The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1907, Page 18

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18

The Lutheran Pioneer.

If you, my dear reader, wish to enjoy all the

. benefits of the work of Christ, the sinner’s Substi-
tute, you must by faith accept Him as your Sub-
stitute, and doubt not that He did it all for you.
Trusting in Him for salvation, you will enter into
the gladness of knowing that “there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus.”

Of Prayer.

“We have now heard what we must do and be-
lieve, and wherein consists the best and happiest
life. Now follows the third part; namely, how we
ought to pray. For since we are so situated that no
man can perfectly keep the Ten Commandments,
even though we have begun to believe, and since
the devil with all his power, together with the world
and our own flesh, resists our efforts to keep them,
nothing is so necessary as that we should resort to
the ear of God and call upon Him and pray to Him,
that He would give, preserve, and increase in us
faith and the fulfillment of the Ten Command-
ments, and that He would remove everything that
is in our way and opposes us therein. But that we
may know what and how to pray, our Lord Christ
has Himself taught us both the mode and the
words, as we shall see.”

It is thus that Luther introduces his incom-
parable explanation of the Lord’s Prayer in the
Large Catechism, and shows the relation of the
Third Chief Part to the First and Second. But
before we enter upon the consideration of the Lord’s
Prayer in particular, it will be well for us to an-
swer certain questions which pertain to prayer in
general.

Wuat Is Prayer?

The psalmist answers this question for us,
Ps. 19, 14: “Let the words of my mouth, and the
meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Lord, my Strength, and my Redeemer.” Prayer,
according to this, is a conversation of the heart and
lips with God. To pray is to have a heart-to-heart
talk with our heavenly Father. Of course, as far
as God is concerned, it is not necessary that we
clothe our thoughts and desires in audible words
at all; for He can hear the desires of our hearts
and read our thoughts afar off, as He heard the
erying of Moses by the Red Sea, though Moses
never uttered a word. But it is for our own and
other people’s benefit that audible prayer is often
desirable, since such audible prayer is an open con-

fession of our trust in God and also helps to in-
erease our fervor and devotion. But mark well,
while it is possible to pray with the heart alone, it
is not possible really to pray with the lips alone.
A mere prayer of the mouth is an abomination to
God, and Christ condemns it when He says, Matt.
6, 7: “When ye pray, use not vain repetitions as
the heathen do, for they think that they shall be
heard for their much speaking.” On the other
hand, a sincere, hearty prayer is acceptable to God,
our heavenly Father, and is an act of worship at
all times pleasing to Him.

From what I have already said it is plain that
it is only the Christian, the believer, who can truly
pray; for prayer is the conversation of God’s child
with his heavenly Father. Only they who by faith
in Christ have become God’s children and in all
sincerity can address God with the words, “Our
Father which art in heaven,” have the right and
are able to pray; only they who in true faith have
accepted the Lord as their Strength and their Re-
deemer have the ear of God. All others may make
a show as though they were praying, but all their
so-called prayers are vain repetitions that will not
be heard.

The Christian in his prayer brings his petitions
before God and offers up praise and thanks to Him.
The Lord, Ps. 50, 15, tells us: “Call upon me in
the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou
shalt glorify me,” and in these words shows us
what the contents of our prayers shall be; and
Luther in his explanation of the Second Command-
ment gives us the contents of God-pleasing prayer,
saying that we shall call upon God in every trouble,
pray, praise, and give thanks. :

Wuy SHovutp WE Pray?

First of all, because God wants us to do so.
It is an act of worship which God has commanded
in the Second Commandment. Because it is God’s
will that we should pray to Him, the believer says
with David, Ps. 27, 8: “When Thou saidst, Seek
ye my face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face,
Lord, will I seek.” A Christian is ever willing to
please God and obey His commands; knowing,
therefore, that his heavenly Father desires him to
pray, he willingly obeys.

But God not only commands us to pray, — He
also promises to hear us. He not only says: Ask,
seek, knock; but also gives assurance that what we
ask shall be given, what we seek shall be found,
and when we knock it shall be opened. “Every