We Need Men; Mighty Men

E. M. Bounds teaches deeply on the place and power of prayer in the life of Jesus' followers. But when he turns to speak of the need for men, godly and mighty men, men of prayer, his words are convicting and challenging. Our world wants novel teaching and new methods when we can little improve on God's methods and power.

In his work Power Through Prayer, Bounds writes the following words. I pray God will make me a man of God...a mighty man...a man 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 [Spirit] can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy [Spirit] 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" (p.7).

One of my professors and mentors, Dr. Alvin Reid, often speaks of the blight in the church when it comes to godly men. In fact, he has often said that too many boys grow old but never grow up. They are, as he calls them, Bans. They are half boy and half man. Until God-called men, like myself, devote themselves to growing in godliness and being mighty in prayer, the message of Christ will lack power. Bounds goes on to pointedly say:

"The man makes the preacher. God must make the man. The messenger is, if possible more than the message. The preacher is more than the sermon. The preacher makes the sermon...The man, the whole man, lies behind the sermon. Preaching is not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow of a life. It takes twenty years to make a sermon, because it takes twenty years to make the man. the true sermon is a thing of life. The sermon grows because the man grows. The sermon is forceful because the man is forceful. The sermon is holy because the man is holy. The sermon is full of divine unction because the man is full of divine unction" (p.8).

May we strive to be God-made men, holy and acceptable to Him. May we strive to be men of prayer. May we strive to lead our boys and young men to be all that God intended by His grace and Spirit.