Beginning in section 34 of Calvin's chapter on prayer, he begins an exposition of the Lord's Prayer. And this is a very useful, very practical portion of Calvin's section here. And he begins in section 34 by basically telling us several uses of the Lord's Prayer that we need to keep in mind. The first is that it helps us recognize and seek the boundless goodness and mercy of God. He says, now we must learn not only a more certain way of praying, but also the form itself. Name we that which the heavenly Father has taught us through his beloved Son, in which we may acknowledge his boundless goodness and clemency. So the form, the content of the Lord's Prayer teaches us to seek God's goodness and his mercy. Second, it covers, since it covers everything from God's kingdom and our need, it sends us to Him in every need. It is a form that we can understand and practically utilize. And third, it directs us in our ignorance. Now this is a huge part of this section 34 that you and I do not know how to pray as we ought. Paul teaches this in Romans chapter 8 verse 26. that even the most enlightened among us, we do not know how to pray as we ought, and in many occasions arise in which we don't know what to say. And so the Lord's Prayer gives us a guide. It tells us what He allows us to ask. It tells us what is of benefit for us to ask. And it basically tells us all we should ask. Interestingly, Calvin quotes from Plato a prayer that he offered in one of his works to King Jupiter, quote, bestow the best things upon us, whether we wish for them or not, but command that evil things be far from us, even when we request them. Now, of course, Calvin's not recommending that we pray to King Jupiter, but he's simply saying, this is what the Lord's Prayer also does for us. Lord, may your will be done, may your name be honored, may your kingdom come, do what is best for us, whether we want it or not, and we ask you for these things, give what is best for us, whether we want what is best or not. So, the Lord's Prayer, and again, every believer should have this memorized and at some level use it and incorporate it in his prayers, helps us to recognize and seek God's mercy, sends us to Him in every need, and directs us to Him in our ignorance. Toward the end of the section, about five lines from the bottom, Calvin says, We cannot even open our mouths before God without danger unless the Spirit instructs us in the right pattern for prayer. This privilege deserves to be more highly esteemed among us, since the only begotten Son of God supplies words to our lips that free our minds from all wavering." Now what is this privilege? Is this privilege that we it's probably that we have the Holy Spirit here who guides us in our prayers. Calvin is in some quarters known as the theologian of the Holy Spirit because he taught that the Holy Spirit is the bond of the union between Christ and us, the seal of the union between Christ and us. It fulfills what Jesus himself promised in John 16, I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Now Paul draws on this in Romans 8 to teach that you and I, we're weak in prayer, we don't know what's appropriate to ask, and so one of the things that the Holy Spirit does, who indwells all believers, is that he teaches us what to pray. He intercedes for us according to the will of God. So we have a heavenly intercessor, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose worthy merits and intercession we may draw near to God with boldness, and we have a helping intercessor, indwelling us, the Holy Spirit, who teaches us what we should pray. Now, since the Holy Spirit works through the Word, I'll leave you with this. Be much in Scripture. Be much in the Psalms in particular, because the Holy Spirit doesn't work in a vacuum. He works through His own Word. So the more that you and I are saturated with the thoughts and the words and the ideas of the Bible, the more freedom we'll have in prayer because that's the material, that's the word that the Holy Spirit uses to teach us what we should pray as we are.