Tuesday, April 26, 2011

V is for Valley of Vision


(The) Valley of Vision
A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions
Edited and compiled by Arthur Bennett

The strength of Puritan character and life lay in prayer and meditation. In this practice the spirit of prayer was regarded as of first importance and the best form of prayer, for living prayer is the characteristic of genuine spirituality. Yet prayer is also vocal and may therefore on occasion be written. Consequently in the Puritan tradition there are many written prayers and meditations which constitute an important corpus of inspiring devotional literature.

Too often ex tempore prayer lacks variety, order, and definiteness. There reason for this lies partly in a neglect of due preparation. It is here that the care and scriptural thoroughness which others found necessary in their approach to God may be of help. This book has been prepared not to "supply" prayers but to prompt and encourage the Christian as he treads the path on which others have gone before. (Copied from the back page)

These prayers are drawn from the largely forgotten deposit of Puritan spiritual exercises, meditations, and aspirations. The Puritan movement was a "religious" phenomenon of the 16th and 17th centuries, yet its influence continued at least to the time Charles Haddon Spurgeon [1834-1892] who may be regarded as the last of the great Puritans.

The strength of Puritan character and life lay in the practice of mediation and prayer. Many of those who held the doctrines of grace wrote down a record of God's intimate dealings with their  soul, not with an eye toward publication, but to test their spiritual growth... (Copied from the preface)



Apart from the Bible this is my favorite devotional book

Every Christian needs to have a copy paired with
his or her Bible and used as a part of daily devotions!


Title:  The Valley of Vision
Author:  Edited by Arthur Bennett
Publisher:  The Banner of Truth Trust

www.cheapestbookprice.com

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2010 A-Z Challenge:  V is for Van De Venter
2011 A-Z Challenge:  V is for Valley of Vision

11 comments:

Petra said...

Great recommendation! Blessings!

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Sounds like a good book Gregg.

Have a nice day.
Yvonne.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what our country would have been like without the Godly influence of the Puritans during it's formation? If I remember correctly wasn't George Washington a Puritan?

Cathy M. said...

I own a copy. They are great antidotes to low-minded, self-centered prayers.

kc bob said...

Good stuff Gregg. Too bad that we evangelicals sometimes reject prayers such as these.

Brianna said...

Thanks for the book recommendation. I'm putting it on my to buy list!

Toyin O. said...

This sounds like a great book, thanks for sharing:)

Heather Henry said...

I need to check this out, I am due for a new devotional. Sounds like a great one. Thank you! Hope you had a wonderful day! :)

Kevin Sorensen said...

I see you and I had the same thoughts with the Letter "V". Is that a coincidence or just that great minds think alike?

I've tried catching up a bit on some of your posts. I wish I had more time (like all day) to read more of the A to Z writers' stuff, but there are other things to do in life.

Darlene said...

Sounds like a good book. Thanks for the recommendation.

mikew116 said...

I've been reading this book devotionaly this year. It is indeed a real blessing.