The Forty-Seventh Sermon, which is the fifth upon the sixth chapter - Ephesians 6:18-19
to teach us. We shall find that Saint Paul has not in vain promised us here that we shall always gain the upper hand, even until we come to the heavenly kingdom, where we shall fully enjoy the fruit of our victory.
Now let us fall down before the Majesty of our good God, with acknowledgment of our faults, praying Him to make us feel them more deeply, and that in the meantime, we may always resort to Him, and not be disheartened, even though we are all too unworthy to offer ourselves before His Majesty. Let us not falter because of our vices and imperfections, but seeing that it has pleased Him to be on our side, may He make the remedies He has given us serve us when we need them, as we desire them at His hand.
May we endeavor to profit from His Word so that it may guide us to the end, so that we may not falter in any encounter, but that the devil may be confounded, and our Lord Jesus Christ exalted, for it is under Him and by His power that we fight, and He is also the source of our victory.
May it please Him to grant this grace not only to us but also to all people. Amen.
The Forty-Seventh Sermon, which is the fifth upon the sixth chapter.
18. Praying with all prayer and supplication, at all times in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints:
19. And for me, that in opening my mouth, utterance may be given unto me with boldness, to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel (Ephesians 6:18-19).
Many, supposing themselves to have profited well in faith, are yet ignorant of what belongs to prayer. They think it enough if they can say, "God help me," when they see any danger at hand, and yet in the meantime, do not flee to Him for refuge. But such people do not understand the purpose of the promises that are made to us.
For God does not say simply that He will care for us and help us in all our needs; He also draws us to Him and encourages us to pray.
Therefore, the two cannot be separated—that is, we should rest upon the hope of God's promises, have them deeply rooted in our hearts, and be stirred up to approach our God, so that our faith is exercised in prayer and supplication.
Thus, we see that they are inseparable things. The more we grow in faith, the more earnestly we should call upon our God, acknowledging and confessing that our salvation lies in His hands and that we expect all good things from Him. Since we are so often slow in this regard, He sets down two words, prayer and supplication, to express that we should not approach this coldly, lightly, or merely out of courtesy. Instead, we must be deeply moved, continue in prayer (as He will soon add), and persist without ceasing at any time.
It is true that God tells us through His prophet Isaiah that He will hear us before we cry and His hand will be ready to help us before we
have opened our mouths (Isaiah 65:24). However, this is not to make us lazy, as if we could just wait idly for Him with open mouths, but to show that He will not allow us to linger when we call upon Him. It demonstrates that He is not negligent to help us and, as proof, He often anticipates our needs, as we have seen by experience.
Yet, He still wants us to offer a true proof of our faith by praying to Him. The best way to show that His promises have taken effect in us, and that we trust in them, is that as soon as we are touched by any grief or affliction, we go straight to Him and unburden our hearts, as is said elsewhere (Philippians 4:6).
Now, we see how we must take advantage of God's Word, by which we are assured that He will never fail us. This means that we must seek from Him the things He has promised to provide. Prayers, therefore, are like keys that open the treasures that God reserves for us, treasures that He does not intend to keep from us. Thus, we must open the way to these treasures by praying.
And yet Saint Paul does not think it enough to say that our faith must be matched with prayers and supplications to our God, but he also says, "with all prayer." As if he meant to say, in all matters, in all things both great and small, in all our doings, whatever they may be, that must be our anchor. For it might happen that we would call upon God only when we thought of Him or when we had some matter of importance in hand. But Saint Paul, as I said, wants us to render to God that homage everywhere and at all times, protesting that we cannot receive any good but from His hand, and by His mere free gift. This is what the word "all" means.
Indeed, we see how our Lord takes charge of our whole life, with the condition that we should seek Him even for the lowliest things, for matters we would not even ask of a friend who is our equal or
companion. Even those things He wants us to ask of Him. For under the phrase that He gives us "our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11), it is certain He includes all that pertains to our life. Alas, how many small things we need, which we would be ashamed to admit even to our inferiors! Yet God humbles Himself so far as to care for our persons, which are but wretched and decaying, and yet He will not have us hesitate to ask Him for what is necessary and expedient for us.
