Monday; January 6
I
had never heard of E. M. Bounds until I came across a quote of his a few days
ago. I still don’t know much about him,
but the little I do know, it appears that he lived an interesting life during
the latter part of the 19th Century and the beginning of the
1900s. While I won’t go into the details
of his life, I do want to share his insight ... actually two quotes that are attributed
to his book, “Power Through Prayer”. The
first is, “The church is looking for better methods – God is looking for better
men.” The second tends to expound on
this thought, “What the Church
needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and
novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use – men of prayer, men mighty
in prayer. The Holy Ghost 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.”
Having been associated with church
work throughout most of the last four decades I have found myself searching for
or being taught about the latest and greatest ways of evangelism and/or
outreach. We keep reasoning, if we can
just come up with the right program, we can turn our church (and, hence, our
world) around. Yet, the truth of the
matter is that programs don’t change people – committed people change
people. Sure, tools can be beneficial,
but the tool is only as good as its operator.
When Jesus came to change the world,
He didn’t bring with Him a new outreach method, He brought a simple message, “But seek first His kingdom and
His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew
6:33). Are we willing to become people
of prayer, service and obedience? When
we do that, just about any method will work.
Think About It!