The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom. 2 Tim. 4,18.
Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. Luke 2,29.30.
QUESTIONS.
1. What do we mean when we say: "We pray in this petition,as the sum of all"? 2. What is meant in this petition by the word "evil"? 3. Why does God sometimes send us afflictions? 4. What do we ask our Father in heaven to do when He has afflicted us? 5. To what should He turn all our afflictions, all that seems evil to us? 6. What should God preserve in us at such times? 7. Why do we call this life a "vale of tears"? 8. When, finally, will God deliver us from all evil? 9. What kind of end do we ask our heavenly Father to grant us? 10. Why will all our sorrows then be at an end. 11. What do the words of the Conclusion mean? 12. What the word "Amen"? 13. What do we mean to express by adding this word? 14. Why may we be certain that all our petitions are acceptable to God? 15. Why are we certain that God will always hear our prayers? 16. How will God hear our prayers and grant us His help?
LESSON 47.
How We Should Pray.
Review Lesson.
1. When we pray we frequently use the prayer which the Lord has given us. It really does contain everything we need, everything we may pray for. But we also use other prayers; we bring our petitions before God in our own words, or offer praise and thanks to Him. This is well-pleasing to our Father in heaven. But we must not forget that all our prayers should be in accordance with the Lord's Prayer. He has given us His prayer also for this purpose, that we should learn from it how to pray. The Lord's Prayer should be the model for all our prayers. If that is our model, we are certain that we are praying according to God's will. Let us see what the Lord's Prayer teaches us in this respect. Let us learn how we should pray.
2. Whom do we address in the Lord's Prayer? Who is "our Father in heaven"? Our Father in heaven is the only true, the Triune God, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. To Him we pray, and to Him alone. Such is His will. "Thou shalt worship the Lord, thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Matt. 4,10. Against which commandment do we sin when we pray to any one but the true God? We pray only to the true God because He alone is able and willing to hear and answer our prayer.
3. The Lord teaches us to call the Triune God "our Father." Why does Christ teach us to use this dear name? Through whom is God our true Father and we His true children? In whose name should we pray? Our Savior says: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you." John 16,23. In the Fifth Petition we learn why it is so necessary to pray in Jesus' name, trusting in His merits. We daily sin much. We deserve nothing but punishment. We pray that God would not look upon our sins, but graciously answer our prayers for Christ's sake, who has earned forgiveness of sins for us. Only in Christ is God well pleased with us; only for His sake will our prayers be heard and answered.
4. Christ teaches us to address God as our Father, to believe that in Christ He is indeed our true Father. By this endearing name our Lord would encourage and tenderly invite us to come to Him as His children and ask Him with all confidence. We should always pray with confidence, never doubting that God for Chris's sake will hear us and grant our prayers. "All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." Matt. 21,22. We are praying to the almighty God, who is able to give all good things; we pray to Him who is our Father, who has promised to hear our prayers.