William Petruzzo

O Lord,
Length of days does not profit me
except the days are passed in Thy presence,
in Thy service, to Thy glory.
Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides,
sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour,
that I may not be one moment apart from Thee,
but may rely on Thy Spirit
to supply every thought,
speak in every word,
direct every step,
prosper every work,
build up every mote of faith,
and give me a desire
to show forth Thy praise;
testify Thy love,
advance Thy kingdom.

I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,
with Thee, O Father as my harbour,
Thee, O Son, at my helm,
Thee O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
Guide me to heaven with my loins girt,
my lamp burning,
my ear open to Thy calls,
my heart full of love,
my soul free.

Give me They grace to sanctify me,
Thy comforts to cheer,
Thy wisdom to teach,
Thy right hand to guide,
Thy counsel to instruct,
Thy law to judge,
Thy presence to stabilize.
May Thy fear by my awe,
Thy triumphs my joy.

From The Valley of Vision

O LOVE BEYOND COMPARE,
Thou art good when thou givest,
when thou takest away,
when the sun shines upon me,
when night gathers over me.
Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world,
and in love didst redeem my soul;
Thou dost love me still,
in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.
Thy goodness has been with me another year,
leading me through a twisting wilderness,
in retreat helping me to advance,
when beaten back making sure headway.
Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor,
With thee as the blessed pilot of my future as of my past.
I bless thee that thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.
If thou hast appointed storms of tribulation,
thou wilt be with me in them;
If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and tempation,
I shall not drown;
If I am to die,
I shall see thy face the sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot,
grant me grace that my faith fail not;
If I am to be cast aside from the service I love,
I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,
as a chosen vessel meet always for thy use.

- From The Valley of Vision

“Thou incomprehensible buy prayer-hearing God,
Known, buy beyond knowledge,
revealed, but unrevealed,
my wants and welfare draw me to thee,
for thou hast never said, ‘Seek ye me in vain’. “

We are consoled to know we serve a God who is “known”, yet beyond knowing, that we see clearly, yet see almost nothing and that has promised that if we would seek, we would surely find.

If you’re like me, and I’m sure that at least some of you are, prayer is not something that comes easily. I don’t mean the act of opening your mouth and speaking to God, I mean the discipline to pray for things until you see them answered.

You probably hear of that person who faithfully prayed for so-and-so for 10 years until finally the Lord answered the prayer and saved them, or healed their cancer, or reunited their marriage, or whatever. If you’re like me, you’ve probably looked on those people with a sense of wonder, curious about how exactly they’ve been so faithful, but at the same time thinking in the back of your mind that it’s just isn’t going to be you.

Personally, that is my experience. Or, at least it was as a younger believer. Early on, it became clear from reading the Word and Church history that prayer was profoundly important. I respected people that prayed and who were, in part at least, identified as “a person of prayer”. I knew that it was virtuous, it was important, and that God answered prayers. But, never could I grasp the action in the ways that some seemed to be able to.

I went through many different seasons of prayer practice, all of which would be beneficial, but eventually fade.

There were times when I would pray, almost exclusively in groups. There were times when I attempted to focus on constant prayer–praying during every day activities. There were times when I would attempt to spend very extended periods of time in prayer (This one was profoundly affecting, but it wasn’t too long before burning out). There were also times when I would try and put my prayer life in my car, or other moving exercises–like taking walks.

All of these faded out. Sometimes I would try and combine them, mix them, or do them exclusively. I would try and keep prayer journals, or lists. Still, it always faded out.

But, in all of these experiences, I think that I’ve begun to pin point the (practical) corner stones of a fruitful prayer life. (Please remember, I’m speaking in a practical sense. There are spiritual foundations that must be in place before a believer can hope to see real, faithful and fruitful progress in their prayer life.)

1. Consistence

In all areas of our lives we plan ahead. When we want to get in shape, we plan time to be at the gym. When we want to excel in school, we plan time to study. I don’t think a person’s prayer life is much different in that respect. So, consistence is a major key. You’ll never get in shape if you only go to the gym when you feel like it and when you happen to have the time. So it is with our prayer lives. So consistency is absolutely foundational.

Time daily should be designated for prayer. The decision to pray should not be made based on the moment’s desire to pray (although, I believe that desire will come) or not to pray, but based on the decision and commitment made to the Lord. Therefore, there will be times of prayer that feel hollow, or mechanical, but this is necessary, I believe, as it softens the heart and paves the way for more natural prayer in the future. But likewise, there will also be wonderful, heart gushing times of prayer as well.

