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The Best of E.M. Bounds
This book highlights the messages of the great Christian author, E.M. Bounds. The language has been gently modernized for greater relevance to contemporary times, but none of the spiritual substance has been diluted. These will be tremendous additions to any Christian library! The material is profound, thought-provoking, and life-changing but easy to follow. These books are perfect for Christians who want to dig deeper and be challenged to expand their faith.
Features and BenefitsThis book presents the best of gems from the work of E. M. Bounds.This series features classic writings from the best Christian thinkers and presents the material in an accessible, approachable, and appetizing manner. We've taken the "fear factor" out of classical writings.The language is "gently modernized" for today's reader.Each daily reading contains a key Scripture verse and reflection questions.Each book in the series contains 120 readings -- enough substance to satisfy without intimidating readers with a thick tone.
Features and BenefitsThis book presents the best of gems from the work of E. M. Bounds.This series features classic writings from the best Christian thinkers and presents the material in an accessible, approachable, and appetizing manner. We've taken the "fear factor" out of classical writings.The language is "gently modernized" for today's reader.Each daily reading contains a key Scripture verse and reflection questions.Each book in the series contains 120 readings -- enough substance to satisfy without intimidating readers with a thick tone.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published December 28, 1981
1 person is currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
E.M. Bounds
327 books225 followersEdward McKendree Bounds was a Methodist minister, revivalist, author and lawyer.
Unsuccessful in the California gold rush of 1849, E.M. Bounds returned home to Missouri and became the state’s youngest practicing attorney at age 19. In his early twenties he was deeply impacted by the Third Great Awakening, and at age 24 he was ordained for ministry. During his lifetime he pastored churches, traveled as an evangelist, served as a Civil War chaplain, edited a Christian periodical and was a devoted husband and father. But E.M. Bounds is best known for prayer. His daily habit was to spend the time between 4 am and 7 am praying. His writings on prayer are widely acclaimed to be among the finest of any author before or since.
Unsuccessful in the California gold rush of 1849, E.M. Bounds returned home to Missouri and became the state’s youngest practicing attorney at age 19. In his early twenties he was deeply impacted by the Third Great Awakening, and at age 24 he was ordained for ministry. During his lifetime he pastored churches, traveled as an evangelist, served as a Civil War chaplain, edited a Christian periodical and was a devoted husband and father. But E.M. Bounds is best known for prayer. His daily habit was to spend the time between 4 am and 7 am praying. His writings on prayer are widely acclaimed to be among the finest of any author before or since.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 1, 2025
I don't think I've ever given a book a two star review but I feel that my ratings are artificially inflated and someone has to take the fall. I apologize so sincerely, Rev Bounds, and if we ever meet in heaven it will be a great honor.
(Actually he doesn't use the Oxford comma so I've added a star.)
Everything in this book is good and well written, see all of the useful things below.
It was hard to follow, and, being excerpts not particularly nuanced or cohesive. Probably more a reflection of my taste than the actual writing quality but you know...
God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and GOd's heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.
That we ought to give ourselves to God with regard to things both temporal and spiritual, and seek our satisfaction only in the fulfilling His will, whether He leads us by suffering, or by consolation, for all would be equal to a soul truly resigned. Prayer is nothing else but a sense of God's presence. - Brother Lawrence
Be sure to look to your secret duty; keep that up whatever you do. The soul cannot prosper in the neglect of it. Apostasy generally begins at the closet door. Be much in secret fellowship with God. It is secret trading that enriches the Christian. Pray alone. Let prayer be the key of the morning and the bolt at night. The best way to fight against sin is to fight it on our knees. - Philip Henry
An hour of solitude passed in sincere and earnest prayer, or the cnflict with and conquest over a single passion or subtle osom sin will teach us more of thought, will more effectually awaken the faulty and form the habit of reflection than a year's study in the schools without them. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A man may pray night and day and deceive himself, but no man can be assured of his sincerity who does not pray. Prayer is faith passing into act. A union of the will and intellect realising in an intellectual act. It is the whole man that prays. Less than this is wishing or lip work, a sham or a mummery. If God should restore me again to health I have determined to study nothing but the Bible. Literature is inimical to spirituality if it be not kept under with a firm hand. -Richard Cecil
Our sanctification does not depend upon changing our works, but in doing that for God's sake which we commonly do for our own. The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer. Prayer is nothing else but a sense of the presence of God. - Brother Lawrence
Let me burn out for God. After all, whatever God may appoint, prayer is the great thing. Oh that I may be a man of prayer. - Henry Martyn
To make prayer secondary is to discrown it. It is to fetter and destroy prayer. If prayer is put first, then God is put first, and victory is assured. Prayer must either reign in the life or must abdicate. Which shall it be?