Since this is the case, let us remember well what Saint Paul says, that we should pray to our God for all things we need, assured that He will yield to us so far that nothing will escape His hands.
He explicitly says that we must pray "at all times, and in the Spirit."
When he says "in the Spirit," it is surely to exclude all hypocrisy, for we know that most of the world babbles enough when they ought to come to God. However, it is only their lips or the tips of their tongues that perform their duty. But that is not the manner in which God desires to be prayed to or called upon. He does not approve of such supplications but rather abhors them, because when we pray to Him so foolishly, we use Him as a false cover, which is a kind of treachery.
For if we think we will be heard by God merely for our babbling, while our hearts are dead and our prayers do not come from a rightly disposed and earnest mind, we make God into an idol or a little child, thus doing great wrong to His majesty. To put it briefly, we transfigure Him after our own fancy. Therefore, it is necessary that our prayers not only be made with our mouths but also come from the depths of our hearts.
Now, since we do not have this power of our own, the Holy Spirit must be the one to work in us. Thus, by the word "Spirit," it can be understood that we should beseech God to govern us in such a way that He thoroughly touches us so that we may pray to Him as we
ought, and that He may also accept our prayers, recognizing in them the marks of His Holy Spirit.
We must always remember what is said in the Epistle to the Romans, "We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans" (Romans 8:26). For, in respect to ourselves, prayer is something that surpasses our understanding, and even the most capable among us fail in this regard, despite the fact that many believe they know perfectly how and what to pray to God.
However, such opinions only shut us out from the gate unless, upon recognizing our faults and infirmities, we go directly to the remedy.
As Saint Paul says, "The Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (Romans 8:26), without which we could not even utter the word "Father."* Also, as he says to the Galatians, "Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father'" (Galatians 4:6).
It is certain, therefore, that we will never be properly disposed to pray to God unless He governs us by His Holy Spirit.
Moreover, Saint Paul's intent (as I have declared already) is to exclude all counterfeiting, and that we should not hope to justify our case before God by ceremonies or by "popish holiness" (as they term it), in making long prayers and many circumstances, but rather allow the Spirit to bear sway.
Wherefore, first of all, let us be so touched that the Spirit may be our master and teacher, and direct us in the things we have to utter in calling upon our God. Secondly, let our prayers proceed from the bottom of our heart, and let us put this saying of the Psalms into practice: "The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on
him in truth" (Psalm 145:18). For it is said that He is near only to such as possess that quality.
And not without cause is such an explanation given. For (as I have declared already), we are so inclined to deceit that, in our estimation,
God ought to yield to us and to our nature. But it is the very opposite.
Now then, forasmuch as God perceives that men abuse His name in that fashion, making prayers after their own manner—that is to say, prayers wrapped in hypocrisy and untruth, and lacking substance and sincerity—He says expressly that we must not hope to be heard by Him, nor to obtain anything from Him, unless our prayers are ruled by a right heart, meaning that we must pray with sincere affection.
Thus, you see what we have to remember concerning Saint Paul's saying. And when he says, "steadfastly and with endurance to the end," it is to express even more clearly that it is never out of season to call upon God. This is added because we would gladly exempt ourselves from our duty to God. In this, we see how imperfect our minds are and how devoid of wisdom and reason we can be.
For all our welfare consists in having access to God, seeking help from His hand, and being near to Him so that we are assured He regards us and cares for our well-being. Besides, who would not desire to be heard? Yet, when it comes to praying to God, it seems we are dragged to it by force, though we ought to be drawn to it with love, as I have shown already.
Now then, this vice of recklessness and coldness, in that we never pray to God unless we are compelled or constrained, must be corrected. Saint Paul, therefore, tells us that we must not wait until utter necessity forces us, but rather we must understand that all times are suitable and convenient to resort to God. Indeed, the more
we are urged forward, the faster we should run, for it is certain that we are often spurred by afflictions and manifold troubles that God sends us.
And just as if a donkey will not go, it must have a good cudgel laid upon its back, so God, perceiving that we do not come to Him willingly, is often forced to draw us to Him as if by violence. But still, every person must cheer himself up, even if no urgent necessity compels him.
