A Prayer from a Preacher's Study

Gracious God, grant please,

as E. M. Bounds wrote,
that prayer in my life,
in my study,
in my preaching,
would be a conspicuous

and all-impregnating force
and an all-coloring ingredient.
Let it play no secondary part,
be no mere coating.
Train me in self-denying prayer,
and make of my study
a closet,
a Bethel,
an altar,
a vision,
and a ladder,
that every thought might ascend heavenward
before it goes manward,
that every part of my preaching
might be scented by the air of heaven
and made serious,
because you were there, in the study,
in Jesus' name, amen.

(from Power Through Prayer, chapter 5)