Over at the Gospel Coalition Voices blog I share how you can use the Valley of Vision collection of Puritan prayers as a tool to lead you in praying throughout the day. If you are familiar with the book, but not my prayer schedule to use with it you might be interested in the post.

Would you say that prayer has been an ongoing and critical part of your day? The reality is many Christians maintain a very narrow prayer life that is either confined to morning devotions, a word of thanksgiving at dinner, or the occassional “Lord, help me!” prayer of the moment. All of these are good, and should be a part of our prayer life, but the idea of maintaining a posture and practice of praying throughout the day is beyond most of our expectations. We know that Paul calls the church to pray without ceasing, but we quickly remind ourselves that he obviously doesn’t want us on our knees in a prayer closet all day. And just like that we give ourselves a pass on the exhortation and leave it behind. But there it is. “Pray without ceasing.” Those words mean more than an encouragement to persevere in prayer. Wrapped up in the command is the expectation that we will be a people whose lives are characterized by prayer.

The trouble is many of us live the bulk of life (everything between morning devotions and prayer before bed) apart from a practical awareness of and dependence on God. And this is paradoxically the root and fruit of prayerlessly going about our business. Most of us want to pray more: deeply, frequently, and effectively, but are at a loss as to how to pull it off, and we have learned along the way that simply trying harder does not grant success.

Read the rest at Gospel Coalition Voices

I love promoting the collection of Puritan prayers, The Valley of Vision, as a resource for people who desire to grow in their practice and understanding of prayer. But, it’s also a great tool for use in worship gatherings. We use many of the prayers from the Valley of Vision in a few different ways (eg. prayers of confession, responsive readings). This past Sunday we adapted the prayer, Need of Jesus, for congregational use as a responsive reading. The congregational responses are in bold.

Lord Jesus,
We are blind, be our light,
Ignorant, be our wisdom,
Self-willed, be our minds.

Open our ears to grasp quickly your Spirit’s voice,
And delightfully run after his beckoning hand;

Melt our consciences that no hardness remain,
Make them alive to evil’s slightest touch;

When Satan approaches may we flee to your wounds,
And there cease to tremble at all alarms.

Be our good shepherd to lead us into the green pastures of your Word,
And cause us to lie down beside the rivers of its comforts.

Fill us with peace, that no disquieting worldly gales
May ruffle the calm surface of our souls.

The cross was upraised to be our refuge,
Your blood streamed forth to wash us clean,
Your death occurred to give us a surety,
Your name is our property to save us,
By you, all of heaven is poured into our hearts,
But it is too narrow to comprehend your love.

We were strangers, outcasts, slaves, rebels,
But your cross has brought us near,
Has softened our hearts,
Has made us our Father’s children,
Has admitted us to your family
Has made us joint-heirs with yourself.

O that we may love you as you love us,
That we may walk worthy of you, our Lord,
That we may reflect the image of Jesus Christ.

May we always see your beauty with clear eyes of faith,
And feel the power of your Spirit in our hearts,
For unless he moves mightily in us,
No inward fire will be kindled.

– adapted from Need of Jesus. pg. 186

We use the Valley of Vision prayer book frequently in our worship gatherings at Redeemer Fellowship, especially for responsive readings. During last night’s Good Friday service Carson Cheatham used “Calvary’s Anthem.” Here’s an excerpt from that prayer.

For there is power in the blood of Calvary
to destroy sins more than can be counted
even by one from the choir of heaven.

Thou hast given me a hill-side spring
that washes clear and white,
and I go as a sinner to its waters,
bathing without hindrance
in its crystal streams.

At the cross there is free forgiveness
for poor and meek ones,
and ample blessings that last forever;
The blood of the Lamb is like a great river
of infinite grace
with never any diminishing of its fullness
as thirsty ones without number drink of it.

If you don’t have The Valley of Vision, be sure to pick up a copy. If you have it, you may want to check out my prayer guide as a method for personally working through the prayer book.

We are four days into the new year, and by now some of your are starting to feel resistance to your new commitments , disciplines, routines, and resolutions. For those who are seeking to pray more (more fervently, more consistently, more dependently on Jesus) you will do well to be aware of the hinderances to prayer that you either are facing, or will soon enough.

Brian Hedges book, Christ Formed in You is a great read that I highly recommend. In his chapter, “Training in the Spirit: Disciplines,” he talks about three common obstacles that we run up against when seeking to cultivate a vibrant prayer life: legalism, self-sufficiency, and unbelief.

Legalism: Sometimes I’m more motivated by a sense of obligation than privelage, and begin to thinkof prayer in terms of law rather than grace. After all, I’m a pastor. I’m supposed to be a mature Christian! Why then is prayer so difficult? As Paul Miller rightly says, “Private, personal prayeris one of the last great bastions of legalism.”

