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Prayer Heroes: E. M. Bounds

      

Photo: of E. M. Bounds; bearded, receding hairline.

 

 

 

 

 

Edward McKendree        Bounds       

(1835-1913) 

Classic Works On Prayer

For almost a century Edward McKendree Bounds' books on prayer have been classic works, stimulating and inspiring Christians to become prayer warriors.  A forceful writer and very deep thinker, Bounds spent the last seventeen years of his life reading, writing, and praying.  He rose at 4 A.M. daily for many years, and was indefatigable in his study of the Bible.

As breathing is a physical reality to us, so p rayer was a reality for Bounds.  He took the command, "Pray without ceasing," almost as literally as animate nature takes the law of the reflex nervous system, which controls our breathing.

To Call Today's Christians to Higher Discipleship

Because Bounds so diligently practiced what he preached, he was able to capture the essence of prayer, and his works live on to call today's Christians to higher discipleship and an energetic prayer life.

...the intense spirit and clear challenges of this Godly man who lived to pray and write about prayer.

(-from the Publisher's Preface of the Baker Books editon: The Coplete Works of E.M. Bounds On Prayer) _______________

Needed: Men of Prayer

"What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use -- men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.  The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men.  He does not come on machinery, but on men.  He does not anoint plans, but men -- men of prayer."  

-E. M. Bounds ______________________________

He Prayed Daily from 4 A.M. to 7 A.M. Before He Would Begin Work On His Writings.

 E. M. Bounds was a Methodist Pastor  around the time of the American Civil War.  At the age of 58, and for the next nineteen years (till he went home to be with the Lord at age 77), he started and continued to write books.  The rest of his time was spent in intercessory prayer and in an itinerant revival ministry.  It is said that he prayed  daily from 4 A.M. to 7 A.M. before he would begin work on his writings.

E. M. Bounds was born in Missouri in 1835.  He studied deeply in the scriptures, and was greatly inspired by the writings of John Wesley.  At the age of twenty-four he felt called to be a preacher, and became pastor of a small Methodist congregation in Monticello, Missouri.

In 1861 Bounds was Arrested by Union Troops and Held with Other Non-combatants in a Federal Prison for a Year and a Half

In 1861 he was arrested by Union troops, and held with other non-combatants in a Federal prison for a year and a half.  Released in a prisoner trade, he served as a Chaplain with the Confederacy.  After the war, he became Associate Editor of the Christian Advocate, official weekly paper for the entire Methodist Episcopal Church.  _________________________________

Celtic Pages

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Image: The Prayer Foundation logo (with white Celtic cross on a green shield). _________________________________

Books On Prayer by E. M. Bounds:

  • Power Through Prayer

  • Prayer and Praying Men

  • Purpose In Prayer

  • The Essentials of Prayer

  • The Necessity of Prayer

  • The Possibilities of Prayer

  • The Reality of Prayer

  • The Weapon of Prayer

______________________________

Claude Chilton On E. M. Bounds: 

"These books are unfailing wells for a life-time of spiritual water-drawing.  They are hidden treasures, wrought in the darkness of dawn and the heat of the noon on the anvil of experience, and beaten into wondrous form by the mighty stroke of the divine.  They are living voices whereby he, being dead, yet speaketh! _________________________________ 

Comments of The Prayer Foundation:

"This ministry is in existence as a prayer ministry due in large part to the inspiration of the writings of E. M. Bounds.  Other influences include the life of Rees Howells, and his inspiration, the life of George Müller." __________________________________

Related Pages:

Prayer Tips: E. M. Bounds

Book Review: The Complete Works of E. M. Bounds On Prayer

Power Through Prayer (Text)

Prayer Heroes (Index)

Prayer Tips (Index) ______________________________

 Copyright © 2002 S.G.P. All rights reserved. 

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