Prayer: “Just
when you feel that temptation is strongest and you are most unprepared to pray,
then go to a place where you are alone, and pray the Lord’s Prayer and whatever
you can possibly say against Satan and his temptation. Then you will feel that the temptation
becomes less severe and that Satan takes flight.” [SL 5, 494]
Psalm 51:1
Prayer: “It is
of little importance whether you stand, kneel, or prostrate yourself; for
postures of the body are neither forbidden nor commanded as necessary. The same applies to other things: raising the head and the eyes heavenward,
folding the hands, striking the breast.
Only do not despise these things, because Scripture and Christ Himself
praise them. Therefore
Prayer: “Our
dear Lord wants to have us pray and not to go on without praying, as rude folk
do, who say that eating and drinking tastes good to them even though they have
not prayed a Lord’s Prayer in eight days.
If you are a Christian or want to be a Christian, beware of a life as
rude as that and pray at least in the morning when you arise, at table, before
and after meals, and when you retire in the evening.” [SL 13a, 602]
John 16:23-30
Prayer: A very
fine example of the power of prayer is provided by Monica, the mother of
Monica had never
asked for this. It would have been
enough for her if her son had been freed from error and had turned
Christian. But God wants to give us
greater blessings than we can ask for, as long as we do not weaken in our
prayer.” [SL 1, 1111] Genesis 17:19-22
Prayer: “We do
not know whether that for which faith asks is good for us and useful to
us. God alone knows this. Therefore faith prays in such a manner that
it commits everything to a gracious will of God; it lets Him determine whether
it is conducive to His honor and to our benefit.” [SL 11, 482]
Matthew 8:1-13
Prayers: “Never do I want to consider my life, honor, goods, and whatever I have as higher and greater than Thy will. Thy will shall please me at all times throughout my life.” [W-T 5, No. 5620]
Preachers: “Some pastors and preachers are lazy and no good… They use such books as offer them homiletical helps in order to earn their yearly living; they are nothing but parrots and jackdaws, which learn to repeat without understanding…
Therefore the call is: Watch, study, attende lectioni (attend to reading). In truth, you cannot read too much in Scripture; and what you read you cannot read too carefully, and what you read carefully you cannot understand too well, and what you understand well you cannot teach too well, and what you teach well you cannot live too well.” [SL 14, 397f.]
Preachers: “There are two hindrances to the Gospel. The first is the teaching of false doctrine, driving the consciences into the Law and works. And the second is this trick of the devil. When he finds that he cannot subvert the faith by directly denying the Gospel, he sneaks in from the rear, raises useless questions, and gets men to contend about them and meanwhile to forget the chief thing. He gets them to contend about dead saints and departed souls: where they abide, whether they sleep, and the like…
A man does not
need much wit to gain popular applause; let him but preach new and strange
things, and people will say that he is more learned than others. They come in droves, with eyes and ears and
mouth wide open. So nothing is said
about faith and love, for people consider this as commonplace as daily
bread. All have heard and know enough
about this, and it is irksome to hear the same thing forever.” [SL 9, 863]
1 Tim. 1:3-11
Preachers: “He
who speaks poorly is speaking God’s Word just as certainly as he who is able to
speak well. A father speaks the Word
just as certainly as God does, and your neighbor speaks God’s Word just as
certainly as the angel Gabriel. It is
the same Word that the schoolboy and the angel Gabriel speak; one can merely
express it better than another. Let the
dishes be unequal. Some are of silver;
others are of tin or of glazed clay, earthen vessels. But one and the same food is prepared in
silver, tin, etc.; and venison, well seasoned and prepared, tastes as good from
a wooden bowl as from of silver… But people do not recognize the person of God;
they gape only at the person of man as when one is tired and hungry refuses to
eat unless the food is set before him in a silver bowl. So people select many ministers
nowadays.” [SL 7, 2145f.] John 4:9-10
Preachers: “There
is no great evil or poison than vainglory, as indeed
[This preacher]
cannot preach the Word as others do but produces something different and
new. Then people gape and say: He is certainly a fine preacher; he knows how
to hit the nail on the head; I have never heard anyone put it this way. And so the man is puffed up with pride,
tickled with praise, and imagines that he is an ox when really he is scarcely a
toad. Then he must be very careful not
to spoil things with the people. Because
they praise him, he must, in turn, praise them.
So they praise one another until one goes to the devil with the
other. A fine job of praising they
did!” [SL 7, 1080] Matt. 21:14-16
Preaching: “Had I been [God’s] counselor, I would have attacked with force and fist and said: What is the use of preaching? The more you say, the less is done. See, people only laugh and mock at you besides. But if you used your fist on them, they would really feel it…
But if [God]
speaks and it makes no impression on us—if we despise His message and Word, as
reason does despise everything—then He has a double right to punish us.” [SL 8, 208f.]
John 8:28
Preaching: “Let us preach to the glory of God and pay no attention to the judgment of men. If someone can preach better, let him preach better. Let us preach only Christ and the Catechism. This is the wisdom that exalts us, because it is the Word of God. Praise and censure mean nothing to us.” [SL 22, 634, No. 9]
Pride: “How
can any person be more arrogant than the fellow who dares say that he is free
from all arrogance and all evil inclination?
