“From this it follows that the one who prays correctly never doubts that the prayer will be answered, even if the very thing which one prays is not given. For we are to lay our need before God in prayer but not describe to God a measure, manner, time, or place.” — Martin Luther
I came across this, this weekend. I don’t know that I have ever had that much faith. The faith to know with absolute certainty that my prayer will be answered. This is the mustard seed, mountain moving type of faith. The faith that cured my friend of Cancer when every one was privately shaking their head. We were praying, but did we really believe that our prayers would be answered?
What Luther suggests is that we lay before God our personal troubles and know, without a shadow of a doubt, that not only we will be heard; but that, our prayer will be answered. Maybe that is what he means when he prefaces his thought with “one who prays correctly?”
It is harder than it appears, at least for me. If Luther is right, I am called to know , to believe, and to trust that my prayer will be answered. This is a challenge, but somewhere in my soul I sense Luther is on to something.
“… ancients defined prayer as Ascensus mentis ad Duem, ‘ a climbing up of the heart unto God.” — Martin Luther
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