*Discussion Board post for my seminary class on Systematic Theology<\/p>\n
In The Necessity of Prayer<\/em>, E.M. Bounds thoroughly expounds on the role of prayer in the life of a Christian.\u00a0 He uses fourteen chapters to cover eleven main topics: faith, trust, desire, fervency, importunity, character, conduct, obedience, vigilance, the Word of God, and the House of God.\u00a0 Several of my classmates have written a good bit about the role of desire in prayer.\u00a0 I was really challenged by the portion that Bounds spent on character and conduct in chapter eight.<\/p>\n The preface noted that Bounds woke up at 4am to pray and therefore had a unique perspective on the power of prayer.\u00a0 I wish I could say that I was that disciplined. I am reminded of the way that prayer shapes our character in my personal study of Joseph in the book of Genesis.\u00a0 There were so many times that Joseph could have taken the easy way out and gone against God, but instead, he clung to God and honored Him and in the end, God honored Joseph by giving him amazing opportunities to lead.\u00a0 His entire life was a picture of God at work through forgiveness and integrity.\u00a0 Joseph\u2019s character and conduct honored God because he spent time with God.<\/p>\n Bounds makes the point that \u201cprayer helps to establish character and fashion conduct.\u201d\u00a0 How are we to become more Christlike unless we spend focused time in prayer molding our character?\u00a0 The time we spend in the refiner\u2019s fire will mold us and shape us into the person that can be the most usable by God.<\/p>\n I am reminded of something I read in Bill Hybels\u2019 book Too Busy Not to Pray<\/em>.\u00a0 Hybels talks about the fact that prayer isn\u2019t something you can learn at a conference or truly understand by reading a book about it.\u00a0 Prayer is something you must be driven to.\u00a0 That is the point that Bounds is making about character.\u00a0 On our own, we will always make poor character choices and suffer the consequences.\u00a0 Once a person has been burned a few times, it will become a little easier to humble yourself to pray and ask God to work in your life.<\/p>\n James 4:8-10 speaks specifically to the idea of building character through prayer and abiding in Christ, \u201c8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.\u201d\u00a0 There isn\u2019t anything exciting about the process described in this passage except for the product that is promised if you follow the instructions.<\/p>\n The entire premise of Christianity is based on turning away from sin and turning towards Christ.\u00a0 In order for us to truly have victory over the sins that creep up in our lives, we must spend time abiding in Christ through prayer and study.\u00a0 Bounds credits prayer as the reason for supernatural change in a person’s character.\u00a0 Prayer is the catalyst that \u201cestablishes our character and fashions our conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" *Discussion Board post for my seminary class on Systematic Theology In The Necessity of Prayer, E.M. Bounds thoroughly expounds on the role of prayer in the life of a Christian.\u00a0 He uses fourteen chapters to cover eleven main topics: faith, trust, desire, fervency, importunity, character, conduct, obedience, vigilance, the Word of God, and the House […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}