I’m continuing my summary of the chapters from Isaac Watts A Guide to Prayer, which is enriching my communication with God. Today, I’m reviewing Chapter 3, The Grace of Prayer.

Watts distinguishes the gift and the grace of prayer in this way:

“The gift chiefly consists in a readiness of thought appropriate to the various parts of prayer, and a facility of expressing those thoughts in speaking to God. The grace consists in the inward workings of the heart and conscience toward God and religion.”

In other words, the grace of prayer refers to the life, affection, sincerity, and vigor that characterize our praying. It stems from an awareness of God’s favor and a dependence on His work in us. Although this is a short chapter, it’s a significant topic. It’s hard to imagine how many young Christians or unbelievers have been hindered in their relationship with God by listening to dull, unaffected, “laundry-list” prayers. On the other hand, just as much damage has been done by passionate praying that lacks substance, thoughtfulness, or coherence. Why not strive to have both passion and content in our prayers?

Under the general graces of prayer, Watts cites faith in the being of God, solemnity and serious of spirit, heavenly-mindedness, sincerity, watchfulness, humility, delight, and pleasure. He then describes how grace is evidenced in the particular parts of prayer that he laid out earlier in the book. This chapter is wonderfully beneficial for uniting head and heart in our prayers.

As we begin to call upon God, Watts believes an appropriate awe, humility, wonder, and pleasure should fill our hearts, that we can even address the one who inhabits eternity (Is. 57:15).  I was helped by this comment on Petitions:

“When we pray for the things of the upper world and eternal blessings, we cannot be too warm in our desires. When we seek the mercies of life, the degree of fervency should be abated, for it is possible that we may be happy and yet go without many of the comforts of the present state.”

My experience reveals how often I’m more passionate about getting earthly, temporal prayers answered than enjoying the richer blessings of being conformed to God’s will and the image of His son.

Watts comments on each part of prayer, and then lays out directions to attain the grace of prayer he’s been describing. I’ve simplified them to this:

1.    Remember who God is and who I am.
2.    Remember what a privilege it is to pray.
3.    Seek assurance of my reconciliation with God.
4.    Rejoice that Christ is my necessary and eternal Mediator.
5.    Work at prayer until I delight in it.
6.    Pray for the Holy Spirit’s assistance.

I hope you’ll join me in seeking to grow in this grace of prayer, both in private and public, so that praying becomes a more meaningful, consistent, and delightful part of your life.

Next week I’ll share thoughts on the Spirit of Prayer.

1 Comment »

1. Bob-
   Thanks for this. I’m including links to the series on prayer on my blog. Appreciate your heart. And, thanks for the book suggestions in the email.

   Blessings,
   Brian

   Comment by Petak — March 31, 2006 @ 3:44 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

Yesterday I shared my burden for giving more attention to the way we pray, both publicly and privately. This is an area I very much want to grow in. For that reason I picked up Isaac Watts’ A Guide to Prayer. I’ve been so encouraged by it, I wanted to give you a synopsis of the chapters to motivate you in your own pursuit of a rich prayer life.

Today, I’m looking at Chapter 2, The Gift of Prayer. Watts defines the gift of prayer as:

“An ability to suit our thoughts to all the various parts and designs of this duty, and a readiness to express those thoughts before God in the fittest manner to profit our own souls as well as the souls of others that join with us.” (p. 34-35)

Basically, he’s saying that prayer is a skill that we can develop and become more fruitful in. While it’s true that God can hear the stumbling words of a new believer, there’s no reason to think that we need to remain immature or ignorant in our prayers.

In this chapter Watts first addresses whether prayers should be written or spontaneous. He comes down strongly on the side of heart-felt spontaneous praying, without ruling out the use of written prayers. I find his approach fresh, biblical, and very helpful. He starts by giving some occasions when pre-conceived prayers are useful: for young Christians, for those who lack confidence in public, and for believers who are physically or mentally weak. Then he gives six reasons why confining ourselves exclusively to written forms can be unwise. It can hinder the expression of our hearts and affections to God, lead us into the danger of hypocrisy, and can keep us from knowing the state of our hearts. Formal prayers are also general in nature, and can’t help us express specific needs, concerns, or affections to God. He writes:

“The gift of prayer is much better than any form, just as a general skill in the work of preaching is to be preferred to any pre-composed sermons.” (p. 41)

He then encourages us to prepare for prayer, rather than depend entirely on spontaneous stirrings. See if you can relate to these words:

“If we utterly neglect preparation, we shall be ready to fall into many difficulties. Sometimes we shall be constrained to make long and indecent stops in prayer, not knowing what to say next….And sometimes when the mind is not regularly equipped, we run into a confused, incoherent and impertinent rhapsody of words, by which both God may be dishonored, and the edification of ourselves and others spoiled.” (p. 46)

He then goes on to discuss the content, method, expression, voice, and gestures of prayer.  His thoughts are specific without becoming laborious or legalistic. While covering topics including the length of prayers, the choice of words, and the flow of thought, he reminds us:

“Sometimes, even in the beginning of a prayer, when we are insisting on one of the first parts of it, we receive a divine hint from the spirit of God that carries away our thoughts and our whole souls with warm devotion into another part that is of a very different kind and perhaps usually comes in near the conclusion. And when the Spirit of God thus leads us, and our souls are in a very devout frame, we are not to quench the Spirit of God in order to tie ourselves to any set rules of prescribed method.” (p. 67-68)

And one of my favorite quotes:

“Though the limiting ourselves to a constant set form of words is justly disapproved, serious, pious and well-composed patterns of prayer may yet be greatly used in order to form our expressions and furnish us with proper praying language. And I wish the assistances that might be borrowed from these were not as superstitiously abandoned by some persons as they are idolized by others.” (p. 71)

In other words, use means that will enable a thoughtful, heart-felt, biblical response to God, without despising or idolizing the means themselves. Great counsel for any aspect of our relationship with God.

Watts also includes some helpful thoughts on family prayer, grace before meals (don’t mumble and don’t go through your prayer list), and posture in prayer (don’t overemphasize nor minimize its importance).

He ends the chapter with this simple observation :

“For the most part, if all other circumstances are equal, it will be found a general truth that he that prays most prays best.” (p. 108)

So true.

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

While I was in India, I finished reading A Guide to Prayer, by the well known hymn writer, Isaac Watts. I was impressed by his humble, practical, and biblical approach to this topic that is more often discussed than done.

I’ve asked Mark Mullery to address the issue of praying publicly at this year’s WorshipGod06 conference. I think we often don’t realize what a significant means of edification, training, and grace public prayer can be for the people we serve. Of course, it might be difficult to imagine when our prayers often sound something like this:

Father God, we just come before you today, Lord, to say we love you, Jesus, and Spirit, we just want you to be blessed by our coming together today, Lord God, and we ask you to show us your presence today, Jesus, in such a way that we’d worship you like we’ve never worshiped you before, God, and we just want to say that it’s a joy to be in your presence like this, Lord, because of your awesome love and grace, and…

Like, know what I mean?

So, I wanted to whet your appetite for some of the insights Watts has for both public and private prayer. In his introduction he explains why we need to learn how to pray:

“Since it is a duty of such absolute necessity for all and of such universal use, it is fitting we should all know how to perform it aright, that it may be accepted by the great God, and become a delightful and profitable exercise to our own souls and to those that join with us.”

Watts takes a refreshingly balanced approach to every aspect of prayer. Prayer is an activity that benefits both us and those who listen to us. It is both learned and spontaneous. Fruitful prayer is a product both of the mind AND the heart.

in Chapter One, called The Nature of Prayer, Watts divides prayer into eight sections:

Invocation (or calling upon God)
Adoration
Confession
Petition
Pleading
Profession (or self-dedication)
Thanksgiving
Blessing

Always seeking to help us understand his thinking, Watts explains why we should begin our prayers adoring God for His nature, attributes, and works: “These meditations are of great use in the beginning of our prayers, to abase us before the throne of God, to awaken our reverence, our dependence, our faith and hope, our humility and joy.”

The sections on Confession and Petition had some gems in them, but I was particularly affected by the topics of Pleading and Profession.

“Pleading with God, or arguing our case with him in a fervent yet humble manner, is one part of that importunity in prayer which Scripture so much recommends.” (Job. 23:3-4; Jer. 12:1Jeremiah 12:1 [12:1]Righteous are you, O LORD, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

This text is from the ESV Bible. Visit www.esv.org to learn about the ESV.

)

He encourages us to plead with God from a number of perspectives: the greatness of our wants, danger or sorrows; the perfections of God’s nature; the ways God describes His relation to us (Creator, Father); God’s promises; the honor of God’s name in the world; and the experiences of others. He then says that “the most powerful and prevailing argument is the name and mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It’s here that I can see how my view of prayer is often fatalistic. I pray because I should, or because there are needs I’m aware of. But I should see the disconnect between the way the world is and the way God has said it should be and plead with God that He act. Does my belief in God’s sovereignty keep me from asking Him to bring justice, freedom, and righteousness to the earth?  Is there any evidence of passionate faith in my praying?

When Watts speaks of Profession, or Self-Dedication, he admits that it’s rarely mentioned as an aspect of prayer. It includes both confessing that we are the Lord’s own and renouncing the world. He writes:

“We can never be too frequent or too solemn in the general surrender of our souls to God and binding our souls by a vow to be the Lord’s forever: to love him above all things, to fear him, to hope in him, to walk in his ways in a course of holy obedience, and to wait for his mercy unto eternal life.”

Just as I never tire of reminding my wife, Julie, how I am passionately committed to her for life, so we should never stop telling the Lord that we are gladly His forever.

Tomorrow I’ll share Watts’ thoughts on The Gift of Prayer.

2 Comments »

1. Thanks for sharing this. Public prayer can be such a ministry and opportunity for teaching, yet thoughtful preparation for such prayer is too often neglected (by myself!).

   Comment by Eric Schumacher — March 22, 2006 @ 10:52 pm

2. Thanks, Bob! Prayer is something I’ve been thinking more about lately too. I appreciate your blog very much.

   Comment by Tim — March 23, 2006 @ 12:57 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment