One reason for his eminence lies in the supreme pastoral concern of his writings. Calvin thinks like a pastor - always bearing in mind that theology is not for the academic, paid full-time theologians, but for all the people of God everywhere.
Perhaps that is why the two longest chapters in Calvin's Institutes are the chapters on faith and prayer. They are a model of pastoral theology; and if we could do with one decent resolution at this new year's beginning it is surely that we do less talking, and more talking to God.
As Calvin describes the relationship between faith and prayer, he says that words fail him in explaining how necessary prayer is. It is, he says, the chief exercise of faith and hope. Faith, says Calvin, has no true evidence, except we call upon God.
For Calvin, prayer is the means by which the believer can appropriate the treasure of Heaven. The gospel shows us the treasure and points out to us where it is located; it also calls us to make use of means by which to appropriate it. Not to pray, therefore, makes as little sense as when a man refuses to go and dig up treasure which he knows to be buried in a field.
It belongs to faith to pray, it is in faith that we do pray, and it is by prayer that our faith is strengthened. Prayer is thus a means of grace, and it has at least six benefits for us. First, it fills our hearts with the desire to seek, love, serve and rest in God. Second, it disciplines us to request only those things upon which he would wish to look. Third, it prepares us to thank him for his goodness. Fourth, it leads us to meditate on his goodness, as we see him answering our prayers. Fifth, it enables us to delight in his gifts, the more especially as we see them as answers to prayer. Sixth, it confirms God's providence in our lives.
Such conversation with God - which is one of Calvin's favourite descriptions of prayer - must follow four basic principles. The first is the principle of reverence. As far as possible, prayer should be offered in a context of freedom from other worries and thoughts which will prevent us focussing our minds exclusively upon God. It needs to be offered without distraction.
The second requirement is sincerity, which is expressed in repentance. We come to God in prayer out of a sense of need. Prayer is not intoned out of a sense of duty, although many treat it so. For the true believer, says Calvin, this is a fiction - how can we ask God for forgiveness of our sins if we do not think that we are sinners?
A third principle in prayer is that we forego self-confidence and self-assurance and plead for pardon. Prayer requires humility and submission, as is witnessed, Calvin argues, in the prayers of Scripture. The prayer of Daniel 9, for example, is full of such abandonment. Any other consideration would make a believing soul tremble and withdraw rather than approach God.
The fourth principle is that we pray with hope and confidence. Humility and confidence are necessary companions in the matter of prayer, humility because we know about God's vengeance, and confidence because we know about God's goodness. We may be troubled on account of the evils that are present with us, but we take refuge in God because of the goodness that is present with him.
This brings Calvin to the heart of his argument: that when we ask of God, we must ask in faith Not to make use of prayer robs God of his honour, and is tantamount to idolatry. However, to make use of prayer, in response to God's command, is to have the assurance of his hearing, no matter how defective our prayers may actually be. The rule that prayers, to be effective, must be shaped by the principles of Scripture, is not disannulled even by the exceptions furnished in Scripture itself.
Calvin's bold principle in this regard is that God may grant the petitions even of those prayers which are not pleasing to him. That we observe God doing so in the Scriptures can never justify us offering improper prayers; it ought, in fact, to motivate us to frame our prayers more carefully. We may, in error, petition God for a matter, and even in a manner, that is contrary to the revealed will of God in Scripture. Yet our petitions may still accord with God's sovereign plan over history.
Nor are our prayers nullified in those instances in which they do not conform to Calvin's four rules. Our side of the conversation is often reduced to ignorant stammering. Our defective prayers 'deserve to be repudiated', nonetheless God hears and forgives. We may raise our hands, while our hearts remain firmly on the ground; we may ask for forgiveness without realising a fraction of our need. Yet God is pleased with his people who approach him through the means he has appointed, notwithstanding the many obstacles they themselves place in the way.
One of the attractions of Calvin's writings is the published prayers which adorn them. The following is a flavour of one of these:
"Grant, Almighty God, that as Satan strives to draw us away from every attention to true religion, when things in the world are in a state of disorder and confusion, - O grant, that we may know that thou carest for us; and if we perceive not this by what we find in the world, may we rely on thy word, and doubt not but that thou ever watchest over our safety; and being supported by this confidence, may we ever go on in the course of our calling…"
Of course, prayer is one of these subjects on which it is comparatively easy to write, and still easier to preach. Doing it, however, is a different matter. Calvin is a reminder to us, however, that until we have learned to speak the language of dependence on God, we have not discovered the essence of true spirituality at all.

iaind@backfreechurch.co.uk