A prayer by a Puritan, from the book “The Valley of Vision”
Lord Jesus, give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin, a dread of its approach. Help me chastely to flee it and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be Thine alone.
Give me a deeper trust, that I may lose myself to find myself in Thee, the ground of my rest, the spring of my being. Give me a deeper knowledge of Thyself as saviour, master, lord, and king. Give me deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in Thy Word, more steadfast grip on its truth. Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, and let me not seek moral virtue apart from Thee.
Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly husbandman, that my being may be a tilled field, the roots of grace spreading far and wide, until Thou alone art seen in me, Thy beauty golden like summer harvest, Thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.
I have no master but Thee, no law but Thy will, no delight but Thyself, no wealth but that Thou givest, no good but that Thou blessest, no peace but that Thou bestowest. I am nothing but that Thou makest me. I have nothing but that I receive from Thee. I can be nothing but that grace adorns me. Quarry me deep, dear Lord, and then fill me to overflowing with living water.
I love the prayers of the Puritans. They are like old hymns. The words of the old hymns are always very meaningful and profound, so sincere. It’s very easy to repeat the kind of prayer we hear at church and the words we grew up with. For some of us our prayers are empty of all sincerity and are just the same words repeated again and again. I’m not thinking much about the fact that lots of people tend to use the words “God” and “Lord” so many times when they pray that kids who are bored in prayer meetings have fun counting “how many times Mrs White said ‘Lord’ while praying”, but I’m more thinking about generally praying the same words every time we pray. It might be at mealtime or when asked to pray at the offering time at church or in a prayer meeting for someone. It seems that a lot of our prayers are without much depth. But even as I write these words, I confess that I pray very simply and probably with the same type of prayer, and attitude all the time or so. I’m not saying that being simple in our prayers is wrong. I believe God delights in the prayers of children who do not use big words and theology to pray. I think what we might be lacking is sincerity. It doesn’t really matter the words we use, but rather the attitude of our hearts. And I think that often our prayers are so usual and lacking reality because we are not diligent in seeking Jesus our Master everyday through meditation on His Word and praying more. If you have a discerning spirit, you can know a whole lot by simply listening to the prayers of some people because usually it is obvious when someone has a real, day-to-day relationship with Jesus. Although, many people pray as hypocrites and like to use nice prayers to impress the world around them. Anyways. I should go back to where I first started: I love old hymns, I love the prayers of the Puritans. I would like to pray to our God like them. I memorized one of their prayers and, it’s been good to pray these words at the end of my day at work when I’m locking up by myself, or when I go to bed. At first it seems to be pointless since you memorize someone else’s prayer to God, but when you know it well and you believe in what you say, man, it’s sweet to the soul and it gives us a greater appreciation for what God has done and who He is and so much more. Even, just reading these prayers to God and making them our own challenges us and I think God delights in hearing such devotion from His children (when it comes from their hearts). Just think of the book of Psalms. These Psalms were written as a hymn book / prayer book for king David and the other writers and the people of Israel. People used these prayers, sang these songs to God. I once had a notebook where I wrote down different passages from the Bible and I would pray them to God. It’s a neat thing to do, I can’t really explain. It teaches me, encourages me, it humbles me, I believe God loves to hear his children praying His Word, since His Word is always according to His will. I need to do that more.
PS: RAY, thank you for your comment, I have indeed been reading through prayers of the Puritans and the lives of some of them. I wrote this blog even before reading your comment. Is that interesting hey.
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