Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness.
Martin LutherRead
Our faith is an astounding thing-astounding that I should believe him to be the Son of God who is suspended on the cross, whom I have never seen, with whom I have never become acquainted.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the incredible nature of faith, particularly in believing in Christ's divinity despite not having seen him.
This quote by Martin Luther emphasizes the extraordinary nature of faith, especially in a religious context. It highlights the paradox of believing in the divine figure of Jesus Christ, who endured suffering on the cross, without ever having direct knowledge or acquaintance with him. Luther suggests that such belief is remarkable and profound, showcasing the depth and strength of personal faith.
In practice
During a religious sermon about the strength of faith in the unseen.
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.
If the Constitution is adopted (and it was) the Union will be in fact and in theory an association of States or a Confederacy.
The movement to abolish the death penalty needs the religious community because the heart of religion is about compassion, human rights, and the indivisible dignity of each human person made in the image of God.
I'm really very sorry for you all, but it's an unjust world, and virtue is triumphant only in theatrical performances.
There are always two deaths, the real one and the one people know about.
Man beholds the earth, and it is breathing like a great lung; whenever it exhales, delightful life swarms from all its pores and reaches out toward the sun, but when it inhales, a moan of rupture passes through the multitude, and corpses whip the ground like bouts of hail.
I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.
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