‎‎‎‎‎Joy ought not to render us secure, so as to make faith idle, but it ought rather to stimulate us to prayer. True and spiritual joy we then have, derived from God’s word, when we are diligent in prayer.

from Commentaries on Jeremiah and Lamentations, John Calvin

‎‎‎‎‎He who prays as he ought will endeavour to live as he prays.

from The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded, John Owen

‎‎The soul-winner must be a master of the art of prayer. You cannot bring souls to God if you go not to God yourself.

from Spurgeon's sermon Soul-Winning

A Puritan Prayer from The Valley of Vision:

From James Montgomery Boice: The Sermon on the Mount: An Expositional Commentary (Matthew 5-7)

At one point in the course of their very influential ministries, George Whitefield, the Calvinistic evangelist, and John Wesley, the Arminian evangelist, were preaching together in the daytime and rooming together in the same boarding house each night. One evening after a particularly strenuous day the two of them returned to the boarding house exhausted and prepared for bed. When they were ready each knelt beside the bed to pray. Whitefield, the Calvinist, prayed like this: “Lord, we thank Thee for all those with whom we spoke today, and we rejoice that their lives and destinies are entirely in Thy hand. Honor our efforts according to Thy perfect will. Amen.” He rose from his knees and got into bed. Wesley, who had hardly gotten past the invocation of his prayer in this length of time, looked up from his side of the bed and said, “Mr. Whitefield, is this where your Calvinism leads you?” Then he put his head down and went on praying. Whitefield stayed in bed and went to sleep. About two hours later Whitefield woke up, and there was Wesley still on his knees beside the bed. So Whitefield got up and went around the bed to where Wesley was kneeling. When he got there he found Wesley asleep. He shook him by the shoulder and said to him, “Mr. Wesley, is this where your Arminianism leads you?"

The story shows that we all have some things to learn about prayer, and it teaches that because no one understands the ways of God as perfectly as we ought to understand them, prayer is, therefore, at least partially confusing to us all.

A Puritan Prayer from The Valley of Vision:

O LORD,
I am a shell full of dust,
    but animated with an invisible rational soul
    and made anew by an unseen power of grace;

Yet I am no rare object of valuable price,
    but one that has nothing and is nothing,
    although chosen of thee from eternity,
         given to Christ, and born again;

I am deeply convinced of the evil and misery of a sinful state,
    of the vanity of creatures,
    but also of the sufficiency of Christ.

When thou wouldst guide me I control myself,

When thou wouldst be sovereign I rule myself.

When thou wouldst take care of me I suffice myself.

When I should depend on thy providings I supply myself,

When I should submit to thy providence I follow my will,

When I should study, love, honour, trust thee, I serve myself;

I fault and correct thy laws to suit myself,

Instead of thee I look to man’s approbation,
    and am by nature an idolater.

Lord, it is my chief design to bring my heart back to thee.

Convince me that I cannot be my own god, or make myself happy,
    nor my own Christ to restore my joy,
    nor my own Spirit to teach, guide, rule me.

Help me to see that grace does this by providential affliction,
    for when my credit is god thou dost cast me lower,
    when riches are my idol thou dost wing them away,
    when pleasure is my all thou dost turn it into bitterness.

Take away my roving eye, curious ear, greedy appetite, lustful heart;

Show me that none of these things
    can heal a wounded conscience,
    or support a tottering frame,
    or uphold a departing spirit.

Then take me to the cross and leave me there.

Prayer is beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face with God.

from Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Martyn Lloyd-Jones

A Puritan Prayer from The Valley of Vision:

O MY LORD,
May I arrive where means of grace cease
    and I need no more to fast, pray, weep, watch,
    be tempted, attend preaching and sacrament;
    where nothing defiles,
    where is no grief, sorrow, sin, death, separation, tears,
         pale face, languid body, aching joints, feeble infancy,
         decrepit age, peccant humours, pining sickness,
         griping fears, consuming cares;
    where is personal completeness;
    where the more perfect the sight the more beautiful the object,
         the more perfect the appetite the sweeter the food,
         the more musical the ear the more pleasant the melody,
         the more complete the soul the more happy its joys,
    where is full knowledge of thee.

Here I am an ant, and as I view a nest of ants
    so dost thou view me and my fellow-creatures;

But as an ant knows not me, my nature, my thoughts,
    so here I cannot know thee clearly.

But there I shall be near thee,
    dwell with my family,
    stand in thy presence chamber,
    be an heir of thy kingdom,
         as the spouse of Christ,
         as a member of his body,
         one with him who is with thee,
    and exercise all my powers of body and soul
         in the enjoyment of thee.

As praise in the mouth of thy saints is comely,
    so teach me to exercise this divine gift,
    when I pray, read, hear, see, do,
    in the presence of people and of my enemies,
    as I hope to praise thee eternally hereafter.

A Puritan Prayer from The Valley of Vision:

O GOD OF THE OPEN EAR,
Teach me to live by prayer as well as by providence,
    for myself, soul, body, children, family, church;

Give me a heart frameable to thy will;
    so I might live in prayer,
    and honor thee,
    being kept from evil, known and unknown.

Help me to see the sin that accompanies all I do,
    and the good I can distill from everything.

Let me know that the work of prayer is to bring my will to thine,
    and that without this it is folly to pray;

When I try to bring thy will to mine it is to command Christ,
    to be above him, and wiser than he;
    this is my sin and pride.

I can only succeed when I pray
    according to thy precept and promise,
    and to be done with as it pleases thee,
    according to thy sovereign will.

When thou commandest me to pray for pardon, peace, brokenness,
    it is because thou wilt give me the thing promised,
    for thy glory, as well as for my good.

Help me not only to desire small things
    but with holy boldness to desire great things
    for thy people, for myself,
    that they and I might live to show thy glory.

Teach me that it is wisdom for me to pray for all I have, out of love, willingly, not of necessity;
    that I may come to thee at any time, to lay open my needs acceptably to thee;
    that my great sin lies in my not keeping the savour of thy ways;
    that the remembrance of this truth is one way to the sense of thy presence;
    that there is no wrath like the wrath of being governed by my own lusts for my own ends.

The Valley of Vision is a collection of Puritan prayers & devotions. When asked what books have had a great influence on his life, John MacArthur included The Valley of Vision among them.

Puritans like John Bunyan, Thomas Watson, Richard Baxter, and Isaac Watts knew their hearts, their Bibles, and their God much better than we do. Their prayers reveal a personal, humble, passionate relationship with an awesome God, a living Savior, and an active Spirit. Reading their meditations should inspire us to pursue the same level of reality as we worship God.

I have also been greatly encouraged by an album of songs inspired by The Valley of Vision released by Sovereign Grace Music. Available here or on iTunes.