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Writer's pictureSt. John's Lutheran

When A Prayer is Given...It Must Be In Earnestness!



Luke 18:9-14 New International Version

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”


Saturday - June 4

But where there is to be a true prayer, there must be earnestness. Men must feel their distress, [which] compels them to call and cry out; then prayer will be made spontaneously… and men will require no teaching how to prepare for it and attain proper devotion. But the distress which ought to concern us most… you will find abundantly set forth in the Lord’s Prayer. [It reminds us to] contemplate it and lay it to heart, lest we become remiss in prayer… God also requires that you lament and plead such necessities and wants, not because He does not know them, but that you may kindle your heart to stronger and greater desires, and make wide and open your cloak to receive much..” (Luther’s Large Catechism, The Lord’s Prayer)

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