The Necessity of Prayer

As we begin to move into the landscape of “Prayer” in our sermon series “Face to Face” I have taken as a structure for these thoughts the titles of a series of small books written by E. M. Bounds in the early 1900’s. E. M. Bounds studied law in the United States and was admitted to the bar at age 21. After practicing law for three years he began to preach. After the American Civil War he served churches in Missouri, Tennessee, and Alabama. The later pattern of his life was to rise early in the morning for an extended prayer time and then spent the rest of the morning writing about prayer. He wrote eight books about prayer all of which are still in print and are considered to be “classics” on the subject.

9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:9-13

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:7-8

21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. 1 John 3:21-24


God created us to live in relationship with Him and to enjoy the fullness of life which He has prepared for us. In the midst of want, despair and confusion it is often difficult to see how this is possible. In fact, without Him, it is impossible to find the joy and fulfilment He has set out for us. He is our guide, our provider, our enabler, our comforter, our protector and our saviour. We must then allow Him to do these things, and more, in our lives. Prayer is the key to all this. Prayer is the means and the product of our relationship with God. By definition it is our communication with him; it is the umbilical chord which ties us to Him and through which we are fed. But how do we then enter into this prayer that is so all important?

The Bible makes this plain. We ask God. We ask Him for everything we want and need. We ask Him to be with us. We ask on behalf of others. We ask Him to search our hearts and correct us. We ask Him to heal. We ask Him to provide. We ask Him to love and not forget. We ask Him to be with us in times of testing, or suffering, or despair. We unveil our hearts to Him and He in turn shows us His. We relinquish ourselves and He lifts us and carries us. We cry and He soothes. We rejoice and He delights. We rest and He allows us to rest in Him.

When we do this our lives begin to mesh with God’s plans and purposes. E. M. Bounds says: “The utmost reach and full benefit of the rich promises of the Word of God should humbly be received by us and put to the test. Neither Christian experience nor Christian living will be what they ought to be till 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 real.”

Week by week members of The Church of The Cross have been coming to me telling me how God has answered their prayers and met them in their time of need. Some of these have been shared with all of you as “Barnabas Spots” on Sunday mornings. Three weeks ago I prayed with a mother that her daughter would be given admittance into a new school which was proving difficult. This also had a financial implication and the whole scenario looked bleak if not impossible. I asked her how things were going two weeks later and she told me how everything had been resolved in the most straightforward manner. Her daughter was in the new school and the financial implications had been resolved wonderfully. God had changed the impossible to the natural.

I spoke to a couple in my office last week who were surprised that they were allowed to ask God for small things and for issues that had direct benefit to them. I reminded them of that part of The Lord’s Prayer where we are encouraged to ask God for our daily needs and suggested to them that God loves to look after us. He will of course refuse to supply that which is not helpful for us or His Kingdom but He encourages us to ask nonetheless. We might be surprised at how much He cares and wants to bless us.

James, the brother of Jesus, as a leader of the Jerusalem Church admonishes his fellow believers, “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” Let us not be like them. Let us firmly resolve to spend time with God each day – sharing our life with Him and asking of Him that which is essential for us to be fully how He has made us.

Mike Clarkson