them in His infinite wisdom to do so, thus making prayer a wise function for man, but for what purpose did He leave these instructions? In the Reformed tradition prayer is conceived under the rubric of the “means of grace,” which are “those means which God has ordained for the end of communicating the life-giving and sanctifying influences of the Spirit to the souls of men.”8 By this means, as well as the Word of God and the ordinances, the saint is drawn to God and matured in spiritual experience.