For spiritual arrogance is the last and the deepest vice.” [SL 4, 1742]
Psalm 143
Pride: “If God
wants to overthrow people because of their arrogance, He first makes fools of
them by blinding them. The, after they
have been blinded, they are soon put to shame…
God leads them to destruction with their own ‘wisdom,’ so that they lay
their plans most carefully and expertly, as Pharaoh did in
Priests: “For
the name ‘priest’ (in Greek a man so called because of the sacrifice he offers
officially) is not applied to any man in the New Testament but to the one, true
Priest, Jesus Christ.” [SL 13a, 1025f.] John 1:35-42
Prophets: “The
prophet begins with rebuking, as the manner of all prophets is; then follows
the sweet comfort of the prophet. The
devil acts the other way: first he walks
gently, in order to deceive, then leaves a stench behind. God first frightens and leads into hell; then
He exalts. This is the manner of the
divine Word and work: destruction
precedes construction. The devil works
the other way.” [SL 14, 1738] Haggai 1:2
Prosperity: “They
sat that when matters did not turn out according to his way of thinking, Gaius
Caesar [Julius Caesar] went about with a sour face and a handing head. Therefore it is a great achievement to be
steadfast, whether fortune be foul or fair.
This calls for a heart that has firm and full confidence in God alone,
that does not forget God when everything succeeds and goes according to its
wish, and is not dejected when it sees that success and a happy outcome of its
efforts are lacking.” [SL 2, 1729] Gen. 45:17-28
Providence: “If
the world were willing to take advice from a simple, plain man—that is, our
Lord God (who, after all, has some experience too and knows how to rule)—the
best advice would be that in his office and sphere of jurisdiction everybody
simply direct his thoughts and plans to carrying out honestly and doing in good
faith what has been commanded him and that, whatever he does, he depend not on
his own plans and thoughts but commit the care to God.” [SL 11, 1322f.] Luke 5:1-11
Punishment: “What the proverb says always happens in the end: Oft goes the pitcher to the well, but at the last it comes home broken…
So the heathen
learned by experience and therefore said:
When our Lord God comes to punish, He puts on woolen socks in order to
walk silently and not to be heard. Learn
this lesson, and do not feel secure if our Lord God does not strike promptly;
rather fear, and be careful.” [SL 13a,
821f.] Luke 19:41-48
Reason: “Self-conceit is the cause of all parties, sects, discord, and heresies, as the proverb has it: His own way ever pleases everyone; That’s why the land with fools is overrun.” [Sl 12, 36]
Reason: “There
is no article which the devil cannot overthrow once he has succeeded in having
reason dabble in doctrine and speculate about it. Reason knows how to turn and twist Scripture
in masterly fashion into conformity with its views. This is very agreeable, like sweet
poison.” [SL 9, 827] Eph. 6:10-17
Rebuke: “So
the proverb has it that a thunderstorm in which lightning and rain are mixed is
harmless, but one that is dry and without rain is dangerous and harmful. In like manner, the Word of God should not
constantly be angry and should not threaten forever.” [SL 8, 1535]
Gal. 4:16
Reformation: “How
often my heart struggled, rebuked me, and threw up to me their one and
strongest argument: You alone are
wise?” [SL 19, 1069] Psalm 45:8
Reformation: “For
many years now we have experienced that in many diets people have dealt with
the subject by seeking the goal of preaching in such a way that everybody would
be pleased and that no one would be offended.
But this is certain: If you
remove the ‘falling,’ Christ is already lost; for when this Man comes and shows
Himself, a falling and an uproar promptly begin.” [SL 13a, 94f.] Luke 2:33-40
Religion: “The
world is forever troubled by being full of masters and wiseacres, full of sages
and lights, who are seeking their own ways to heaven, who want to be luminaries
of the world, want to teach it how to come to God and lead it to Him.” [SL 7, 1596]
John 1:8-9
Religion: “Nowadays
it is nothing new that the whole mass of people, together with all the persons
of rank or distinction, are in error and protect the cause that is wrong. But though it is hard and difficult to bear
this standing alone, since stupid people boast that this one fact proves that
their cause is invincible, yet God still lives; our appeal must be to His
judgment.” [SL 4, 586f.] Psalm 7:9
Repentance: “A penitent heart is a rare thing and a great grace; one cannot produce it by thinking about sin and hell. Only the Holy Spirit can impart it.” [SL 15, 1506]
Resurrection: “This article has suffered and still suffers the most opposition and is most difficult to believe… The reason for this is that no article so contradicts experience as this one does. For our eyes see all the world is swept away by death and dies…
If you want to look at this with reason, the article of the resurrection of the dead seems to be either nothing at all or at least entirely uncertain…
You will find few people on earth today who sincerely believe this article. Particularly men of great influence, the wealthy and mighty of this world, believe nothing of it…
In a word, if you
consult reason and judge according to external appearance and experience, faith
fails, and man lets this article go.”
[SL 8, 971] John 20:1
Civic Righteousness:
“It is truly a great shame that the Turks, the archenemies of
Christ, should have the honor and glory before us Christians that they speak
the truth and also bring up their children and people to speak the truth. To teach children not to lie and deny their
offense when they have done something is a fine worldly training. In addition to this, the Turk has other fine
virtues. Indeed, no one is so bad but
that he still has something good about him.
But we Christians should surely follow this example.” [SL 7, 1997]
John 3:19
Civic Righteousness:
“We hold that without the Holy Spirit man is absolutely ungodly
before God, even though he many be graced with all the virtues of all the
heathen. To be sure, even in the
histories of heathen outstanding examples of moderation; of liberality; of love
of country, parents, and children; of courage and humanity are found. But we hold that the best thoughts of
(natural) man about God, about the worship of God and the will of God, are the
densest darkness; for the light of reason, which has been given to man alone,
appreciates only bodily blessings.” [SL
1, 484] Genesis 6:5-6
Spiritual Righteousness:
“Only in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, that is,
we are taught who is righteous and in what way he is righteous and becomes
righteous before God, namely, solely by faith, by which the Word of God is
believed.” [W 56, 171f.]