Edward Mckendree Bounds Quotes

Powerful Edward Mckendree Bounds for Daily Growth

About Edward Mckendree Bounds

Edward McKendree Bounds (1835-1923) was an influential American Methodist pastor, writer, and theologian known for his profound insights on prayer and the spiritual life. Born in Monroe County, Indiana on February 17, 1835, Bounds showed early promise as a scholar, attending Franklin College before going on to study theology at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. Bounds began his ministerial career in 1859 and would serve various Methodist churches throughout his long life. His ministry was marked by an exceptional dedication to prayer, fasting, and personal piety, which he believed were essential for spiritual growth and effective pastoral work. In 1873, Bounds became the pastor of Centenary Methodist Church in New York City, where he remained until his retirement in 1904. It was during this time that he authored some of his most significant works. His seminal book, "Prayer: Its Nature, Power, and Essence," published in 1893, became a classic in Christian literature and continues to be widely read today. In it, Bounds explores the depths of prayer, its power, and its role in the spiritual life. Bounds also wrote "The Power of Prayer and the Sovereignty of God," which delves into the interplay between human prayer and divine sovereignty. Other significant works by Bounds include "The Ministry of Intercession" and "The Complete Work of Christ." Bounds' influence extended beyond his written works. He was a sought-after speaker, delivering sermons that were both passionate and intellectually rigorous. His emphasis on personal piety and the importance of prayer resonated with many in the Methodist tradition and beyond. Edward McKendree Bounds passed away on December 16, 1923, leaving behind a rich legacy of spiritual insight and inspiration. His works continue to inspire and challenge readers seeking a deeper understanding of prayer and the Christian life.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."

This quote emphasizes that big tasks or goals can seem overwhelming, but progress is made by taking small, manageable steps. It suggests that instead of staring at the enormity of a mountain, one should focus on gathering and removing small stones, symbolizing that each small action brings us closer to our ultimate goal. The wisdom lies in understanding that every effort counts and that significant changes come from consistent and persistent small actions over time.


"To be alone with God is the happiest state in which a Christian can possibly be."

This quote suggests that solitude or aloneness with God brings the highest joy for a Christian. It implies that in moments of quiet introspection, prayer, reflection, and meditation, a person can achieve an unparalleled sense of peace and happiness when connecting directly with their faith. This state allows one to focus on their relationship with God, nurturing spiritual growth and deepening understanding of one's personal beliefs.


"It is easier to pray for others than it is to pray for self, but none can truly bless others until they first bless God."

This quote emphasizes that true compassion and blessing towards others is rooted in a deep connection with God. It suggests that one cannot authentically offer blessings to others unless they first cultivate a strong relationship with the divine, through prayer and self-reflection. In other words, it's essential to prioritize our spiritual well-being in order to genuinely uplift and support those around us.


"Preaching is not merely instructing or persuading; it is inviting and bringing men to God."

The quote emphasizes that preaching is not just about imparting knowledge or convincing people, but rather it's a call to action, an invitation for individuals to have a personal encounter with God. In this context, preaching serves as a bridge between the sermon and the divine, encouraging and facilitating spiritual connection and growth.


"If the pulpit is filled with men who are more anxious to be popular than to be holy, who seek to win the applause of men rather than the favor of God, and who are more solicitous for worldly advantage than they are for heavenly worth, it will not take long until we hear the words: 'Depart from me; I never knew you.'"

This quote emphasizes the importance of personal holiness and a deep, sincere relationship with God for ministers and spiritual leaders. Bounds warns against the danger of prioritizing human approval or worldly gain over seeking divine favor, which can lead to a shallow faith and disconnection from God. He suggests that such compromise in ministry will ultimately result in an individual being rejected by God. In essence, he's saying that authentic leadership requires a focus on holiness rather than popularity, and a genuine pursuit of God's favor over human applause or temporal success.


Preaching is God's great institution for the planting and maturing of spiritual life. When properly executed, its benefits are untold; when wrongly executed, no evil can exceed its damaging results.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Benefits, Spiritual Life, Executed

It must never be forgotten that Almighty God rules this world. He is not an absentee God.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

World, Never, Almighty, Almighty God

Men of prayer, before anything else, are indispensable to the furtherance of the kingdom of God on earth. No other sort will fit in the scheme or do the deed. Men, great and influential in other things but small in prayer, cannot do the work Almighty God has set out for His Church to do in this, His world.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Small, Other, Scheme, Almighty God

The houses of Heaven are God-built and are as enduring and incorruptible as their builder. We will have bodies after the resurrection; transfigured they will be after the model of Christ's glorious body.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Will, Christ, Enduring, Resurrection

Christianity is not rationalism, but faith in God's revelation. A conspicuous, all-important item in that revelation is the resurrection of the body.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Faith, Christianity, Item, Rationalism

