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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.

Puritan Prayer: Grace for the weary Lord, we know your words, “The Lord God has given me a well-taught tongue, so I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.” I am one of those wearied souls, Lord. I am wearied with my temptations, wearied with inward trouble. So now, Lord, speak a word in due season to this poor, wounded, and wearied soul. Let me serve you, Lord—that is all my desire. Let me see you as you please, when you please. I am done, Lord, I am done. I have questioned and questioned my condition these many years. And I see there is no end of such questioning. I get nothing by it. I am a poor, weak creature, and I fear I will never be able to bear testimony of the truth of Jesus Christ. But you have said, “I will give power to my two witnesses.” I am one of your witnesses. Now then, Lord, give power to me, for I am poor. I see the sinfulness of sin, so let me also see the graciousness of grace, and the fullness of Christ. I come to you for righteousness, because I see my sin is exceedingly sinful. O Lord, keep my soul in the ocean of your free love. Amen. —William Bridge  William Bridge, “Grace for the Weary,” in Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans, ed. Robert Elmer (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 28.

This one is on the longer side, but your endurance will be rewarded. "I thirst for grace in Christ" Merciful Lord God, you are Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. You say “It is done” of things that are yet to come, so faithful and true are your promises. You have promised by your own word, out of your own mouth, that to anyone who is thirsty you will give the fountain of the water of life freely. O Lord, I thirst. I long for one drop of mercy. As the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants for you, O God, and for your compassion. If I had the glory, the wealth, and the pleasure of the whole world—if I had ten thousand lives, joyfully I would lay them down, just to have this poor trembling soul received into the bleeding arms of my blessed Redeemer. O Lord, my spirit within me is melted into tears of blood. My heart is splintered in pieces. Out of the place of dragons and of the shadow of death, I lift up my thoughts, heavy and sad, before you. The memory of my former vanities and sins is poison to my soul. The very flames of hell, Lord, the fury of your just wrath, the scorchings of my own conscience, have so wasted and parched my heart that my thirst cannot be quenched. My desire is for the pardon and grace of Jesus Christ. And Lord, in your blessed book you cry, “Everyone who thirsts,   p 23  come to the waters.” In that great day of the feast, you stood and cried, “If anyone thirst, come to me and drink.” And these are your own words: “Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.” I challenge you, Lord, in my extreme thirst for you, and for spiritual life in you, by that word, and by that promise which you made—make it good to me. I grovel in the dust and tremble at your feet. Open now that promised well of life. For I must drink or else I die. Amen. —Isaac Ambrose  Isaac Ambrose, “I Thirst for Grace in Christ,” in Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans, ed. Robert Elmer (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 22–23.