Wednesday after Trinity XII - Devotion in semi-Exile
Lection for Wednesday after Trinity XII
1 Kings 18:20-40 Ephesians 2:1-22
On more than one occasion I have had people tell me, (or something like this) "Pastor, I really do not know how to pray. I know the Lord's Prayer, I know 'Come, Lord Jesus...' and I know 'Now I lay me down sleep...' but other than those, I truly don't know how to pray."
I have found that the more familiar I am with the Scripture, the easier it is to pray - especially as I know the Psalms. I am too thick in the head to try and make up prayers. Rev. Martin Luther, way back in the 1500s had people coming to him asking him how to pray.
1 Kings 18:20-40 Ephesians 2:1-22
On more than one occasion I have had people tell me, (or something like this) "Pastor, I really do not know how to pray. I know the Lord's Prayer, I know 'Come, Lord Jesus...' and I know 'Now I lay me down sleep...' but other than those, I truly don't know how to pray."
I have found that the more familiar I am with the Scripture, the easier it is to pray - especially as I know the Psalms. I am too thick in the head to try and make up prayers. Rev. Martin Luther, way back in the 1500s had people coming to him asking him how to pray.
My suggestion is to open up your Bible every day and read it. When you have read, pray! Pray what Scripture has taught you.
Dr. Luther wrote something also very wonderful about prayer to Peter the barber. I am going to post what he wrote, "A Simple Way to Pray." But as it is rather long, it will be in the space over the span of a few days.
Today, Dr. Luther continues his letter to Peter the Barber about prayer, and does so by considering and contemplating the Creed..
A Simple Way to Pray - Part 8
A Simple Exercise for Contemplating the Creed
If you have more time, or the inclination, you may treat the Creed in the same manner and make it into a garland of four strands. The Creed, however, consists of three main parts or articles, corresponding to the three Persons of the Divine Majesty, as it has been so divided in the Catechism and elsewhere.
The First Article of Creation"I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth."
Here, first of all, a great light shines into your heart if you permit it to and teaches you in a few words what all the languages of the world and a multitude of books cannot describe or fathom in words, namely, who you are, whence you came, whence came heaven and earth. You are God's creation, his handiwork, his workmanship. That is, of yourself and in yourself you are nothing, can do nothing, know nothing, are capable of nothing. What were you a thousand years ago? What were heaven and earth six thousand years ago? Nothing, just as that which will never be created is nothing. But what you are, know, can do, and can achieve is God's creation, as you confess [in the Creed] by word of mouth. Therefore you have nothing to boast of before God except that you are nothing and he is your Creator who can annihilate you at any moment. Reason knows nothing of such a light. Many great people have sought to know what heaven and earth, man and creatures are and have found no answer. But here it is declared and faith affirms that God has created everything out of nothing. Here is the soul's garden of pleasure, along whose paths we enjoy the works of God-but it would take too long to describe all that.
Furthermore, we should give thanks to God that in his kindness he has created us out of nothing and provides for our daily needs out of nothing-has made us to be such excellent beings with body and soul, intelligence, five senses, and has ordained us to be masters of earth, of fish, bird, and beast, etc. Here consider Genesis, chapters one to three.
Third, we should confess and lament our lack of faith and gratitude in failing to take this to heart, or to believe, ponder, and acknowledge it, and having been more stupid than unthinking beasts.
A Simple Exercise for Contemplating the Creed
If you have more time, or the inclination, you may treat the Creed in the same manner and make it into a garland of four strands. The Creed, however, consists of three main parts or articles, corresponding to the three Persons of the Divine Majesty, as it has been so divided in the Catechism and elsewhere.
The First Article of Creation"I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth."
Here, first of all, a great light shines into your heart if you permit it to and teaches you in a few words what all the languages of the world and a multitude of books cannot describe or fathom in words, namely, who you are, whence you came, whence came heaven and earth. You are God's creation, his handiwork, his workmanship. That is, of yourself and in yourself you are nothing, can do nothing, know nothing, are capable of nothing. What were you a thousand years ago? What were heaven and earth six thousand years ago? Nothing, just as that which will never be created is nothing. But what you are, know, can do, and can achieve is God's creation, as you confess [in the Creed] by word of mouth. Therefore you have nothing to boast of before God except that you are nothing and he is your Creator who can annihilate you at any moment. Reason knows nothing of such a light. Many great people have sought to know what heaven and earth, man and creatures are and have found no answer. But here it is declared and faith affirms that God has created everything out of nothing. Here is the soul's garden of pleasure, along whose paths we enjoy the works of God-but it would take too long to describe all that.
Furthermore, we should give thanks to God that in his kindness he has created us out of nothing and provides for our daily needs out of nothing-has made us to be such excellent beings with body and soul, intelligence, five senses, and has ordained us to be masters of earth, of fish, bird, and beast, etc. Here consider Genesis, chapters one to three.
Third, we should confess and lament our lack of faith and gratitude in failing to take this to heart, or to believe, ponder, and acknowledge it, and having been more stupid than unthinking beasts.
Fourth, we pray for a true and confident faith that sincerely esteems and trusts God to be our Creator, as this article declares.
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