In short, we must pray to our God both in times of prosperity and in times of adversity. That is the meaning of these words: "at all times."
And thereupon Saint Paul says that we must be watchful in it, even with all persistence, to pray for all the saints. In saying that we must be watchful, he touches on a vice to which we are too much inclined, even wholly given over: that is, we are sleepy when we should pray unto God and need to be awakened. Because of our heaviness and sluggishness, we are commanded to wake and keep a continual watch, so that we do not let opportunities slip but always resort unto
God with prayer.
There is no person, no matter how perfect, who does not find this malady within themselves—that when we should pray to God, many things distract us, sending our minds wandering abroad. Instead of holding out earnestly, we find our thoughts roving here and there.
Seeing then that we are so fickle, with minds so skittish that it is hard to hold them steady for any length of time, it is all the more necessary for us to be watchful, to bring ourselves back again into the good way when we have strayed from it.
Let us not wait until the devil has gained the upper hand, plucking us away from our prayers and supplications, breaking off the continual
course of them and the steadfastness that ought to be in them.
Rather, when we pray, let us be as though we are locked in and tied to it—that is, let all our thoughts be fully focused and fixed upon the matter at hand.
Even the heathens, when they were about to sacrifice to their idols, had this proverb: "While you worship God, do nothing else; be wholly occupied and fastened thereunto, thinking of nothing else." If God wrested such a confession from them, what ought we to do when we offer Him the chief sacrifice He values above all others—when we confess that we are indebted to Him for all good things? Should we mix our own vanities with it, making our prayer merely a matter of custom or fashion?
This watchfulness that Saint Paul speaks of is very necessary, given the frailty of our minds and especially because we are so prone to wandering. Therefore, when we go about to pray unto God, let us focus our entire minds upon it, letting no other cares or affections entangle our thoughts. Let our coming to prayer be as though we had broken all other bonds. That is why mention is made of lifting up ourselves in prayer and supplication. True, in offering ourselves to God, we must come with humility, but we must also lift up our hearts in such a way that we may, in a sense, stand in the presence of our
God. This, I say, is the diligence required.
He goes on to say, "with all persistence," which emphasizes that if we intend to be well-disposed to praying, we must not approach it lazily.
If we follow what our own nature shows us, we will be far from approaching God. Therefore, each person must force themselves. For when Saint Paul speaks in this way, it is as if he says, "My friends, you will find such coldness in yourselves that you will never pray to
God, nor will you ever be willing to pray unless you provoke and force yourselves."
The devil will always seek to blind you, so that you do not see the need to pray unto God. And if you remain asleep, it will cause your
God to forsake you, seeing that you are so thankless as to despise His benefits and give Him no honor for them, nor even acknowledge that all your welfare proceeds from Him. Like wicked fools, we defile the benefits God bestows upon us unless we acknowledge that we have all things from His hand, even by asking for the things we lack from Him, and by giving Him thanks for the things we have already received. So then, let us learn to match our watchfulness with all persistence.
And herein we comprehend holding out or perseverance: it is not enough for us to pray unto God by starts and bursts (as they say), but we must continue in it, and that in two ways. First, when we have prayed today—both evening and morning, and every hour—we must hold on still and never swerve from that course as long as we live. For our faith (as I said) must exercise itself, and the means to exercise it is through prayer.
There is yet another form of perseverance: when we have asked God to help us in this or that matter, we must repeat the same request— not just twice or thrice—but as often as we need, even a hundred or a thousand times. For example, although God has told us that He will come to our aid before we even open our mouths to Him, yet He does not always show it openly to our eyes. Therefore, we must never grow weary in waiting for God's help. Also, it is not fitting for us to be heard according to our own preferences, because God knows what is best and most expedient for us.
So then, He must govern us according to His will. But (as I said) if we pray to Him in the right manner, He promises that we shall obtain all our requests, even before we have uttered them. Nevertheless, He may sometimes hold us at a distance, so much so that it may seem as though He is asleep when we call upon Him, or that He has turned
His back on us. For this reason, perseverance is necessary, so that if we are troubled with any distress and seek relief from God, we must not do it just once and be done, but must return to it often and be (as one might say) persistent, according to the parable our Lord Jesus told us about the widow who dealt with a judge who had neither fear of God nor regard for men, yet she obtained her request through persistence (Luke 18:1-8).
