer requires persistence and determination. It must be our disciplined daily habit. The lives of great prayer warriors of the past teach us of the need for an early morning time of prayer, a time before anyone else arises.

Quietness, Confidence, and Early Morning Prayer

The quietness of those early morning hours is refreshing within itself. Isaiah 30 .15 declares, In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. And 1 Thessalonians 4 .11 states, And that ye study to be quiet.

E. M. Bounds's Discipline of Early Prayer

In 1976, I asked E .M. Bowne's daughter, Mary Bowne Armstrong, about her father's habit of prayer and time of prayer. She said, Father would arise at 4 a .m. and go to his study for seasons of prayer and Bible study until his later years.

Then he started rising at 3 a .m. I asked her, What time did he go to bed? She replied, Early, before anyone in the house and generally right after supper. If anyone was visiting in the home at his bedtime, he would get up and thank them for their visit and say, I have to get to bed now.

I have an early morning appointment. Bowne's had the attitude that he would rather offend man than God. Let nothing hinder your time with God himself. In 1989, I visited Leonard Ravenhill in his home.

Leonard Ravenhill's Burden of Prayer

I asked Mrs. Ravenhill about his prayer life. She told me that he would go to bed early and get up at midnight and pray until 2 a .m. or 3 a .m. When Mrs. Ravenhill urged her husband to come to bed, he would reply, How can I come to bed until this burden is lifted from my heart?

This burden of prayer must become our daily habit. If we are to have power with God and if we are to have influence with man, would to God that our habit of prayer would be so consistent that in the eyes of God we would become men of prayer.

A Call to Study and Practice Prayer

Well, I think it's important, friends, to spend time in prayer and to study how to pray. Again, the book that's entitled Reality is a Prayer, the author is Marion H. Price Sr. And I think now is a good time for us to go to a time of prayer.

Let us pray.