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From Power Through Prayer by E. M. Bounds

“I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o’clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched system. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: ‘Early will I seek thee’; ‘Thou shalt early hear my voice.’ Family prayer loses much of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those who come to seek from me. The conscience feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then when in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune, I feel it is far better to begin with God — to see his face first, to get my soul near him before it is near another.” – Robert Murray McCheyne

THE men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, he will be in the last place the remainder of the day.

Behind this early rising and early praying is the ardent desire which presses us into this pursuit after God. Morning listlessness is the index to a listless heart. The heart which is behindhand in seeking God in the morning has lost its relish for God. David’s heart was ardent after God. He hungered and thirsted after God, and so he sought God early, before daylight. The bed and sleep could not chain his soul in its eagerness after God. Christ longed for communion with God; and so, rising a great while before day, he would go out into the mountain to pray. The disciples, when fully awake and ashamed of their indulgence, would know where to find him. We might go through the list of men who have mightily impressed the world for God, and we would find them early after God.

A desire for God which cannot break the chains of sleep is a weak thing and will do but little good for God after it has indulged itself fully. The desire for God that keeps so far behind the devil and the world at the beginning of the day will never catch up.

It is not simply the getting up that puts men to the front and makes them captain generals in God’s hosts, but it is the ardent desire which stirs and breaks all self-indulgent chains. But the getting up gives vent, increase, and strength to the desire. If they had lain in bed and indulged themselves, the desire would have been quenched. The desire aroused them and put them on the stretch for God, and this heeding and acting on the call gave their faith its grasp on God and gave to their hearts the sweetest and fullest revelation of God, and this strength of faith and fullness of revelation made them saints by eminence, and the halo of their sainthood has come down to us, and we have entered on the enjoyment of their conquests. But we take our fill in enjoyment, and not in productions. We build their tombs and write their epitaphs, but are careful not to follow their examples.

We need a generation of preachers who seek God and seek him early, who give the freshness and dew of effort to God, and secure in return the freshness and fullness of his power that he may be as the dew to them, full of gladness and strength, through all the heat and labor of the day. Our laziness after God is our crying sin. The children of this world are far wiser than we. They are at it early and late. We do not seek God with ardor and diligence. No man gets God who does not follow hard after him, and no soul follows hard after God who is not after him in early morn.

More from EM Bounds |

Support | STORE | Podcasts | Christology |  Be Ready in the Morning [podcast]The Sure Mercies of David [podcast]That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be Preached [podcast] | At His Feet | Modern ChurchPeace with God

PrayerMaking Peace with God – Before it’s too late | The Return of Christ

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Articles

Laboring Fervently for Christ’s Body [podcast]


“Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. 13  For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis.” Colossians 4:12-13

One source notes:

“Epaphras’ prayer is a powerful New Testament model of intercession found in Colossians 4:12. As the founder of the church in Colossae, Epaphras is described by the Apostle Paul as ‘wrestling’ or ‘laboring earnestly’ in prayer so that his congregation would stand mature, firm, and fully assured in the will of God.”

Jesus Heals the Paralytic Man who was Dropped Down to Him from the Roof

Mark 2

“1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. 

2  And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. 

3  And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. 

4  And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. 

5  When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. 

6  But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 

7  Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? 

8  And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? 

9  Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? 

10  But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) 

11  I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. 

12  And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.” Mark 2:1-12

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Abiding

Abiding Under the Shadow of the Almighty [podcast]


Lord, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. 16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart:  Jeremiah 15:15-16

Dwelling “in the secret place of the most High”

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2  I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.” Psalms 91:1-2

“In the secret place of the Most High – Spoken probably in reference to the Holy of holies. He who enters legitimately there shall be covered with the cloud of God’s glory – the protection of the all-sufficient God. This was the privilege of the high priest only, under the law: but under the new covenant all believers in Christ have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus; and those who thus enter are safe from every evil.” Adam Clarke

“[Psalms] 91:1, 2 Jesus is the One who in a preeminent way dwelt in the secret place of the Most High, and abode under the shadow of the Almighty. There never was a life like His. He lived in absolute, unbroken fellowship with God, His Father. He never acted in self-will but did only those things that the Father directed. Though He was perfect God, He was also perfect Man, and He lived His life on earth in utter and complete dependence on God. Without equivocation He could look up and say, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him I will trust.” Believer’s Bible Commentary

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Abiding

The Warnings of the Book of Jude [podcast]

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