Prayer

There was something else I wanted to mention about the prayer life of the Puritans (see “Praying Like a Puritan,” June 30, 2011 blog). Not only was the content of their prayers biblically rich; so were their salutations.

Here are a few opening addresses from their prayers found in the book, “The Valley of Vision.” It’s best if you read them slowly:

“O God Whose Will Conquers All”; “O Fountain of All Good”; “O Supreme Moving Cause”; “Thou Incomprehensible but Prayer-Hearing God”; “O Lover to the Uttermost”; “Thou Righteous and Holy Sovereign”; “O God of Unsearchable Greatness”; “O God of My Exodus”; “O Savior of Sinners”; “Glorious and Holy God”; “Searcher of Hearts”; “O Changeless God”; “Sovereign Lord”; “O Divine Lawgiver”; “Sovereign Commander of the Universe”; “Thou Great I AM”; “All Sufficient King”; “Lord Jesus, Great High Priest”; “Giver of All”; “Glorious Jehovah, My Covenant God”; “Lord of Immortality”; “O Lover of the Loveless”; “O God of the Open Ear”; “O God of My Delight”; “Thou Great Three-One”; “O God, My Exceeding Joy”; “O Maker and Upholder of All Things”; “Most Holy God”; “Thou Great and Only Potentate”; “King of Glory, Divine Majesty”; “O God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

There certainly isn’t anything wrong with “Dear God”; I’m glad because that’s how most of my prayers begin. But I think the Puritans were on to something. And that something was this; when you start a prayer which acknowledges God’s greatness, or character, or one of His attributes—what follows is more likely to be a prayer which reflects the truth of that salutation.

In other words, when I pray to the “All Omnipotent and Only Sovereign One”; I may do so with more faith—actually believing He is able to help me in my distress. Likewise, prayers addressed to the “Man Upstairs” or to “Yo God” will more than likely reflect those salutations, too: “If you got the time, Big Fella, can you help me out?”

The point is this, why not open our prayers actually acknowledging something true about the One we are about to approach? Why not remind ourselves Who He really is? The point isn’t to impress or sound Ivy League; the point is to focus our heart and mind on our God Who really is the “Great and Mighty One” or “Abba” or “The One Who Knows Me Like No Other.” You get the idea.

How about opening your prayers like a Puritan for awhile? I’m going to. Your and my prayer life is about to get an upgrade.

(Pastor Rich Hamlin is on vacation with his family this week and Lord willing will return next week.)

The Puritans abounded in preachers like Richard Sibbes (1577-1635), Richard Baxter (1615-l691), John Owen (1616-1683), Thomas Watson (d. l686), John Flavel (1627-1691), Jonathan Edwards (1702-1758), and that later Puritan, “prince of preachers,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892). One doesn’t have to read much of their works to notice that prayer was an important element of their ministry–if not the most important. So the question is: “Are you praying for your pastor?”

I have a pretty good idea the pastors that are preaching God’s Word each Sunday are seeking prayers from you just like Paul did from the Ephesian church:

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:18-20)

Paul needed their prayers as he both defend the gospel and attacked those who reacted against it. Your pastor is in the same position–he is invading the enemy’s territory as he proclaims “the mystery of the gospel.” In the classic Puritan work, The Reformed Pastor, Richard Baxter instructs pastors to perform their ministerial work “diligently and laboriously.” And how can they do that if you are not praying for them? They need our prayers! Baxter goes on telling pastors how to carry out that work:

We are seeking to uphold the world, to save it from the curse of God, to perfect the creation, to attain the ends of Christ’s death, to save ourselves and others from damnation, to overcome the devil, and demolish his kingdom, to set up the kingdom of Christ, and to attain and help others to the kingdom of glory. And are these works to be done with a careless mind, or a lazy hand? O see, then, that this work be done with all your might! Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are shallow;…Let Paul’s words ring continually in your ears, ‘Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!’ Ever think with yourselves what lieth upon your hands: ‘If I do not bestir myself, Satan may prevail, and the people everlastingly perish, and their blood be required at my hand. By avoiding labor and suffering, I shall draw on myself a thousand times more than I avoid; whereas, by present diligence, I shall prepare for future blessedness.’ No man was ever a loser by God.¹