Prayer is a specific divine appointment, an ordinance of Heaven, whereby God purposes to carry out His gracious designs on earth and to execute and make efficient the plan of salvation.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Salvation, Efficient, Appointment

Woe to the generation of sons who find their censers empty of the rich incense of prayer, whose fathers have been too busy or too unbelieving to pray, and perils inexpressible and consequences untold are their unhappy heritage.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Pray, Been, Fathers, Woe

The glorified will not be pilgrims, transient visitors, or tenants at will, but settled, permanent, walled, established by title, through eternity by warrantee deed, signed, sealed, recorded, possession given. No renters, no lessees of Heaven, but all property and home owners.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Through, Possession, Owners, Transient

The men to whom Jesus Christ committed the fortunes and destiny of His Church were men of prayer. To no other kind of men has God ever committed Himself in this world.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Destiny, Other, Committed, Fortunes

The character as well as the fortunes of the gospel is committed to the preacher. He makes or mars the message from God to man. The preacher is the golden pipe through which the divine oil flows.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Through, Committed, Which, Fortunes

In all God's plans for human redemption, He proposes that men pray. The men are to pray in every place, in the church, in the closet, in the home, on sacred days and on secular days.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Church, Pray, Closet, Proposes

The preachers who gain mighty results for God are the men who have prevailed in their pleadings with God ere venturing to plead with men.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Gain, Prevailed, Plead, Preachers

Prayer must be broad in its scope - it must plead for others. Intercession for others is the hallmark of all true prayer. When prayer is confined to self and to the sphere of one's personal needs, it dies by reason of its littleness, narrowness and selfishness.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Reason, Needs, Hallmark, Plead

The Scriptures bear ample and continuous evidence that the faith of the resurrection of the body lies in the faith that Jesus Christ died and rose again.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Christ, Evidence, Again, Scriptures

Every preacher who does not make prayer a mighty factor in his own life and ministry is weak as a factor in God's work and is powerless to project God's cause in this world.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Work, Project, Own, Powerless

The most casual reader of the New Testament can scarcely fail to see the commanding position the resurrection of Christ holds in Christianity. It is the creator of its new and brighter hopes, of its richer and stronger faith, of its deeper and more exalted experience.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Faith, Christianity, Reader, Richer

We are feeble, weak and impoverished because of our failure to pray. God is restrained in doing because we are restrained by reason of our non-praying. All failures in securing heaven are traceable to lack of prayer or misdirected petition.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Doing, Reason, Failures, Restrained

The preacher's sharpest and strongest preaching should be to himself. His most difficult, delicate, laborious, and thorough work must be with himself.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Work, Delicate, Laborious, Sharpest

Prayer lays hold upon God and influences Him to work. This is the meaning of prayer as it concerns God. This is the doctrine of prayer, or else there is nothing whatever in prayer.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Work, Nothing, Concerns, Meaning Of

If prayer puts God to work on earth, then, by the same token, prayerlessness rules God out of the world's affairs and prevents Him from working.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Work, Rules, Prevents, Affairs

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.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Through, Holy, Methods, Holy Ghost

Prayer concerns God, whose purposes and plans are conditioned on prayer. His will and His glory are bound up in praying.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Will, Bound, Concerns, Conditioned

Praying men are God's agents on earth, the representative of government of Heaven, set to a specific task on the earth.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Government, Task, Set, Agents

The resurrection of Jesus Christ was necessary to establish the truth of his mission and put the stamp of all-conquering power on his gospel.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Christ, Necessary, Stamp, Establish

Faith can make no appeal to reason or the fitness of things; its appeal is to the Word of God, and whatever is therein revealed, faith accepts as true.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Reason, Accepts, Therein, Revealed

The life-giving preacher is a man of God, whose heart is ever athirst for God, whose soul is ever following hard after God, whose eye is single to God, and in whom by the power of God's Spirit the flesh and the world have been crucified, and his ministry is like the generous flood of a life-giving river.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Soul, World, Been, Flesh

A denial of the reality of demonical possessions on the part of anyone who believes the Gospel narrative to be true and inspired may justly be regarded as simply and plainly inconceivable.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Denial, May, Inconceivable, Justly

The strong argument for Heaven as a place centers in and clusters about Jesus. The man Jesus, bearing a man's form, the body He wore on earth, has a place assigned Him - a high place.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Strong, Argument, Bearing, Centers

Preaching is not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow of a life. It takes twenty years to make a sermon because it takes twenty years to make the man. The true sermon is a thing of life. The sermon grows because the man grows.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Life, Preaching, Grows, Twenty

Leaders in the realm of religious activity are to be judged by their praying habits and not by their money or social position. Those who must be placed in the forefront of the Church's business must be, first of all, men who know how to pray.

- Edward McKendree Bounds

Habits, Religious, Placed, First Of All

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