So must we do—that is, we must be persistent with God. Not that He is slow to help us (as I said before), but because He will test the constancy of our faith. For those who pray to God and then become impatient or angry if He does not relieve them immediately are not truly praying to Him, but (as it were) summoning Him to be at the command of their desires. However, we must restrain all our passions and desires to align with God's will, so that even when we pray for Him to act swiftly, we may nevertheless be patient and content to wait for His timing, whether that is today, tomorrow, or as long as it pleases Him.
You see then that we must continue in prayer and supplication. We must pray presently for the needs that press us today, and likewise tomorrow for those that may come. We must pray daily and consistently. Moreover, if God does not deliver us as soon as we would like, we must not cease to renew our petitions until we perceive that we have gained from our praying, and that He has shown us the fulfillment of His promise.
Since it is difficult for us to be brought to pray properly to God, Saint Paul here puts forth something that ought to persuade us—that is, we are bound to pray not only for ourselves but also to care for our neighbors and consider them in our prayers. It is true that if we properly understood our own miseries, the great number of sins within us, and the dire need we have to be helped by God, we would find ample reason to dedicate ourselves entirely to prayer and supplication. Indeed, we could spend our whole lives sighing and lamenting before God for our offenses, asking Him to reach out His hand so that Satan may not overcome us.
As I said, we would have enough cause within ourselves. But now, when we must extend our prayers further—that is, to the whole
Church of God—and understand that God does not want me to think only of myself but also to remember all His chosen people, knowing that He has bound me to them, and I must endeavor to include them in my prayers as much as possible. Seeing, then, that we are resolved on this matter, it must be that we are truly blockish if we are not more deeply moved and set afire with the carefulness spoken of here, and furthermore, that we continue steadfastly in it.
Howbeit, Saint Paul speaks here expressly of the Saints or the faithful, yet that is no impediment to praying generally for all men.
For the wretched unbelievers and the ignorant have great need to be prayed for unto God. Behold, they are on the high road to destruction. If we saw a beast at the point of perishing, we would have pity on it. What then shall we do when we see a soul in peril, which is so precious before God, as He has shown by ransoming it with the blood of His own Son? If we see a poor soul heading toward destruction, ought we not to be moved with compassion and kindness to desire that God remedy it?
Saint Paul's meaning in this text is not that we should leave the wretched unbelievers alone without care for them. Rather, we should pray generally for all men. However, he also shows that we must have a special care for those whom God has knit to us with a closer bond. Likewise, when Paul speaks of almsgiving (Galatians 6:10), his intent is that it should be done to all men without exception who are in need. Yet, he adds that we must especially help those who are of the household of faith. The same applies to our prayers and supplications. The spiritual brotherhood which God has set among us ought to touch us more deeply and make the Church of God come before our eyes and into our remembrance as often as we pray.
The words "Our Father" ought to teach us to make our prayers communal. None of us can say "My Father" alone, but we say "Our
Father" to show that we ought not to have such care for ourselves that we forget those who belong to us and are linked to us by such a close bond, as I have already explained. That is why Saint Paul says explicitly that we must pray for the Saints.
If this truth were well imprinted in our hearts (as I said before), we would be more fervent in praying to God without end or ceasing.
Consider the state and plight of the Church in these days. Although the Lord gives us some rest, yet our poor brethren are tormented by tyrants and the enemies of the faith. Some are forced to flee; some have their goods taken from them; many are thrust into prison; and others are burned at the stake. These poor souls are in constant distress, facing new terrors every minute of every hour.
We see the most terrible threats and menacing actions. We see how the devil drives all those who seek to abolish the doctrine of the Gospel with outrageous fury. We witness the stumbling blocks Satan thrusts in through his champions, scattering the faithful. Many seek
nothing less than to bring the Gospel to shame. Meanwhile, the poor servants of God, who devote themselves to His service, are troubled and vexed in every way.
