When God's Help Begins
"Will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them? I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily."
LUKE 18:7-8
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When God's Help Begins
An earnest and fervent prayer, which does not cease and does not become tired but keeps on waiting up to the last moment, eventually forces its way through heaven and earth, and it is impossible for it not to be heard. For it is a sacrifice most pleasing to God when we pray in such a way that the prayer surpasses our comprehension and understanding, as is stated in the Epistle to the Ephesians: "Who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think" (3:20). When the situation is hopeless and all plans and efforts are in vain, then be courageous, and beware of giving up; for God calls all things from the dead and from nothing. When no resource or hope at all is left, then at last God's help begins. And so these are perfect prayers. Meanwhile weak prayers and those of weak people should nevertheless not be despised. But the former are presented to us in their highest grade and by a perfect example, in order that we may try to imitate them.
From Lectures on Genesis (Luther's Works 4:361-62)
LUKE 18:7-8
+
When God's Help Begins
An earnest and fervent prayer, which does not cease and does not become tired but keeps on waiting up to the last moment, eventually forces its way through heaven and earth, and it is impossible for it not to be heard. For it is a sacrifice most pleasing to God when we pray in such a way that the prayer surpasses our comprehension and understanding, as is stated in the Epistle to the Ephesians: "Who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think" (3:20). When the situation is hopeless and all plans and efforts are in vain, then be courageous, and beware of giving up; for God calls all things from the dead and from nothing. When no resource or hope at all is left, then at last God's help begins. And so these are perfect prayers. Meanwhile weak prayers and those of weak people should nevertheless not be despised. But the former are presented to us in their highest grade and by a perfect example, in order that we may try to imitate them.
From Lectures on Genesis (Luther's Works 4:361-62)
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