Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Speaker 2: 0:20

So every now and then, I think it is a tremendous idea to look at and study the writings of incredibly devout Christians from the past to see what we can glean from their thoughts and their experiences. So just recently, I was made aware of something called the Valley of Vision. So that is a book that was compiled by Arthur Bennett and was first published back in 1975, and it contains a collection of prayers and devotions from Puritans. So these would be John Bunyan, who wrote the Pilgrim's Progress, and Richard Baxter and Thomas Watson, and there's plenty of others in there as well. So what was this compilation designed to do exactly? It was designed to help the reader deepen their prayer life. So inherent in that theme is that we all even have a prayer life to begin with, and with that, the prayers in the Valley of Vision are very, very structured. They also contain a lot of rich theology and probably over and above all of that is that they are just incredibly heartfelt. I mean these are just hammers. I mean just powerful, powerful prayers. And guys. I get asked all the time literally all the time in my DMs and my email inbox, something like hey, you know, I'm wanting to get a men's group together, I want to do a men's Bible study of some kind. I just don't know where to start. Like, what studies are there? Are there some that I should buy? Have y'all done anything like that before you know something like that? Now, typically what I do is I just tell these guys to pick a book of the Bible and then tackle it one hour at a time, one chapter at a time, one week at a time, like we do on the Forging Table on the Undaunted Life podcast.

Speaker 2: 1:48

But here's another suggestion Dig into books like the Valley of Vision. So the Valley of Vision is divided into 10 separate categories of prayers and devotions. So there's Father, son and Holy Spirit, there's redemption and reconciliation, there's holy aspirations, there's approach to God, and so on and so forth. From there, just tackle one of these categories per week and that'll keep you guys squared away for 10 weeks. So just give that a go. But don't just read the prayers and discuss what you think that they mean or what they mean to you. Look for parallels in these prayers to what we see God reveal to us in his word, the Holy Bible. So try to get to bedrock on the biblical principles that undergird the words of these Puritan prayers. Okay, and that's what we're going to be doing this week on the Daily Blade. I'm going to cover five prayers from the Valley of Vision and we're going to look at the biblical truths and themes that hold them up.

Speaker 2: 2:40

Okay, so today we're starting with the very first prayer in the book, and it's where the book gets its name the Valley of Vision. I'll read it here Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, thou hast brought me to the Valley of Vision, where I live in the depths, but see thee in the heights, hemmed in by the mountains of sin, I behold thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime, stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells, the brighter thy stars shine. Let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death, thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace in my sin, thy riches in my poverty, thy glory in my valley. I mean, do you guys see what I mean? I mean that's just the very first one, but the entire book is just replete with prayers like that. Guys, I'm telling you, go buy that book, start reading it. I'm serious.

Speaker 2: 3:55

But let's break down this first prayer a little bit. While I was reading it, a few different scriptures and biblical elements came to mind. Again, you know, psa, we've got to be really careful just studying small fragments of scripture, because we can easily lose context and then lose the entire point. But look, it's the Daily Blade, it's quick, we don't got all day, so shotgun style.

Speaker 2: 4:14

The first thing this prayer brought up for me is that we can gain quote, unquote everything in a worldly sense, but actually have nothing. So Philippians 3.8 says this, but actually have nothing. So Philippians 3.8 says this Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. And the next thing that stuck out to me was really the paradox of the Christian life. So the prayer says this let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up. And so there's similar themes like that throughout the prayer. It reminded me of Jesus's words recorded in Matthew 16, verse 25, for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it Again for my sake.

Speaker 2: 5:06

And then, since this prayer talks a lot about the valley, I'm sure a lot of you were really thinking about Psalm 23. So I'll read Psalm 23, verse four, here Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff. They comfort me. Now, guys, there is so much power in this short prayer. So don't forget, if we gain everything, we end up with nothing. If we lose our life for Christ's sake, we actually gain it If we're in the valley. He is faithful and capable of seeing us through.

Speaker 1: 5:41

Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.