Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness.
Martin LutherRead
I simply taught, preached, wrote God's Word: otherwise I did nothing. The Word of God did it all.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of teaching and spreading divine wisdom, attributing success to the power of God's Word.
In this quote, Martin Luther reflects on his role in spreading faith through teaching and preaching. He humbly acknowledges that his efforts were merely vessels for communicating God's Word, suggesting that the true transformative power lies within that Word itself rather than in his own actions. This underscores a sense of humility and reliance on divine authority in one's work.
In practice
In a sermon to uplift the congregation's faith, one might reference Luther's belief in the power of God's Word.
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.
The sight of a drunkard is a better sermon against that vice than the best that was ever preached on that subject.
If you give a good thing to the world, then over time your karma will be good, and you'll receive good.
My reputation for writing quickly and effortlessly notwithstanding, I am strongly in favor of intelligent, even fastidious revision, which is, or certainly should be, an art in itself.
Never let your soul be silenced. Live life out loud. Every day tell your truth not with words but with actions from your heart.
The greatest weapon we have to combat stress is the ability to choose our thoughts.
Vengeance taken will often tear the heart and torment the conscience.
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