27 June 2020
On Prayer
We
are not left by ourselves to find our way in prayer. Jesus helps us at every
step. Long before we ever began to pray, He was praying for us and our
salvation. Whether we pray or don’t pray, whether we are asleep or awake, He
prays for us. However, He does not just pray for us, He prays with us so that
we can join Him in His praying. This happens for us, most obviously, in the
Divine Service. There He includes us in His praying and gets us to join Him as
He prays for us and the whole world. In the Divine Service, Jesus presents
Himself to us as our intercessor and prays with us. That’s why we pray to the
Father “through Jesus Christ our Lord” and in His name. That’s why the pastor
often introduces a prayer by greeting the congregation with the words, “The Lord
be with you”; he is announcing the presence of Jesus as our intercessor, our
leader in prayer, and offers His assistance to us in our praying. Like a
spell-checker on a computer, Jesus makes up for our weakness in prayer by doing
it for us and getting us to join with Him. Therefore, as we pray, we can
approach God boldly and confidently together with Jesus because He intercedes
on our behalf.
John
Kleinig, Grace Upon Grace: Spirituality for Today
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