If we gather together all the miseries and adversities to which the Church is subject, and consider the distress of each of our brethren, must it not be that we are duller than brute beasts if we are not moved to pray unto God with true perseverance? For though I may be at ease today, there are many thousands in great perplexity. I show that I cut myself off (as much as I can) from the body of our
Lord Jesus Christ if I do not pity the members to whom I am linked.
It is not without reason, therefore, that Saint Paul sets all the Saints before us when he intends to inflame us with a rightly disposed mind in praying and to continue faithfully in the same.
And thereupon he also requires that men should pray for him. "You shall pray for me also," says he, "that God may give me boldness in opening my mouth, so that I may utter the secret of the Gospel accordingly" (Ephesians 6:19).
When Saint Paul commends himself to the prayers of his neighbors, he shows in this way how humble we ought to be. He did not pretend in exhorting the Ephesians to such praying; he truly expressed his need for it before God and His angels. Now let us compare ourselves with Saint Paul. Who among us is so able that we can do without the prayers of our neighbors when even Saint Paul does not exempt himself from such need? Therefore, let every man in his prayers to God desire to be a partaker of all the prayers made throughout the Church, both generally and particularly.
Indeed, this promise shall always remain true, that God will be near to all those who call upon Him (Psalm 145:18). Jonah was not
forsaken, though he was in the belly of the whale (Jonah 2:1). Now, therefore, when we are forsaken by men, when we are as good as dead and the memory of us is as good as buried, yet God will not cease to regard us. He will cast His eye upon us to help us, according to this saying: "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry" (Psalm 34:15).
Nevertheless, to humble us further, our Lord tells us that we need each other's help and that there should be mutual sharing among us.
Besides this, there is another reason: God desires to keep our charity in action. Therefore, let us learn to show, both by our alms, by our counsel, and by all other helps, that none of us is given to himself or his own private profit. Rather, since God has linked us together, let each of us seek to help our members and to communicate with each other in prayers and supplications. For commending one another to God in this manner is the chief duty of charity. That is why Saint
Paul specifically asks the Ephesians to pray for him.
Now, if anyone alleges that this is a sign of unbelief—saying, "If God's promise suffices us, does it not show distrust to ask others to pray for us?"—the answer is simple. While God says He will have pity on all who seek Him, He does not nullify what He commands in so many other passages: namely, that we should be mindful of one another.
Furthermore, we should note that following God's Word can never be blamed as unbelief. Misbelief occurs when people go beyond the bounds of God's Word and add things He has not commanded.
For example, in the papacy, men have invented so many patrons and advocates that they no longer know whom to turn to. This stems from their own overactive imaginations and their distrust of what
God has revealed. We have this general lesson: "Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you" (Psalm 50:15). God wants us to
turn to Him alone, confident that He will not refuse us when we pray in His Son's name.
Our Lord Jesus Christ comes before us and offers Himself as our advocate, saying that He will intercede for us. As long as we walk in this path, we need not fear that we will be denied access to the Father or that He will not receive us. This is the testimony of Holy Scripture.
But what have the papists done? They say, "We need advocates to intercede for us." It is true that we need an advocate, but our Lord
Jesus Christ, whom God the Father has appointed for us, should suffice. He alone has been assigned to that office.
In contrast, the papists invent advocates in paradise at their own pleasure, thereby stripping Jesus Christ of the priestly dignity given to Him by the Father, even confirmed with a solemn oath. They are not content with that but have patched together such confusion that their case has become a horrible mess.
As for us, if we follow what is taught in God's Word, we shall walk in faith and need not fear going astray or being blamed for unbelief, for God will always guide us rightly. This then is the answer to the question or doubt that might be raised: Is it a sign of distrust to ask others to pray for us, when every person can be heard individually?
The things God has joined together, man must not separate. We must always remember that every person should engage in prayer and also draw their neighbors to join them in prayer. Thus, we will never turn away from faith.
Now if any man objects further that our Lord Jesus Christ cannot be the only advocate and patron if we make supplication for one another, the answer is easy. It is said that Jesus Christ is the only mediator, and that all men, both great and small, must resort to Him
to obtain their requests (1 Timothy 2:5). For unless our prayers are sanctified by His holiness, surely they will be foul and infected.
