A puritan prayer

O Lord God,
There is no blessing we implore,
but thou art able to give,
hast promised to give,
hast given already to countless multitudes,
all unworthy and guilty like ourselves;
Make us willing to recieve the supply,
of our need from thy bounty.
To this end convince us of sin,
soften our hard hearts,
to bewail our folly, ingratitude, pride,
unbelief, rebellion, corruption.
Through the law may we die to the law,
then look with wonder, submission, delight,
to the provision thou hast made
for the glory of thy Name
in the salvation of sinners.
Give us a hope that makes us not ashamed,
a love that excites to holy obedience,
a joy in thee that is our strength,
a faith in thy Son who loved us and died for us.
May we persevere in duty
when not fully conscious of thee,
wait upon thee and keep thy way,
be humble and earnest suppliants at thy feet,
live continually as on the brink of eternity.
Let us be at thy disposal for the duties
and events of life,
submit our preferences to thy wisdom and will,
resign our enjoyments if thou ,shouldest require it
as our absolute Proprietor and best Friend.
In our unworthiness and provocations
make us grateful for the means of grace
and the ordinances of religion
and teach us to profit by them
more than we have done.
Help us to be in the Spirit on the Lord's Day,
to enter upon the sabbath mindful of its
solemnities, duties, privileges,
setting all things worldly aside
while we worship thee.
May we know the blessedness of men
whose strenth is in thee,
and in whose hearts are the highways
to heaven.

Puritan Prayers

“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Jam 5:16
I recently taught a Christian Biography class on one John Flavel. Flavel believed that James 5:16 was the answer to a Christian’ s troubles, not to take a deep breath and count to ten, or to start exercising, or take a nap; but to honestly get alone with God and talk it out with Him. Flavel did not just talk the talk, he actually walked the walk. On one occasion he publicly agonized with God, that God would watch over a number of sailors that were about to sail from Dartmouth to engage in a great sea battle. Every man that sailed from thence returned home safe! There was no small stir among the people in the town, that God had miraculously answered John Flavel’s prayer. In today's society the reaction is about the same. You will hear people say things like “What a coincidence”, or other such remarks, that try to give the glory to anything but God. In our scientifically enlightened age, we blindly assume that God could not actually have intervened in the lives of men. We have been indoctrinated since youth with the idea that Science and God do not mix, when the truth is they are inextricably entwined. Can the painter and the painting coexist? The Author and the book, the carpenter and the building? Of course, without a creator there would be no creation.
So why are we so determined to believe that God couldn't actually answer the prayers of His children? We're told in James, “Ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (Jam. 4:2,3) I’m afraid the answer is that we pray for the things we lust for, instead of praying for those things that put us in mean estate and elevate God. We’ve been praying according to our lusts and when God doesn't give us what we asked for we begin to think that maybe God doesn’t really hear us. Praying as a righteous man entails praying for righteous things. God is not our genie in a bottle that will come out to grant all our wishes, every time we rub him the right way. Instead He is a holy God that does all His holy will, when we pray inside His will He will grant our requests. Think of a father, if his son were to ask for a candy bar every night before dinner, the father would probably regularly deny his son’s petition, even though the child thinks it is in their best interest. Now if the same son were in tune to what his father’s wishes were, he might ask for an opportunity to set the table, not that that would be instantly gratifying, but because in the long run it would be in sync with what the father had planned.
Let’s commit in our hearts that we will renew our relationship with the Father. That we will regularly talk with God about all aspects of our lives, and if He doesn’t always give us what we think we need, we can rest assured that His way is always better than ours. Let’s be so in sync with His will, by reading His word every day that we would know what it is He wants for us. Let's pray not for our own lusts, but that God's will would always be done.