2. Persistence

Say you got a job 30 minutes away. The first day of your job, you got in your car and started driving, not knowing exactly where you’re office is or how to get there. You might have a general idea, but nothing concrete. You end up driving around for a few hours until you eventually stumble on it. The next day, you do the same thing. Uncertain of where you’re going, you spend a long time driving around until eventually you show up. Every morning, you go through the same thing, over and over again. At this rate, you’re going to burn out. Constantly forgetting where you’re going and forgetting how to get there will take a toll on you.

Prayer, I think, is a lot like that. We should approach prayer with a plan. Know what you’re going to pray for, know who you’re going to pray for. Plan for it. Don’t get burned out trying to navigate through all the different things in the world you could possibly pray for. Know what you’re going to be praying for, plan to pray and be persistent in those prayers. Don’t be chained to only those prayers, but be chained to them, none the less.

My Strategy

Although these are some of the keys saints have approached prayer with for hundreds of years, there are lots of ways these things can flesh out in a persons life, I think. Thanks to a good friend’s suggestion, this is what I’ve been doing:

I bought a white board. I divided the white board up into 7 days. Each day I have written the things I pray for daily. Then, spread out over all seven days are the different concerns of my life and the lives of friends, family and the church. Then, when a new concern arises, I can quickly add it to the plan for a day, a week or longer. In this way, I have a plan for approaching prayer. I do not forget different people’s concerns, nor do I become overwhelmed with more prayer than I can handle at one time.

This method also offers some personal accountability. Each day of the week, I can mark whether or not I prayed that day, in order to help build consistency. So far, it’s proving effective.

Here is a snapshot of my board:

Some things on the board are erased each week, some are never erased. This method forces me to devote specific time to prayer, but keeps me focus and on track, without preventing me from going beyond what’s there.

If you’re seeking a prayer method, you might consider cloning mine or using and modifying it to best suite you. White board supplies will run you about $20 - $30 if you can find them new, but significantly less if you can find them at a garage sale.

So, don’t let yourself make excuses for not praying. Let’s make it a truly regular part of our lives!

I pray this along with the puritan who penned it, many years ago:

O source of all good,
What shall I render to you for the gift of gifts,
your own dear Son?
Herein is wonder of wonders:
he came below to raise me above,
was born like me that I might become like him.
Herein is love;
when I cannot rise to him he draws near on wings of grace,
to raise me to himself.
Herein is power;
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart,
he united them in indissoluble unity,
the uncreated and the created.
Herein is wisdom;
when I was undone, with no will to return to him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,
he came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me!
O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds,
and enlarge my mind!
Let me hear good tidings of great joy,
and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore,
my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,
my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father!
Place me with ox, donkey, camel, goat,
to look with them upon my Redeemer’s face,
and in him account myself delivered from sin!
Let me with Simeon clasp the newborn child to my heart,
embrace him with undying faith,
exulting that he is mine and I am his!
In him you have given me so much that heaven can give no more.

Later in the chapter dealing with prayer from John Piper’s The Pleasures of God, he shares this bit of thought provoking Gold. It needs no explanation. Here:

“Prayer should never be exalted above the Word in the mission of the church. The proclamation of the gospel in word and deed is the crucial frontline weapon in world missions. Prayer is the power that wields that weapon of the Word; but the Word itself is the weapon by which the nations will be brought to faith and obedience.”

I’ve known of and been a part of ministries that have lifted prayer up above, or on the same level as God’s Word. But Piper’s analogy is nearly flawless in illustrating why that makes little sense, while still graciously holding onto the crucial nature of prayer.

Awesome.

A great Puritan prayer recites like this:

“Heavenly father… Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued I must not only labour to overcome it, but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it, and he must become to me more than the vile lust had been; that his sweetness, power and life may be there.”

I have found that in my most persistent sins, victory is short lived the moment my heart congratulates itself for its success. Not that we shouldn’t rejoice at the victory over some specific sin–the question is, in what direction is that rejoicing aimed?

As in this prayer, perhaps it is that I have labored to overcome the sin, but instead of inviting Christ to take residence in its place, I have replaced it with my own satisfied accomplishment which has never been able to stand, and never will.

I’m a person who doesn’t always feels like praying. I think, ask most ordinary Christians and most of them will tell you that they usually pray when they feel most inspired to pray, and when they do not, they don’t. That makes sense. Much like in spending time with a family member or friend, the quality of our conversations has a lot to do with how much we want to be having the conversation.

Well for me, not feeling like praying becomes kind of a blockade in my mind and heart. I look foreword to what I think my prayers will be like and what I will be thinking and feeling about them and I conclude that the prayers will not be very good–maybe unfruitful–and I ultimately choose not to pray.

