E.M. Bounds wrote, “The Weapon of Prayer,” in the 1800s. He wrote in part:

“It must never be forgotten that Almighty God rules this world. He is not an absentee God. His hand is every on the throttle of human affairs. He is everywhere present in the concerns of time. His eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men. He rules the world just as He rules the Church by prayer…Nothing is more important to God than prayer in dealing with mankind. But it is likewise all-important to man to pray. Failure to pray is failure along the whole line of life. It is failure of duty, service, and spiritual progress. God must help man by prayer. He who does not pray, therefore, robs himself of God’s help and places God where He cannot help man.”

Prayer believes that God is who He says He is. Prayer expresses belief in the character and nature of God as revealed in His Word.

Prayer believes that God cares. Prayer is an act of faith in which we express our belief that God cares about every area of our lives.

Prayer believes that God is able. Prayer focuses in particular on the gap between what we can do and what God can do and trusts in Him to fulfill His promises.

Failure to pray, is a failure of obedience. It is how God has ordered the spiritual economy, for us to pray in our relationship with Him.

Failure to pray, is a failure of self-sufficiency. In a sense it is functional atheism because not praying says to God that we do not need Him.

Failure to pray, is a failure of faith. Are we not praying because we do not really believe in the power of prayer? What limits us from accepting the invitation to come before the throne of God in prayer?

Bounds wrote, “Prayer is an absolute necessity to the proper carrying on of God’s work. God has made it so.”

Mark 11:24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.