"Pray, Then, Like This"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“God's own child, I gladly say it, I am baptized into Christ!” (LSB 594.1) Thus we sing out the glad news that each of us is a child of God. And what wonderful news that is! God has chosen you as His own, and has made you His beloved child.

You were conceived and born in sin, a product of the sinful will of flesh and blood. You were born as spiritual orphans, adrift in the great tide of darkness and death that washes over this world. No one was your father, no one was your provider or your protector. No one was there to hear your cries for help.

But then, in that great miracle of life, God our heavenly Father chose you to be His own. He, by the power of the Holy Spirit, drowned you in that Word-filled water and purged the devil and all his works and all his ways. He marked you with the cross of Christ and called you up out of that watery grave into newness of life. He placed His Spirit within you and called you His beloved son, with whom He is well-pleased.

You are a child of God, and He is your dear Father, as surely as that water dampened your head. He has given you His Name and called you into relationship with Him, a relationship closer than that of any human father to his children. And in that relationship, He commands you to come to Him and present your petitions to Him for every need. For St. Paul writes, “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). Come to your Father in heaven and ask whatever you will in the Name of Jesus. Pray, praise, and give thanks to God. He commands it, and He promises to hear you when you pray.

Just as your Father has commanded you to pray, so He has also promised to hear you and to grant your petitions. You can come to Him will all your needs, because He will provide for you. He knows what you need, even before you know how to ask, and will provide even more than you could hope. If human fathers, with all their sins and failings, know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more so is your heavenly Father able and willing to give you all that you need and more.

Why should you pray? First and foremost, because the Lord God has commanded it. He insists that you come before Him to present your petitions and to thank and praise Him alone. But it is more than simply an arbitrary command, a step to take, a hoop to jump. In the act of prayer, you make a confession.

You make the confession that the Lord is God, and you are not. By coming before Him in every trouble, praying, praising, and giving thanks to your heavenly Father, you acknowledge that you are insufficient to provide for your own needs. You make a god of whatever it is to which you turn in trouble and praise in joy. Therefore, you must beseech the Lord in every time of need, because He is strong to save.

The Lord delights to hear the prayers of His people, because they are the confident cries of His beloved children. As you confess in the Small Catechism, God “tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as children ask their dear Father.” The Lord indeed will give you all that you need to support this body and life, just as He makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. But He likes to you hear you ask, submitting yourself to His gracious will and protection. Likewise, when He has given great blessings, which He does every day, He delights to hear the thanks and praise of those whom He loves. Trust in Him, depend on Him, and He will never fail you.

How, then, should you pray? Our Lord Christ makes it clear in today's Gospel lesson that prayer is not to be a public spectacle. You do not pray to be seen by men, for then you would have your reward, which is no reward at all. When you pray, keep to yourself, that your Father in heaven may hear the prayers of an earnest and contrite heart, and not the babbling of a showman. Great demonstrations of prayer in the public square are of no more weight in the sight of God than the humble prayer of one faithful man in secret.

Furthermore, prayer is not a negotiation. The Pharisee in Luke 18 sought to justify himself before God on the basis of his good works and his keeping of the Law. However, Jesus said that the tax collector went away justified because he made no excuses or stipulations, but simply confessed his sin and begged for mercy.

Prayer is not some magic incantation, by the uttering of the right words, or enough words, you may extort from God whatever you want. There are no holy formulae, no secret phrases, no tactics to get God to pony up on whatever your heart desires at the moment. You may not use prayer willy-nilly to get that million dollars or make sure you never get in a car crash or guarantee that your loved one will be miraculously healed of cancer.

Rather, God-pleasing prayer is rooted in the promises He makes in Holy Scripture. You pray, not out of the poverty of your own heart and soul, but out of the richness of God's promises to you. You need not negotiate with God, as though you could convince Him to do your will, because He has already promised to you what He will do for you.

You pray, therefore, in confidence and security, knowing that God your Father hears your prayers and answers them. In such confidence, you may present your petitions in Jesus' name, rooted and grounded in the words of Scripture. Prayer is a matter of taking God at His Word and beseeching Him to keep His Word. You know that God always keeps His Word, but He delights in being held to His promises, that He may give you good gifts when you ask.

Sometimes, this may mean that you pray in frustration, even anger. The Scriptures are full of accounts of those tormented by suffering and temptation crying out to God as to one who does not care. But God always hears, and therefore, even in the midst of great trials, you must come to Him and call Him to account to fulfill His Word. Beware – He may not fulfill His Word in the manner you expect. You may yell and scream at God, you may demand that He be faithful to you, you may hold up His Word and ask His to keep it – and He will.

Finally, as Luther advises, you must always end your prayer with an “Amen.” End your prayers with the confidence that God has heard them, and He will answer them according to His good pleasure and promise. Have confidence that God is pleased with your prayer for the sake of Jesus. Let your prayer fly from your lips and rest in the ears of God, because only He has the power to come to your aid.

Just as surely as Jesus Christ has died to take away your sins, risen from the grave, and is ascended to His Father's throne, so He will carry your requests and petitions to our Father in heaven. And since we have such an advocate with the Father, such a great High Priest, you can be confident in all your prayers that He will hear and answer, and He will always work for the good of those whom He loves.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.