Luther on Prayer - Large Catechism

The Last Petition

¹¹² “But deliver us from evil. Amen.”

¹¹³ In the Greek² this petition reads, “Deliver or keep us from the Evil One, or the Wicked One.” The petition seems to be speaking of the devil as the sum of all evil in order that the entire substance of our prayer may be directed against our arch-enemy. It is he who obstructs everything that we pray for: God’s name or glory, God’s kingdom and will, our daily bread, a good and cheerful conscience, etc.

¹¹⁴ Therefore we sum it all up by saying, “Dear Father, help us to get rid of all this misfortune.” ¹¹⁵ Nevertheless, this petition ^(tr-731) includes all the evil that may befall us under the devil’s kingdom: poverty, shame, death, and, in short, all the tragic misery and heartache of which there is so incalculably much on earth. Since the devil is not only a liar but also a murderer,³ he incessantly seeks our life and vents his anger by causing accidents and injury to our bodies. He breaks many a man’s neck and drives others to insanity; some he drowns, and many he hounds to suicide or other dreadful catastrophes. ¹¹⁶ Therefore there is nothing for us to do on earth but to pray constantly against this arch-enemy. For if God did not support us, we would not be safe from him for a single hour.

¹¹⁷ Thus you see how God wants us to pray to him for everything that affects our bodily welfare and directs us to seek and expect help from no one but him. ¹¹⁸ But this petition he has put last, for if we are to be protected and delivered from all evil, his name must first be hallowed in us, his kingdom come among us, and his will be done. Then he will preserve us from sin and shame and from everything else that harms or injures us.

¹¹⁹ Thus God has briefly set before us all the afflictions that may ever beset us in order that we may never have an excuse for failing to pray. But the efficacy of prayer consists in our learning also to say “Amen” to it — that is, not to doubt that our prayer is surely heard and will be granted. ¹²⁰ This word is nothing else than an unquestioning affirmation of faith on the part of one who does not pray as a matter of chance but knows that God does not lie since he has promised to grant his requests. Where such faith is wanting, there can be no true prayer.

¹²¹ It is therefore a pernicious delusion when people pray in such a way that they dare not whole-heartedly add “yes” and conclude with certainty that God hears their prayer but remain in doubt, saying, “Why should I be so bold as to boast that God hears my prayer? I am only a poor sinner,” etc. ¹²² That means they have their eye not on God’s promise but on their own works and worthiness, so that they despise God and accuse him of lying. ¹²³ Therefore they receive nothing, as St. James says, “If anyone prays, let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from God.”^{4 124} Behold, such is the importance that God attaches to our being certain that we do not pray in vain and that we must not in any way despise our prayers.^(t

Luther, Large Catechism