When Isaiah was commanded to deliver the message that God had appointed, he said, "Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6:5). How, then, shall I call upon my God and speak familiarly to Him, as it were mouth to mouth, seeing that we are full of uncleanness and infection? Thus, all our prayers must be sanctified by our Lord Jesus Christ, or we will never find favor with God.
It is also most certain that Christ is the only advocate and intercessor, as even the ancient patriarchs, prophets, and apostles were bound to follow that rule, and we must continue in the same way. Yet, this does not prevent us from praying for one another, for we all have but one common head, which is our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all our prayers must be united. In this way, we may all with one accord and in harmony declare that we have no other welfare than what it pleases God to provide. Our full felicity rests upon His care, and based on that trust, we come directly to Him.
The means for us to continue on the right path and ensure that our Lord Jesus Christ is not diminished is to take Him as our only advocate and not turn aside after our own vain imaginations, as has happened in the papacy. We see that the papists have not hesitated to use this very text to persuade us to pray to Saint Peter and Saint
Paul, even to saints of the Pope's own invention, or rather to idols, which the devil has whispered into his ear.
But here we must consider that we are commanded to pray mutually for one another because God has also commanded us to seek help and comfort from our neighbors. Our Lord wills it so and promises
that we shall find it. Saint James speaks similarly: "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another" (James 5:16).
That is to say, when you are pressed with temptation and feel many infirmities and vices within you, let each man unburden himself toward his neighbors, saying, "Alas, I have such a thing that grieves me; I have offended my God in such and such a way." By confessing these infirmities, you will stir one another to pray.
But now, is there anything similar between the saints who have passed and us? Will Saint Peter and Saint Paul come to confess their sins to us, so that we might pray for them? Or do they have ears long enough to hear our prayers? Certainly not! We see then that God intended to restrict mutual prayer to those who are still living and engaged in the battle. Those who need our prayers shall also pray for us, and we must do the same for them. But as for those who have departed from this world, it is not for us to make them our advocates before God.
If we cannot appoint an advocate in a legal matter concerning even a few shillings, because it is within the judge's power to appoint such a person, how much more presumptuous is it for us to assume the power to appoint advocates in heaven? What pride and arrogance is this? Is it not an affront to God's majesty and authority?
Therefore, let us learn to pray for one another within the bounds God has established, without wandering into each person's conceit. We should be content to care for all the members of the Church, as we are bound to do, and to take comfort and joy in the fact that God has graciously bound His whole Church to us. Through this mutual communication, we show ourselves to be members of the body of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
At the same time, let us all aim toward our head, knowing that our prayers, if not sanctified by our Lord Jesus Christ, would be unworthy, foul, filthy, and offensive. Knowing this, let us never presume to open our mouths to call upon God except in the name of our Mediator, assured that it is His office to intercede for us and to make us heard, so that we may find God favorable and eager to help us.
This, then, is the way for us to pray boldly to God, as is said in the texts from Romans 8 and James, and also as we have seen in the third chapter of this Epistle. We must call upon God through the faith we have in Jesus Christ, assured that He not only came into the world to shed His blood once for the remission of our sins but also stands continually before God to intercede for us. Thus, we can be fully convinced that, though we are but wretched earthworms, God accepts us and avows us as His children through Christ. He will always be merciful in receiving our prayers and supplications, not because we offer them in our own name or through our own merits
(for that would be foolish presumption), but because He has commanded it and shown us the way we should follow.
Now let us fall down before the Majesty of our good God, with acknowledgment of our faults, praying Him to pardon them, notwithstanding that we deserve to be quite cut off from the hope of salvation. And forasmuch as it has pleased Him to call us to Himself, and to promise us that we shall be received in mercy if we come to Him with faith and humility, let us pray Him to prepare our hearts in such a way that we may make requests to Him as He allows.
Moreover, may He bear with our infirmities, so that we may not fail to obtain favor, even though there may be many imperfections in our prayers. And so, let us all say: Almighty God, heavenly Father, &c.