The Necessity of Prayer: A Christian Classic by Edward McKendree (E. M.) Bounds - Softcover

“The Necessity of Prayer” is one of the greatest works of a truly profound author. This volume challenges mediocrity in the Christian life at its very core. The reader will come away from it with the certainty that he has sat at the feet of one who has frequented the very throne of God. The reader will also sense a Divine pull on the deepest recesses of his heart, as the author describes the kind of intimacy with God we all long for. The one who wishes to remain stagnant amidst religious ritual should stay away from this potent medicine, but the one who wishes to remember why we pursue the life we do and longs to regain the heavenly perspective will find a strong welcome antidote against mediocrity and earth-mindedness.

Edward McKendree (E. M.) Bounds, a Methodist minister and devotional writer, born in Shelby County, Missouri in 1835. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one years. After practicing law for three years, Bounds began preaching for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. At the time of his pastorate at Brunswick, Missouri, war was declared, and he was made a prisoner of war for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government. After release he served as chaplain of the Fifth Missouri regiment [for the Confederate Army] until the close of the war. At that time he was captured and held as prisoner at Nashville, Tennessee. After the war ended, Bounds served as pastor of churches in Tennessee, Alabama, and St. Louis, Missouri. He spent the last seventeen years of his life with his family in Washington, Georgia, writing his 'Spiritual Life Books.'