I read the words of Martin Luther on Luke 18:13 – I feel I should share with you.
Text:
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Luke 18:13 NIV
Luther’s Words
Some say “I would feel better about God hearing my prayer if I were more worthy and lived a better life.” I simply answer: if you don’t want to pray before you feel that you are worthy or qualified, then you will never pray again. Prayer must not be based on or depend on your personal worthiness or the quality of the prayer itself; rather, it must be based on the unchanging truth of God’s promise. If the prayer is based on itself or on anything else beside God’s promise, then it’s a false prayer that deceives you – even if your heart is breaking with intense devotion and you are weeping drops of blood.
We pray because we are unworthy to pray. Our prayers are heard precisely because we believe that we are unworthy. We become worthy to pray when we risk everything on God’s faithfulness alone.
So go ahead and feel unworthy. But know in your heart that it’s a thousand times more important to honor God’s truthfulness. Yes, everything depends on this alone. Don’t turn his truthful promise into a lie by your doubts. For your worthiness doesn’t you, and neither does your unworthiness hinder you. A lack of faith is what condemns you, but confidence in God is what makes you worthy.
My Words
Are you discouraged to pray because of your current life situation? Do you feel you are unworthy to pray? It is alright to feel this way, but it is not alright to stop praying because of such feelings. God really want us to recognize our weakness and come to him for help. He gave us an open invitation in Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together, “says the Lord.” Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. (NIV)
It is obvious; God is in the business of cleaning our mess. He is interested in our unworthiness only if we can trust his faithfulness, He is ever ready to answer our prayers. Because as Luther rightly mentioned; “A lack of faith is what condemns you, but confidence in God is what makes you worthy.” Let’s have confidence in God anytime we want to pray.
Martin H. Kamaidan
Saved by Grace
I in addition to my friends have already been analyzing the great tips and hints found on your website and immediately developed a terrible feeling I never expressed respect to the blog owner for those strategies. Most of the people became as a result happy to read them and already have surely been having fun with those things. Many thanks for actually being simply kind and also for deciding upon these kinds of useful topics millions of individuals are really wanting to be aware of. Our own sincere regret for not saying thanks to you sooner.
Hi, have you ever pondered to write regarding Nintendo Dsi handheld?
Where may I get a hold of this page layout?
An fascinating discussion will be worth comment. I do believe that you can write regarding this topic, it might become a taboo subject but typically consumers are insufficient to dicuss on such topics. Yet another. Cheers
Does your site have a contact page? I’m having trouble locating it but, I’d like to shoot you an e-mail. I’ve got some suggestions for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great website and I look forward to seeing it develop over time.
Its wonderful as your other articles : D, thanks for putting up.
Your website is absolutely beyond belief. It’s really excellent to see such a lot of talented people working all together avoiding friction. I have connected to your site through my website and also my site. i’m sure that it will significantly improve the value and traffic to my web site.