Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness.
Martin LutherRead
Faith is a living, daring, confidence in God's grace.
Interpretation
Faith is an active trust in God's grace.
In this quote, Martin Luther emphasizes that faith is not a passive belief but rather an active and vibrant trust in God's grace. It suggests that true faith involves courage and a confident reliance on the benevolent support and mercy of God, encouraging individuals to live boldly in their beliefs.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the importance of faith in overcoming challenges.
Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness.
Now if I believe in God's Son and remember that He became man, all creatures will appear a hundred times more beautiful to me than before. Then I will properly appreciate the sun, the moon, the stars, trees, apples, as I reflect that he is Lord over all things. ...God writes the Gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.
It is the part of a Christian to take care of his own body for the very purpose that, by its soundness and wellbeing, he may be enabled to labour, and to acquire and preserve property, for the aid of those who are in want, that thus the stronger member may serve the weaker member, and we may be children of God, and busy for one another, bearing one another's burdens, and so fulfiling the law of Christ.
Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but more frequently than not struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.
We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.
In a mouse we admire God's creation and craft work. The same may be said about flies.
The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.
We shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians.
May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives.
A prayerless church member is a hindrance. He is in the body like a rotting bone or a decayed tooth. Before long, since he does not contribute to the benefit of his brethren, he will become a danger and a sorrow to them. Neglect of private prayer is the locust which devours the strength of the church.
Everything is a trifle to a man who is a Christian except the glorifying of Christ
Godβs grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a Savior.
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