Reading the written prayers of others often wearies me. I’ve read several books containing the compiled prayers of one or more godly believers, and while occasionally one of the prayers stirs my heart, generally they don’t energize my praying.
An exception, however, is The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions.1 There are few books I’ve given to others as often as this one. The reason I find it so helpful is that the editor of this volume researched a number of compilations of prayers (and despite the subtitle, they weren’t all from Puritans), and selected the best from them for The Valley of Vision.
For instance, (and such brief excerpts cannot accurately reflect the beauty and feeling of the page-long prayers):
My Father,
Enlarge my heart, warm my affections, open my lips,
supply words that proclaim “Love lustres at Calvary.”
There grace removes my burdens and heaps them on thy Son,
made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for me . . .
My Saviour wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,
groaned that I might have endless song,
endured all pain that I might have unfading health,
bore a thorned crown that I might have a glory-diadem,
bowed his head that I might uplift mine,
experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,
closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,
expired that I might for ever live.
O Father, who spared not thine only Son that thou mightest spare me . . .
Help me to adore thee by lips and life.2
And again:
Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.3
The method is not merely to repeat these lines as though they were magic words. Rather they are designed to ignite the heart and mind in Godward blazes, to be fiery phrases caught up in the flames of your own words. When there’s a spiritual chill in your own expressions, try praying the prayers of others.
1Arthur Bennett, ed., The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1975; 1988).
2Bennett, 42.
3Bennett, ix.
