'Nothing distinguishes the children of God so clearly and strongly as prayer. It is the one infallible mark and test of being a Christian. Christian people are prayerful, the worldly minded, prayerless. Christians call on God; worldlings ignore God, and call not on His Name. But even the Christian had need to cultivate continual prayer. Prayer must be habitual, but much more than a habit. It is duty, yet one which rises far above, and goes beyond the ordinary implications of the term. It is the EXPRESSION OF A RELATION TO GOD, A YEARNING FOR DIVINE COMMUNION. It is the outward and upward flow of the inward life toward its original fountain. It is an assertion of the soul's paternity, a claiming of the sonship, which links man to the Eternal. Prayer has everything to do with moulding the soul into the image of God, and has everything to do with enhancing and enlarging the measure of Divine grace. It has everything to do with bringing the soul into complete communion with God. It has everything to do with enriching, broadening and maturing the soul's experience of God. That man cannot possibly be called a Christian, who does not pray. By no possible pretext can he claim any right to the term, nor its implied significance. If he does not pray, he is a sinner, pure and simple, for prayer is the only way in which the soul of man can enter into fellowship and communion with the Source of all Christlike spirit and energy. Hence, if he pray not, he is not of the household of faith. '
Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 27)
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Is this truth, what E.M. Bounds writes? Is it? Can we be Christ's without communication with Him?
I can believe people exist without ever communicating with them. I may communicate once a year with someone and that's it, I know they exist and are available for communication if I choose to initiate it, or they choose to do so. However, are they truly an ACTIVE part of my life if I'm not communicating with them? Yes, we may always be related to some of those people we only talk to once every five years and nothing dissolves that blood relation, nothing dissolves the idea of the friendship that was maybe more profound at another juncture in our lives, but lack of communication hinders a GROWING closer, a deepening of the relationship. In fact isn't it true some friendships are mere ghosts of the past? While you have the past to bring back to life through the memories you can stop knowing someone really knowing them as the years pass and you no longer communicate with them. People change, they are no longer the same drinking buddy, or giggly goof-ball, the teasing playful childish behavior may have altered into a mature amusement, but our memories retain what someone once was. We can laugh about someone being the same as ever, and truthfully this is possible, some people never mature but retain a lot of the visages of their childhood, their teenage years, refusing to give them up for a more serious maturity, enjoying their own immaturity and labeling it 'just who they are'. Still, time that passes when you are not communicating with someone from the past causes a lot of empty slots where life events occur they know nothing about and therefore no longer truly KNOW you. They know the past you, not the present you. And if we want a living, breathing relationship with Christ as our active, daily Savior, we MUST remain in communication with Him, constant communication. To think we don't need daily forgiveness, is to believe falsely! The sins remain upon us if we are not in daily communication with God!
What did E.M. Bounds write-- ' It is the EXPRESSION OF A RELATION TO GOD, A YEARNING FOR DIVINE COMMUNION'
A yearning for DIVINE communion! The expression of a RELATION to GOD! If God is our everything can we truly believe we have no need of constant prayer with Him, no need of constant communication?
'It is an assertion of the soul's paternity, a claiming of the sonship, which links man to the Eternal'
The soul's PATERNITY! He is OUR HEAVENLY FATHER! And this is something we need to acknowledge daily! He isn't our physical father who in a lot of cases and for many reasons can not be a part of our lives, but He is our HEAVENLY FATHER who is available to us all, and always through every step of our lives! Through the good and the bad, through all the ups and all the downs, our HEAVENLY FATHER is there for us to communicate with! We are the SONS and DAUGHTERS of GOD! We are truly LINKED to the ETERNAL! If we believe this then we live this! We live our lives knowing our Heavenly Father is our ALL in ALL!
To choose to pray only once a week, or once a year, or once in a lifetime is to choose to fail to recognize God as truly Your Heavenly Father who you need daily, hourly, minutely, always and forever! To choose and fail to recognize your need is to rely upon self. Is it any wonder we are to pray always? This is the recognition of God in all, and ourselves submitted to Him.
PLEASE LORD, help us to pray always, knowing YOU are ALL things and we are but Your creations, Your sons, Your daughters in need of YOU always, constantly. Help us to pray always in YOU!
By YOUR love, grace, mercy!
Truly to be a Christian we must pray always! If we aren't praying always we are not Christ's, how can we be?
Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 27)
*******
Is this truth, what E.M. Bounds writes? Is it? Can we be Christ's without communication with Him?
I can believe people exist without ever communicating with them. I may communicate once a year with someone and that's it, I know they exist and are available for communication if I choose to initiate it, or they choose to do so. However, are they truly an ACTIVE part of my life if I'm not communicating with them? Yes, we may always be related to some of those people we only talk to once every five years and nothing dissolves that blood relation, nothing dissolves the idea of the friendship that was maybe more profound at another juncture in our lives, but lack of communication hinders a GROWING closer, a deepening of the relationship. In fact isn't it true some friendships are mere ghosts of the past? While you have the past to bring back to life through the memories you can stop knowing someone really knowing them as the years pass and you no longer communicate with them. People change, they are no longer the same drinking buddy, or giggly goof-ball, the teasing playful childish behavior may have altered into a mature amusement, but our memories retain what someone once was. We can laugh about someone being the same as ever, and truthfully this is possible, some people never mature but retain a lot of the visages of their childhood, their teenage years, refusing to give them up for a more serious maturity, enjoying their own immaturity and labeling it 'just who they are'. Still, time that passes when you are not communicating with someone from the past causes a lot of empty slots where life events occur they know nothing about and therefore no longer truly KNOW you. They know the past you, not the present you. And if we want a living, breathing relationship with Christ as our active, daily Savior, we MUST remain in communication with Him, constant communication. To think we don't need daily forgiveness, is to believe falsely! The sins remain upon us if we are not in daily communication with God!
What did E.M. Bounds write-- ' It is the EXPRESSION OF A RELATION TO GOD, A YEARNING FOR DIVINE COMMUNION'
A yearning for DIVINE communion! The expression of a RELATION to GOD! If God is our everything can we truly believe we have no need of constant prayer with Him, no need of constant communication?
'It is an assertion of the soul's paternity, a claiming of the sonship, which links man to the Eternal'
The soul's PATERNITY! He is OUR HEAVENLY FATHER! And this is something we need to acknowledge daily! He isn't our physical father who in a lot of cases and for many reasons can not be a part of our lives, but He is our HEAVENLY FATHER who is available to us all, and always through every step of our lives! Through the good and the bad, through all the ups and all the downs, our HEAVENLY FATHER is there for us to communicate with! We are the SONS and DAUGHTERS of GOD! We are truly LINKED to the ETERNAL! If we believe this then we live this! We live our lives knowing our Heavenly Father is our ALL in ALL!
To choose to pray only once a week, or once a year, or once in a lifetime is to choose to fail to recognize God as truly Your Heavenly Father who you need daily, hourly, minutely, always and forever! To choose and fail to recognize your need is to rely upon self. Is it any wonder we are to pray always? This is the recognition of God in all, and ourselves submitted to Him.
PLEASE LORD, help us to pray always, knowing YOU are ALL things and we are but Your creations, Your sons, Your daughters in need of YOU always, constantly. Help us to pray always in YOU!
By YOUR love, grace, mercy!
Truly to be a Christian we must pray always! If we aren't praying always we are not Christ's, how can we be?
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