But, this is silly thinking, and the Lord showed me that today as I prayed with a friend, despite my (and his) disinterest in doing so.

We began praying with sterile, synthetic words. Mostly going through the motions, asking for grace and mercy for having such sterile and synthetic hearts. Then, followed into prayers of adoration, thanksgiving, repentance and eventually supplication for those around us and our community. Before long I realized that through praying, the Lord had turned my synthetic heart into an organic one.

I was feeling for those I was praying for. I was caring about what was being said and I Was earnestly desiring that God would respond, both locally and globally for what we were asking.

When we were done, I was glad that we’d prayed. But it got me thinking. Was this just a case of “getting in the mood”? Like when you don’t feel like watching a movie, but someone puts on on anyways and before long you’re sucked in?

Maybe partially. But I don’t think so; not overall.

I was thinking about The Lord’s Prayer. Many of the things we’re told to pray for are things that are promised elsewhere, regardless of prayer. Think about it. “Hallowed be your name…”, Romans 14:11 says, “It is written: ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ ” Or, “Your will be done”? We have a sovereign God. Nearly every page of the Old Testament (and New) speaks of God’s unthwartable will.

On the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:6-8).

It seems clear that prayer cannot be only supplication to God for things that he’s either already planning to do or else knows we need.

That’s where I think a big part of prayer is revealed. It’s not entirely in how our prayers affect God, it’s how they affect us. Perhaps when we pray that God would change our hearts, he does change our hearts, using the very prayers we are praying. Perhaps when we’re praying, we’re not only speaking to God, but also to our own hearts.

When we say, “God, give health to Suzie’s grandmother who’s ill”, maybe we’re also saying quietly to our own hearts, “Heart, care about Suzie’s grandmother’s health.”

I’m not sure that at this point I can really substantiate this from scripture. But it something that I think I can see as a pattern in my own life and experience. But, regardless of what exactly is happening, it is clear that it is a grace from God. It is another reason to feel grateful.

I spent the day today in Washington, DC. I was there expressly for the purpose of photographing the major event “The Call”.

The event called sought to gather thousands of young adults together for a day of mourning, fasting, repentance and prayer for the sake of our nation. The event also had an extremely heavy emphasis on abortion issues.

The event was hosted by folks from several churches, but most notably IHOP (International House of Prayer) in Kansas City and Morning Star down in North Carolina.

If you’re at all familiar with Morning Star or IHOP, you know they’re part of, what I call, the hyper-charismatic church. Not a criticism, just trying to get you into today’s environment a bit.

The crowd however was surprisingly diverse. There were folks there from what seemed to be nearly every denomination I can think of. Even the strange ones with dress codes.

Truthfully, I have mixed feelings about the event. I’m torn because of what seems clear to be questionable theology amongst the hosting organizations and much of their execution of the event. However, there were many on the Washington DC mall that were genuinely interceding and fasting on behalf of our nation and the unborn. So, in that respect, I’m encouraged.

I won’t go into the specifics of my theological questions. I’m just not sure how important it is.

Keep an eye on my professional website over the next couple days. I’ll be posting an introduction to the photographs from today as well as a large number of them.

I came across an interesting segment in Religious Affections tonight. Bear with it, it’s worth reading.

[Among “the evidence that true religion lies much in the affections… is that] it appears from the nature and design of the ordinances and duties, which God hath appointed, as means and expressions of true religion.

To instance in the duty of prayer: it is manifest, we are not appointed in this duty, to declare God’s perfections, his majesty, holiness, goodness, and all-sufficiency, and our own meanness, emptiness, dependence, and unworthiness, and our wants and desires, to inform God of these things, or to incline his heart, and prevail with him to be willing to show us mercy; but suitably to affect our own hearts with the things we express, and so to prepare us to receive the blessings we ask. And such gestures and manner of external behavior in the worship of God, which custom has made to be significations of humility and reverence, can be of no further use than as they have some tendency to affect our own hearts, or the hearts of others.

And the duty of singing praises to God seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned why we should express ourselves to God in verse, rather than in prose, and do it with music but only, that such is our nature and frame, that these things have a tendency to move our affections.”

Indeed, these things do have a “tendency to move our affections”. In fact, so much so that I’ve argued against the risks of emotionalism. I’m sure there’s a balance to the whole lot, but it definitely makes me think. With all that scripture commands about emotional response to God, perhaps the emotional response to music and prayer is not only useful but also necessary.

Perhaps, as Edwards has suggested, it’s not so much to move and to bless God, as it is to move ourselves into a position able to receive blessing from God.

Much to ponder, indeed.