In 1535, Martin Luther dedicated a small book to his friend and barber, Peter Beskendorf. Apparently the Master Barber had asked Luther for a simple guide to prayer for everyday folk, so Luther wrote his A Simple Way to Pray.
Before he begins praying through the Lord's Prayer, Luther gives the following advice:
It is good to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last at night. Guard yourself carefully against those false, deluding ideas that tell you, Wait a little while. I will pray in an hour; first I must attend to this or that. Such thoughts get you away from prayer into other affairs, which so hold your attention and involve you that nothing comes of prayer for that day...[W]e must be careful not to break the habit of true prayer and imagine other works to be necessary which, after all, are nothing of the kind. Thus at the end we become lax and lazy, cool and listless toward prayer. The devil who besets us is not lazy or careless, and our flesh is too ready and eager to sin and is disinclined to the spirit of prayer.
Let us at Mission OPC be cultivating the "habit of true prayer" for the glory of God.
On this date in 1685, the widow Margaret McLauchlen and eighteen-year-old Margaret Wilson were drowned for their faith at the mouth of the river Blednoch. Their faith would not let them acknowledge any king but Christ. The older Margaret was...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise! Say to God, 'How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. All the earth worships you and sings praises...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
I'm sure you've heard it said that there are no "Lone Ranger" Christians out there. Individual Christians are meant to be in regular fellowship with other believers, to worship together, to carry out the Kingdom work together, and to carry one...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
What stood will stand, though all be fallen, The good return that time has stolen, Though creatures groan in misery, Their flesh prefigures liberty To end travail and bring to birth Their new perfection in new earth. At word of that...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