We are cognizant and consonant with things, with blessings and bestowments, with matters and things which touch men, but men themselves are here set for as the objects of prayer.
Paul's teaching is to the effect that prayer is essentially a thing of the inner nature. The spirit within us prays. So note Paul's directions: "I will therefore that men pray every where... without wrath." "Wrath" is a term which denotes the natural, internal motion of plants and fruits, swelling with juice. The natural juices are warmed into life, and rise by the warmth of spring. Man has in him natural juices which rise as does the sap. Warmth, heat, all stages of passions and desires, every degree of feeling, these spontaneously rise under provocation. Guard against and suppress them. Man cannot pray with these natural feelings rising in him, cultivated, cherished and continued there. Prayer is to be without these. "Without wrath." Higher, better, nobler inspiration are to lift prayer upward. "Wrath" depresses prayer, hinders it, suppresses it.
The word "without" means making no use of, having no association with, apart from, aloof from. The natural, unrenewed heart has no part in praying. Its heat and all its nature juices (lol @syd let's work this into the vernacular) poison and destroy praying. The nature of prayer is deeper than nature. We cannot pray by nature, even by the kindliest and the best nature.
The prayer of Jesus Christ drew on the mightiest forces of His being. His prayers were His sacrifices, which He offered before He offered Himself on the cross for the sins of mankind. Prayer-sacrifice is the forerunner and pledge of self-sacrifice. We must die in our closets before we can die on the cross. (I'M SORRY READ THAT AGAIN WE MUST DIE IN OUR CLOSETS BEFORE WE CAN DIE ON THE CROSS. wow ok rev bounds im listening.
But how do I know that I am praying by the will of God? Every true attempt to pray is in response to the will of God. Bungling it may be and untutored by human teachers, but it is acceptable to God, because it is in obedience to His will. If I will give myself up to the inspiration of the Spirit of God, who commands me to pray, the details and the petitions of that praying will all fall into harmony with the will of Him who wills that I should pray.
Not to be concerned about the answer to prayer is not to pray. What a world of waste there is in praying. What myriads of prayers have been offered for which no answer is returned, no answer longer for, and no answer is expected! We have been nurturing a false faith and hiding the shame of our loss and inability to pray, by the false, comforting plea that God does not answer directly or objectively, but indirectly and subjectively. We have persuaded ourselves that by some kind of hocus-pocus of which we are wholly unconscious in its process and its result, that we have been made better. Conscious that God has not answered us directly, we have solaced ourselves with the delusive unction that God has in some impalpable way and with unknown results, given us something better. Or we have comforted and nurtured our spiritual sloth by saying that it is not God/s will to give it to us. Faith teaches God'/s praying ones that it is God's will to answer prayer. God answers all prayers and every prayer of His true children who truly pray.
...
The emphasis in the Scriptures is always given to the answer to prayer. All things from God are given in answer to prayer. God Himself, His presence, His gifts, and His grace, one and all, are secured by prayer. The medium by which God communicates with men is prayer. The most real thing in prayer, its very essential end, is the answer it secures. The mere repetition of words in prayer, the counting of beads, the multiplying mere words of prayer, as works of supererogation, as if there was virtue in the number of prayers to avail, is a vain delusion, an empty thing, a useless service. Prayer looks directly to securing an answer. This is its design. It has no other end in view.
A young man had been called to the foreign field. He had not been in the habit of preaching, but he knew one thing, how to prevail with God; nd going one day to a friend he said: "I don't see how God can use me on the field. I have no special talent." His friend said: "My brother, God wants men on the field who can pray. There are too many preachers now and too few pray-ers." He went. In his own room in the early dawn a voice was heard weeping and pleading for souls. All through the day, the shut door and the hush that prevailed made you feel like walking softly, for a soul was wrestling with God.
Yet to this home, hungry souls would flock, drawn by some irresistible power.
Ah, the mystery was unlocked. In the secret chamber lost souls were pleaded for and claimed. The Holy Ghost knew just where they were and sent them along. -J. Hudson Taylor
Some would rule God out of the sad and hard things of life. They tell us that God has nothing to do with certain events which bring such grief to us. They say that God is not in the death of children, that they die from natural causes, and that it is but the working of natural laws.