About a hundred years later this same theme was expressed by John Newton in a letter to Captain Alex Clunie as he asks for his prayers because of the great task he saw as he preached to his church:

How fast the weeks return—we are again upon the eve of a Sabbath. May the Lord give us much of his own Spirit on his own day. I trust I have a remembrance in your prayers. I need them much—my service is great. It is, indeed, no small thing to stand between God and the people—to divide the word of truth aright—to give every one portion—to withstand the counter tides of opposition and popularity—and to press those truths upon others, the power of which, I, at times, feel so little of in my own soul. A cold, corrupt heart is uncomfortable company in the pulpit. Yet in the midst of all my fears and unworthiness, I am enabled to cleave to the promise, and to rely on the power of the Great Redeemer. I know I am engaged in the cause against which the gates of Hell cannot prevail. If He died and rose again, if He ever lives to make intercession—there must be safety under the shadow of his wings: there would I lie. In his name I would lift up my banner, in his strength I would go forth, do what he enables me, then take shame to myself that I can do no better, and put my hand upon my mouth, confessing that I am dust and ashes, less than the least of all his mercies.²

The task of proclaiming “the mystery of the gospel” has not altered in over 2,000 years and the enemy is still throwing up barriers to prevent your pastor from fearlessly proclaiming the gospel. He needs your prayers as he struggles to rightly divide Scripture for every sermon and live his life in a holy fashion. He needs your daily prayers so that as an “ambassador in chains” he may declare it fearlessly, as he should. So, I ask again, “Are you praying for your pastor?”

¹Richard Baxter. The Reformed Pastor (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2001), 112.

²John Newton. “Letter XL,” The Christian Correspondent or a series of Religious Letters, written by The Rev. John Newton to Captain Alex. Clunie, from the year 1761, to the death of the latter in 1770 (Hull: Printed by George Prince, 1790). While Newton was in the Caribbean islands he met a ship captain, Alexander Clunie. Newton was a Christian but had not grown in the faith. Clunie was an older man and a mature Christian who disciplined Newton and later introduced him to a pastor in London. They maintained a lifetime friendship.

“O my Savior, help me. I am slow to learn, so prone to forget, so weak to climb; I am in the foothills when I should be on the heights….” Those Puritans sure knew how to pray; and it’s not because they had extensive vocabularies and were good with metaphors.

Theirs was a deep piety grounded in the Scriptures. As a result, they knew the depth of their sin; it is why their confessions were rarely, “God forgive me”—but instead, nuanced to precision:

I am pained by my graceless heart, my prayerless days, my poverty of love, my sloth in the heavenly race, my sullied conscience, my wasted hours, my unspent opportunities. I am blind while light shines around me: take the scales from my eyes, grind to dust the evil heart of unbelief.

Their petitions then got to the heart of the matter:

Make it my chiefest joy to study Thee, meditate on Thee, gaze on Thee, sit like Mary at Thy feet, lean like John on Thy breast, appeal like Peter to Thy love, count like Paul all things dung.

They were bold in asking for more grace:

Give me increase and progress in grace so that there may be more decision in my character, more vigor in my purposes, more elevation in my life, more fervor in my devotion, more constancy in my zeal.

And they knew how to end a prayer well:

As I have position in the world, keep me from making the world my position; may I never seek in the creature what can be found only in the Creator; let not faith cease from seeking Thee until it vanishes into sight. Ride forth in me, Thou King of kings and Lord of lords, that I may live victoriously, and in victory attain my end.

One doesn’t need to wax poetic to pray like this; for it is never about the words. As I heard one time, “some prayers break the backs of words”; the point being that sometimes our best prayers are our silent ones. But we won’t be able to pray like this unless our love and devotion to the One we pray to is deep; and our understanding of self is as well. And depth of both is gained in one place; the Scriptures.

The Puritans knew how to pray because they were trained by the Book. Go read and study and you will be amazed at the prayers that come out of your mouth.

[above prayer taken from, "The Disciple's Renewal," in The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions]