This evening, Jesus tells us that St. Paul is praying, in Ephesians, heard
tonight. What he is praying for is the Church. What’s happening in Ephesians is
this: the pastors are being persecuted in front of the congregation. Not during
service, but those who are preaching the Gospel are being publicly beaten, arrested, and slandered.
This terrifies the congregation,. Not only do they
sympathize with their pastors, but in the back of their minds, they know they
are next. In our days, we can’t understand this as we have lived in relative
peace for quite a few generations, in America .
However, that does not make things easier for you. It makes
things harder. Where the early Christians could point to their aggressors, you
can not. As we said, there is apparent peace in this country, and yet the Word of
God still declares that the enemies are at the gate.
The Christian’s only recourse, indeed the only outlet the
Lord gives him, is prayer. There is no other way to communicate to the Lord our
needs. You can not get there through the Sacraments; they are a one way street (from God to you).
You can not use meditation or dreaming and you certainly can not NOT pray,
saying that your life and actions are prayer enough.
The enemies you face today are more sinister than even the
serpent in Eden .
As we said before, our enemies parade
around as the good guys, even using the Word of God. However, what you have in
the Lord’s Prayer is one of the great weapons in your arsenal.
Much to the consternation of many people, the Lord’s Prayer
is written down and many despise written things because, they say, that the
letter kills, but the spirit makes alive (2 Cor. 3:6). Also of great
disappointment to many, is the fact that the Lord’s Prayer is not just a
template of prayer with which you may plug and play, copy and paste, as you see
fit.
No, the gift Jesus gives us in His prayer is much better
than both of those things. For one, it is the prayer JESUS HIMSELF PRAYS. For
two, it is a direct revelation of what your needs truly are.
Jesus does not make this hard to understand. He gives you the prayer that He wants to hear you pray, so you should pray it, word for word. You’d
think this would be a no-brainer. The Man Who wants to hear prayer gives you a
prayer to pray. Don’t mess with it, just pray it as often as possible.
The Ten Commands told us what we must do and the Apostles
Creed, what we must believe and in these things alone do we find the best and
happiest life. However, even though we have begun to believe, we can not cling
to them perfectly.
On top of that, the devil with all his power, together with
the whole world and our very own flesh constantly resist this, nothing is more
necessary than to continually resort to the ear of God. All our shelter and
protection rest in prayer alone, for your needs are greater than the saints (Large Catechism).
This the Lord’s Prayer reveals to us. You hear from Jesus’
own words your great need of hallowing God’s Name; of letting His kingdom come;
of letting His will be done; of daily bread; of forgiveness of sins; of aid in
temptation and deliverance from evil. In calling upon God in this way, pretty
much demanding His help, your prayer is as precious, holy, and pleasing to God as
any of the most holy saints.
Do not despise prayer, for God commands it. Do not fake
humility, God commands that you call upon Him at all times. He wants to hear
it. He wants to answer it. He wants to remove all obstacles in the way of faith
and belief for you and He wants you to do it the right way.
Thus you have a crucified and risen Lord and Savior giving
you both the way and the words to pray. Not only that, but He has caused His
Holy Spirit to work through men and the Church in order that it would be
written down. Then, He made it so that you would hear this Gospel and believe.
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