"How do I pray?"
The Valley of Vision (1975) compiled by Arthur Bennett
"How do I pray?"
It is a common enough question.
New Christians ask it all the time. Even those more seasoned in the faith can find it hard to know what exactly to say. Especially when the temptation is to fall into that teenage trap of only speaking to your parents if you need something! We can find it hard to linger or meditate. Words can fail us, after all the words of mere mortals cannot plumb the depths of the divine.
Sometimes, when approaching prayer, we can feel like an old-timey car. We need a manual crank of the engine to get us going.
Now there are some great books on prayer that can answer practical questions about prayer (books like A Call to Prayer by J.C.Ryle, Prayer by Tim Keller and Enjoying Your Prayer Life by Mike Reeves). But I suppose the issue I am addressing is less "how" or "why" we pray but more "what". As one Puritan poet put it:
"Let thy Spirit help my infirmities, For I know not what to pray as I ought".
"What do I say?"
Often the best way to learn is to observe, or in this case to listen to the prayers of others. Hearing their prayers and using them to fuel our own. Thankfully, Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer to start us off (Matt 6:9-13). But we also find that for centuries Christians have been penning their prayers. Prayers we can read, recite, echo in our hearts and which we can use as a springboard for our own praise and adoration.
One compelling collection is The Valley of Vision compiled by Arthur Bennett. It contains a panoply of prayers, presented as poems, written by various Puritan pastors.
Poetic Prayers
As soon as I write poetry, some (my wife included) recoil with horror remembering school English lessons. But before you baulk at the thought of reading The Valley of Vision just read a few small bits which I’ve included below, and think, would reading reflections like these, help or hinder your prayers? Would they direct your thoughts upward, or divert them away?
On Resurrection:
Thy death is my life
Thy resurrection my peace
Thy ascension my hope
Thy prayers my comfort
On Regeneration:
Thy presence is to me a treasure of unending peace
No provocation can part me from thy sympathy
On The Broken Heart:
I am guilty, but pardoned,
Lost, but saved,
Wandering, but found,
Sinning. But cleansed
Prayers for Every Season
This isn't a book to sit down and consume in one sitting.
It is an anthology to aid you as you pray.
There are poems for when you are mired in sin, or for when you are deep in grief.
There are prayers for reflecting on the magnitude of God's majesty, and for when you need to know Christ as your closest friend.
So, let me encourage you, take these prayers of others to inspire your own. And as you sit with the words of fellow believers long since departed, let them be life to your soul.
The Valley of Vision - Contents:
