Listen here.
Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the
appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. Thank you for being with
me today.
I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in
Hudson, OH.
On Saturdays we explore some devotional thoughts, habits,
and practices, by looking at what others have written on devotion. We’ve kicked
off this series by looking at a great document written by Martin Luther called A Simple Way to Pray.
Last week we got to the point that Luther was ready to pray,
and he began with some opening words that remembered God’s command to pray and
his promises regarding prayer. He then encouraged us to pray the Lord’s Prayer,
word for word, because this is how Jesus himself taught us to pray. Today, he encourages
us to take a part of the Lord’s Prayer and expand upon it in our own prayer; to
use the Lord’s Prayer both as a prayer and as an outline for prayer. So let’s
read the next section of Luther’s letter to learn from him how to pray. I’m
going to be reading from the American Edition of Luther’s
Works, vol. 43. This version of A
Simple Way to Pray was translated by Carl Schindler, and the copyright
belongs to Fortress Press.
A Simple Way to Pray – paragraphs 9-10 – I did not ask for
permission to print A Simple Way to Pray,
but there are many versions available on line. Here is a link to one of them. A Simple Way to Pray.
Isn’t it fascinating how in those words, “Hallowed be thy
name,” we can find so many other things to pray about? On the one hand we ask
God to destroy and root out everything that would keep us from hallowing his
name – that is holding his name as holy and as a revelation of who he is, his
gracious will, and his desire to save us. Luther recognizes two religions in
the world – the one true faith in which God has come to us in Jesus Christ and
saved us through Jesus’ death and resurrection, and one false religion in which
he lumps every form of belief that rejects Jesus as our God and savior. What is
most frustrating to him, however, are those who say that they teach the true
Christian faith while they actually teach doctrines that would lead people into
sin and through sin into death. We have no shortage of such teachers even
today! We do well to pray this prayer asking God to help us keep his name holy
so that we will not be deceived and led astray and that we would even, with
God’s help, be able to refute those who misrepresent God, His Word, His Will,
and everything else about him.
It is not enough, however, that those who teach false
spiritual truths be silence. We pray here, as Luther did, that such people
would be converted to true faith. Did you notice that he hit that theme four
times in this part of the prayer. Yes, we want false teachers to be restrained
by God, but we also want him to change their hearts to believe and proclaim
God’s truth and grace. There is a strong word of compassion here that we would
do well to echo in our own prayers and in our lives. Those who do not believe
in Jesus are lost and condemned, just as we would be without Jesus in our
lives! In mercy and true Chrisitian love we long for their eyes to be opened,
for the Holy Spirit to create faith in their hearts, and for them to receive
Jesus’ forgiveness and salvation. And because forgiveness and salvation and
creating faith are God’s work, we call upon him to be about that work for us –
keep us in the true faith – and for others drawing them to faith.
Prayers –
O God, we thank you for your Word and for the gift of
prayer. We pray that you would help us grow in our devotion to meditating on
your Word and responding to you in prayer, and we ask that our devotion would
be rooted in your love for us and our love for you. We put ourselves, our
friends, our loved ones, and our enemies into your hands. Help us to recognize
when people are not hallowing your name. Please stop those who misrepresent you
and silence those who speak against you. Protect us from all false teachers. At
the same time, Lord, help us to represent you rightly and to proclaim the true
gospel in Christ. Convert the hearts of all who deny you and draw them to faith
so that they may have the salvation and forgiveness Jesus won for us. It is in
his name that we pray. Amen.
Memory Verse: Isaiah 55:6-7 - "Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have
compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isa. 55:6-7
ESV)
Hey, remember that if you want to help those who have been
hurt by Hurricane Harvey a great place to do so is LCMS World Relief and Human
Care. If you go to www.lcms.org/disaster
you can donate.
Thank you so much for using Devotions for Worship, I pray
that our time together has blessed you and given you something to meditate on –
some reminder of God’s grace to rattle around in your brain – for the rest of
the day.
Would you do me a favor? If you got something out of this
devotional time, would you like and/or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or
wherever you do social media? That would help me get the word out, and
hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to others.
God bless you!
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