Let us ask what are nature's law but the laws of God, the laws by which God rules the world? nd what is nature anyway? Who made nature? How great the need to know that God is above nature, is in control of nature, and is in nature? We need to know that nature or natural laws are but the servants of almighty God who made these laws and that He is directly in them, and they are but the divine servants to carry out God's gracious designs, and are made to execute His gracious purposes. The God of providence, the God to whom the Christians pray, and the God who interposes in behalf of the children of men for their good, is above nature, in perfect and absolute control of all that belongs to nature. And no law of nature can crush the life out of even a child without God giving His consent, and without such a sad event occurring directly under His all-seeing eye, and without His being immediately present.
(Actually he doesn't use the Oxford comma so I've added a star.)
Everything in this book is good and well written, see all of the useful things below.
It was hard to follow, and, being excerpts not particularly nuanced or cohesive. Probably more a reflection of my taste than the actual writing quality but you know...
God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and GOd's heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.
That we ought to give ourselves to God with regard to things both temporal and spiritual, and seek our satisfaction only in the fulfilling His will, whether He leads us by suffering, or by consolation, for all would be equal to a soul truly resigned. Prayer is nothing else but a sense of God's presence. - Brother Lawrence
Be sure to look to your secret duty; keep that up whatever you do. The soul cannot prosper in the neglect of it. Apostasy generally begins at the closet door. Be much in secret fellowship with God. It is secret trading that enriches the Christian. Pray alone. Let prayer be the key of the morning and the bolt at night. The best way to fight against sin is to fight it on our knees. - Philip Henry
An hour of solitude passed in sincere and earnest prayer, or the cnflict with and conquest over a single passion or subtle osom sin will teach us more of thought, will more effectually awaken the faulty and form the habit of reflection than a year's study in the schools without them. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A man may pray night and day and deceive himself, but no man can be assured of his sincerity who does not pray. Prayer is faith passing into act. A union of the will and intellect realising in an intellectual act. It is the whole man that prays. Less than this is wishing or lip work, a sham or a mummery. If God should restore me again to health I have determined to study nothing but the Bible. Literature is inimical to spirituality if it be not kept under with a firm hand. -Richard Cecil
Our sanctification does not depend upon changing our works, but in doing that for God's sake which we commonly do for our own. The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer. Prayer is nothing else but a sense of the presence of God. - Brother Lawrence
Let me burn out for God. After all, whatever God may appoint, prayer is the great thing. Oh that I may be a man of prayer. - Henry Martyn
To make prayer secondary is to discrown it. It is to fetter and destroy prayer. If prayer is put first, then God is put first, and victory is assured. Prayer must either reign in the life or must abdicate. Which shall it be?
We are cognizant and consonant with things, with blessings and bestowments, with matters and things which touch men, but men themselves are here set for as the objects of prayer.
Paul's teaching is to the effect that prayer is essentially a thing of the inner nature. The spirit within us prays. So note Paul's directions: "I will therefore that men pray every where... without wrath." "Wrath" is a term which denotes the natural, internal motion of plants and fruits, swelling with juice. The natural juices are warmed into life, and rise by the warmth of spring. Man has in him natural juices which rise as does the sap. Warmth, heat, all stages of passions and desires, every degree of feeling, these spontaneously rise under provocation. Guard against and suppress them. Man cannot pray with these natural feelings rising in him, cultivated, cherished and continued there. Prayer is to be without these. "Without wrath." Higher, better, nobler inspiration are to lift prayer upward. "Wrath" depresses prayer, hinders it, suppresses it.
The word "without" means making no use of, having no association with, apart from, aloof from. The natural, unrenewed heart has no part in praying. Its heat and all its nature juices (lol @syd let's work this into the vernacular) poison and destroy praying. The nature of prayer is deeper than nature. We cannot pray by nature, even by the kindliest and the best nature.
The prayer of Jesus Christ drew on the mightiest forces of His being. His prayers were His sacrifices, which He offered before He offered Himself on the cross for the sins of mankind. Prayer-sacrifice is the forerunner and pledge of self-sacrifice. We must die in our closets before we can die on the cross. (I'M SORRY READ THAT AGAIN WE MUST DIE IN OUR CLOSETS BEFORE WE CAN DIE ON THE CROSS. wow ok rev bounds im listening.
But how do I know that I am praying by the will of God? Every true attempt to pray is in response to the will of God. Bungling it may be and untutored by human teachers, but it is acceptable to God, because it is in obedience to His will. If I will give myself up to the inspiration of the Spirit of God, who commands me to pray, the details and the petitions of that praying will all fall into harmony with the will of Him who wills that I should pray.
Not to be concerned about the answer to prayer is not to pray. What a world of waste there is in praying. What myriads of prayers have been offered for which no answer is returned, no answer longer for, and no answer is expected! We have been nurturing a false faith and hiding the shame of our loss and inability to pray, by the false, comforting plea that God does not answer directly or objectively, but indirectly and subjectively. We have persuaded ourselves that by some kind of hocus-pocus of which we are wholly unconscious in its process and its result, that we have been made better. Conscious that God has not answered us directly, we have solaced ourselves with the delusive unction that God has in some impalpable way and with unknown results, given us something better. Or we have comforted and nurtured our spiritual sloth by saying that it is not God/s will to give it to us. Faith teaches God'/s praying ones that it is God's will to answer prayer. God answers all prayers and every prayer of His true children who truly pray.
...
The emphasis in the Scriptures is always given to the answer to prayer. All things from God are given in answer to prayer. God Himself, His presence, His gifts, and His grace, one and all, are secured by prayer. The medium by which God communicates with men is prayer. The most real thing in prayer, its very essential end, is the answer it secures. The mere repetition of words in prayer, the counting of beads, the multiplying mere words of prayer, as works of supererogation, as if there was virtue in the number of prayers to avail, is a vain delusion, an empty thing, a useless service. Prayer looks directly to securing an answer. This is its design. It has no other end in view.
A young man had been called to the foreign field. He had not been in the habit of preaching, but he knew one thing, how to prevail with God; nd going one day to a friend he said: "I don't see how God can use me on the field. I have no special talent." His friend said: "My brother, God wants men on the field who can pray. There are too many preachers now and too few pray-ers." He went. In his own room in the early dawn a voice was heard weeping and pleading for souls. All through the day, the shut door and the hush that prevailed made you feel like walking softly, for a soul was wrestling with God.
Yet to this home, hungry souls would flock, drawn by some irresistible power.
Ah, the mystery was unlocked. In the secret chamber lost souls were pleaded for and claimed. The Holy Ghost knew just where they were and sent them along. -J. Hudson Taylor
Some would rule God out of the sad and hard things of life. They tell us that God has nothing to do with certain events which bring such grief to us. They say that God is not in the death of children, that they die from natural causes, and that it is but the working of natural laws.
Let us ask what are nature's law but the laws of God, the laws by which God rules the world? nd what is nature anyway? Who made nature? How great the need to know that God is above nature, is in control of nature, and is in nature? We need to know that nature or natural laws are but the servants of almighty God who made these laws and that He is directly in them, and they are but the divine servants to carry out God's gracious designs, and are made to execute His gracious purposes. The God of providence, the God to whom the Christians pray, and the God who interposes in behalf of the children of men for their good, is above nature, in perfect and absolute control of all that belongs to nature. And no law of nature can crush the life out of even a child without God giving His consent, and without such a sad event occurring directly under His all-seeing eye, and without His being immediately present.
March 5, 2011
Excellent book on developing a prayer life. Very challenging - in a good way!
December 25, 2020
3.5 stars. Bounds' best subject is prayer and you will find much to make you meditate on with these selected works. His writing though, simple, is sometimes all over the place. Sometimes he sounds poetic and other times, terribly repetitive. Some chapters I was able to read without a problem and others I had to drag myself through. Regardless, what he has to say is convicting and powerful and would still recommend.
Chapter 4 on Prayer and Devotion was my favorite.
Favorite quotes:
"Prayer without fervor is a sun without light or heat, or as a flower without beauty or fragrance. A soul devoted to God is a fervent soul, and prayer is the creature of that flame. He can only pray who is all aglow for holiness, for God and for heaven."
"Activity is not strength. Work is not zeal. Moving about is not devotion. Activity often is the unrecognized symptom of spiritual weakness."
Chapter 4 on Prayer and Devotion was my favorite.
Favorite quotes:
"Prayer without fervor is a sun without light or heat, or as a flower without beauty or fragrance. A soul devoted to God is a fervent soul, and prayer is the creature of that flame. He can only pray who is all aglow for holiness, for God and for heaven."
"Activity is not strength. Work is not zeal. Moving about is not devotion. Activity often is the unrecognized symptom of spiritual weakness."
January 7, 2021
A really great book on the why, how, and when of Prayer. The book is a collection of various writings of the theologian on the topic. The language can get a bit wordy and grand, but not so much that you can't understand the points he is making.
August 20, 2025
Maravilloso y desafiante libros acerca de la necesidad de orar 🙏
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews