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Puritan Prayer: Growing in Grace Breathing in grace Ever-blessed fountain of natural and spiritual life! I thank you that I live, and that I may live a faith-filled life. I bless you that you breathe into me your own living breath. Though I was once dead in my sins, now I have become a living soul, in a sense that is unique to your own children. But I do not just want to live. I want to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). So I beg you to form my mind in the image of faith. Do not let me misunderstand grace, measuring my growth in grace by a natural yardstick. Let me experience your love even more, with unreserved resignation to your wise and holy will, and a greater care for others. Strengthen my soul as you help me grow in patience, in humility and zeal, and in a heavenly attitude. Give me a concern to be accepted by you (2 Corinthians 5:9). Whether I live or die, let everything I do be for your glory. You know I hunger and thirst after righteousness. Make me whatever you want me to be.   p 39  Draw your image on my soul. By the gentle influences of your Spirit, trace every feature which your eye, O Heavenly Father, may enjoy, and which you may see as your own image. I know I am not yet where I should be. I am far from being already perfect. But after the great example of the apostle, I forget what lies behind, and strain forward to what lies ahead (Philippians 3:13). Feed my soul by your word and by your Spirit. Then I will be born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible—even by your word, which lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23). As a newborn babe, I desire the sincere milk of the word, that by it I may grow (1 Peter 2:2). And may my progress be obvious to all (1 Timothy 4:15) until I finally reach maturity, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). And after having enjoyed the pleasure of those that flourish in your courts below, I will come to live in the paradise above! I ask and hope this through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—to whom be glory, both now and forever. Amen. —Philip Doddridge  Philip Doddridge, “Breathing in Grace,” in Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans, ed. Robert Elmer (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 38–39.

Puritan Prayer: For Spiritual Fruitfulness To the gardener of my soul Oh, precious Jesus—may I be no longer unfruitful in your garden! Lord, do as you have said. Dig around me, and pour on me all the sweet influences of your Holy Spirit—which, like the rain, the sun, and the dew of heaven, may cause me to bring forth fruit to God. And, Lord, if you will listen to an unworthy creature like me plead for others, let the coming year bring the same blessings to all your redeemed—even to my unawakened relatives, and to thousands who are still in darkness. I pray that this may be to them the acceptable year of the Lord! Amen. —Robert Hawker  Robert Hawker, “To the Gardener of My Soul,” in Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans, ed. Robert Elmer (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 37.

Puritan Prayers Prayer for a new heart Lord, is it not better to make me your friend than to let me continue as your enemy? Would you not be glorified more by raising a soul from sin than a Lazarus from the grave? Your power and mercy are shown greater by turning a dry stump into a fruitful and flourishing tree. So overcome my shameful nature by your merciful power. Change me from a venomous to a dove-like nature. I would be made happy to glorify you by becoming what I was created to be! Glorify yourself by creating my heart anew, that I may glorify you in newness of life. I cannot get a new heart by my own strength, but it is not too hard for your power, and it matches your promise. Amen. —Stephen Charnock  Stephen Charnock, “Prayer for a New Heart,” in Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans, ed. Robert Elmer (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 31.