Self-sufficiency: Often, I’m too self-sufficient to pray. I either let busyness crowd out time with God, or, when I actually start praying, I try to fix myself up to sound or feel more “spiritual” than I really am. But what’s missing in both cases is a clear sense of my helplessness– my need for God.

Unbelief: And sometimes the obstacle is a simply lack of faith. It’s not that I stop believing God altogether, but that I forget his character. When I imagine him looking at me, I see an angry judge or a disappointed authority figure, rather than the kindness and love of a father.

He explains that the the only way to overcome these obstacles is to constantly apply the gospel to our praying.

The antidote to legalism is praying in Jesus’ name, resting in the reality that we have access to God in prayer only because of Jesus. “When we thoughtfully and intentionally pray in Jesus’ name, we undercut the legalism that so often drives prayer. We’re not praying in order to get God to accept us. We’re coming because we are already accepted in Christ!”

The anitdote to self-sufficiency is remembering our helplessness and coming to God as children approach a good father– messy, without pretense, helpless, and as we truly are. “Unfortunately, many of us have been taught to pray in very un-childlike ways. We change our tone. We use spiritual sounding words… we veil our hearts and pretend to be something we’re not. We try to act all grown up and in the process loose our sense of helplessness.”

The anitdote to unbelief is, Hedges points out, closely related to the antidote for self-sufficiency. “When we forget to come to God as children, we’re also forgetting that we come to him as our Father. And thus we distrust his heart. The anitdote is to remember his character as our kind and loving heavenly Father.”

Hedges has much more to say, so you should get his book to read it all. It’s been a real encouragement to me.

As we continue to work through practical ways to maintain a posture of prayer throughout the day I want to talk about the need to be praying with one another. It more then unfortunate– it is spiritually deadly– that Christians seem to so seldomly pray together outside of corporate worship (if it even happens there). Thoughout the Old and New Testaments we see prayer not only as a discipline for the individual, but as the communal exercise of faith in varying circumstances. From solemn assemblies, to the emergence of crises, to gatherings for joyful worship, God’s people prayed together. It was certainly one of the devotional acts that characterized the New Testament church.

Praying together today is much less common than what we see modeled in Scripture. I’ve become convinced that one of the reasons we struggle so much in life is because we aren’t praying with one another very much, if at all. People praying for you is a needed grace. Knowing that they are praying for you is powerfully encouraging. But praying with others strengthens in a different, perhaps deeper, way.

When you gather with Christians friends does the idea of suggesting the group pray together before dismissing feel out of place? Can you even remember the last time you prayed with a brother or sister outside of a worship gathering? Let me suggest four ways you can pray begin to pray with others.

1. With your family – daily, regularly, and as needed.
At meals, before putting the kids to bed, before ending the evening with your spouse, during family worship, it is good to establish sacred routines and rhythms of prayer. And, of course, take time to pray with the family for family needs and circumstances: before heading out on vacation, with your child when he is sick, or for your children before the head back to school after a break.

Idea: If you are not doing so now, start praying over your children when you put them to bed. As for God’s blessing upon them: that they would know, love, and and follow Jesus; that he would protect them from the world and the Devil, and prepare them for whatever God has planned for their tomorrow.

2. With your Christian friends when you gather together.
While not every gathering will lend itself to to act of prayer, many would if you will find a good time to promote it. You are among friends who love one another. Prayer will be easier than you think.

Idea. The next time you are hanging with your friends be mindful of the time, and before everyone has to depart suggest that you all take time to pray for one another.

3. With people in need – on the spot.
There are times when people share with you a current painful experience. This is a great opportunity to not only tell them you will lift them up in prayer, but also to pray for them right there. I see this happening at Acts 29 Bootcamps, at church, with people out for lunch, and I know the blessing of having someone care enough about me and what I’m going through to stop, and pray for me on the spot.

Idea: The next time someone is sharing with you a significant difficulty they are facing, even fearing, ask if you could pray for them right there. They may blink at you for a second. But they’ll probably say, “Yes,” and afterward they will love you for it.

4. Schedule time to pray with a friend(s) weekly.
For most of us it doesn’t take much work to arrange a time to pray with a friend outside of a Community Group and a worship gathering, and the pay off is worth it. You might find this in a smaller “Fight Club” context, or even by scheduling morning coffee with a friend before work begins.

Idea: Talk with a friend and ask them if they would up for a brief time of prayer once a week on your lunch break, over coffee, before you work out at the gym, or even over the phone.

Praying with others is a great aid in both the practice of and encouragement in the blessing and discipline of prayer. How are you praying with others, and what benefit have you found in doing so?

Praying Throughout The Day

1. Start Early
2. Schedule Appointments
3. Pray Spontaneously
4. Pray with Others
5. Conclusion