E. M. Bounds Quotes on Prayer, Holiness and Heaven, with Sources
E. M. Bounds wrote about prayer in short, hammered sentences. He liked to say one thing three ways, and he liked to end a paragraph with a line you can't forget. That's why preachers have quoted him for a hundred years.
Most of the Bounds lines you see online come from Power Through Prayer and Purpose in Prayer, and we've gathered those on their own pages: Power Through Prayer quotes and Purpose in Prayer quotes. This page goes wider. It draws on the rest of his books: The Reality of Prayer, The Essentials of Prayer, Prayer and Praying Men, The Possibilities of Prayer, and his books on heaven, Satan and the resurrection, plus a few lines from the two famous books that aren't on those pages. Every quotation is copied word for word from the book, with its chapter. For his life, see who was E. M. Bounds. For a guide to all ten books, see E. M. Bounds books.
What prayer is
Bounds didn't define prayer once and move on. He kept finding new pictures for it.
Prayer is the outstretched arms of the child for the Father's help.
The Reality of Prayer, chapter 2
In prayer, God stoops to kiss man, to bless man, and to aid man in everything that God can devise or man can need.
The Reality of Prayer, chapter 2
Prayer is the hand of faith stretched out to receive.
The Possibilities of Prayer, chapter 4
Prayer is the lungs through which holiness breathes.
The Possibilities of Prayer, chapter 4
Praying is the best school in which to learn to pray, prayer the best dictionary to define the art and nature of praying.
The Reality of Prayer, chapter 2
God works through prayer
His great conviction was that God has chosen to do His work in answer to the prayers of His people.
God does His best work for the world through prayer.
The Reality of Prayer, chapter 4
Almighty God commands prayer, God waits on prayer to order His ways, and God delights in prayer.
The Reality of Prayer, chapter 4
God's purposes move along the pathway made by prayer to their glorious designs.
The Reality of Prayer, chapter 4
Prayer puts God in full force in the world.
Purpose in Prayer, Chapter I
It is a wonderful historical fact that the men of prayer have always been the men of power in the world.
Prayer and Praying Men, chapter 10
The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from praying.
The Possibilities of Prayer, chapter 6
Praying with the whole heart
The first chapters of The Essentials of Prayer ask what kind of person can really pray.
It is intense and profound business which deals with God and His plans and purposes, and it takes whole-hearted men to do it.
The Essentials of Prayer, chapter 1
No half-hearted, half-brained, half-spirited effort will do for this serious, all-important, heavenly business.
The Essentials of Prayer, chapter 1
Prayer has no beginning, no ending, no being, without humility.
The Essentials of Prayer, chapter 2
To be clothed with humility is to be clothed with a praying garment.
The Essentials of Prayer, chapter 2
Prayer without fervour is as a sun without light or heat, or as a flower without beauty or fragrance.
The Essentials of Prayer, chapter 3
Prayer in trouble
Bounds was wounded and taken prisoner in the Civil War, and years later he buried his first wife. He wrote about trouble as a man who had known it.
God's hand is in every trouble which breaks into the lives of men.
The Essentials of Prayer, chapter 5
Prayer enables us to see wise ends in trouble.
The Essentials of Prayer, chapter 5
The same sun softens the wax and hardens the clay.
The Essentials of Prayer, chapter 5
Prayer and a holy life
For Bounds, a praying life and a holy life were the same life. You couldn't have one without the other.
No prayerless man ever conceives the idea of a full consecration.
The Essentials of Prayer, chapter 8
The law of consecration is the law of prayer.
The Essentials of Prayer, chapter 8
Prayer must either reign in the life or must abdicate.
Prayer and Praying Men, chapter 12
The best way to fight against sin is to fight it on our knees.
Purpose in Prayer, Chapter I
He who does not put God by prayer in his struggling toil for daily bread will never put Him in his struggle for heaven.
The Possibilities of Prayer, chapter 6
Praying for others
Prayer is natural and almost spontaneous when compassion is begotten in the heart.
The Essentials of Prayer, chapter 10
The saints can help the saints more by fervent praying than in any other way.
Prayer and Praying Men, chapter 15
Jesus, the man of prayer
The Reality of Prayer studies the prayers of Christ, and these lines sum up where it leads.
The man of prayer by pre-eminence was Jesus Christ.
The Reality of Prayer, chapter 7
When we see how the life of Jesus was but one of prayer, then we must conclude that to be like Jesus is to pray like Jesus and is to live like Jesus.
The Reality of Prayer, chapter 7
To preachers
A few more lines from Power Through Prayer, his book for ministers, beyond the ones on our Power Through Prayer quotes page.
The preaching man is to be the praying man.
Power Through Prayer, Chapter I
Prayer—secret, fervent, believing prayer—lies at the root of all personal godliness.
Power Through Prayer, Chapter IV
The character of our praying will determine the character of our preaching.
Power Through Prayer, Chapter IV
On the devil
His book on Satan is a sober study, and it keeps pointing the believer back to watchfulness and prayer.
The devil's great device, his masterpiece of temptation, is to destroy faith in his own existence.
Satan: His Personality, Power and Overthrow, chapter XII, Exposed Positions
The devil may tempt us to think too meanly of ourselves as Moses did, and too highly of ourselves as Peter did.
Satan: His Personality, Power and Overthrow, chapter 12
On heaven and the resurrection
Bounds also wrote on heaven and the resurrection, and he wrote as a man looking home.
To see God — that is heaven, the highest heaven, heaven to all eternity.
Heaven: A Place, a City, a Home, chapter 1
Heaven will give us fullest possession of God, and heaven will give God the fullest possession of us
Heaven: A Place, a City, a Home, chapter 7
Our bodies are God's work, God's workmanship, God's temple, God's property.
The Ineffable Glory, chapter 18
Where to read more Bounds
If you're new to him, start with Power Through Prayer, then read The Reality of Prayer, where many of the lines above come from, to learn prayer from the life of Jesus. For the practical side, The Essentials of Prayer takes one subject per chapter and works well in a small group. You'll find more of his teaching in what Bounds says about importunate prayer and Men Are God's Method. All ten of his books are on the E. M. Bounds author page.