Vol. 1 Issue 6 - June 2014

THE GENERAL PRAYER – PART II

The General Prayer continues: And we beseech thee so to implant Thy Word in us that in good and honest hearts we may keep it and bring forth fruit by patient continuance in welldoing.

Beseech isn’t a word that is common to the English language anymore. It means to pray or ask for something urgently and eagerly. This word teaches us how we are to pray. Faith is eager to pray because we know that the Lord will hear our prayer. Jesus says in Psalm 50:15 says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you.” He says, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24) We should be eager to pray because we know that the Lord will hear our petitions. Not only do we believe that He will hear our petitions, but the Lord will grant them according to His mercy. We are not to approach prayer with a tentative or doubting attitude. St. James writes:

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:6-8)

The point is that true prayer is only done in faith, which is confidence in God’s promises. Luther preaches, “He means that the heart of such a man does not continue stable, therefore God can give it nothing; but faith keeps the heart calm and stable and makes it receptive for the divine gifts.” 

So the Church beseeches the Lord that He would implant (or engraft) His Word in us. St. James writes, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21). James compares the Word of God to seed which must be planted in soil in order to accomplish anything. 

As the farmer works through his seed, so the Lord works through His Word. In fact, God works only through His Word. Since the Lord has ordained to work through the seed of His holy Word, we want to be the kind of soil that gladly accepts the seed of the Divine Word. We pray that He would continue to be efficacious through His Word, that is, that God the Lord would work in our hearts through His Word. We want Him to plant His Word firmly and deeply into our hearts so that it can grow and bear fruit in our lives. So we pray, “that in good and honest hearts we may keep it and bring forth fruit by patient continuance in welldoing.”

In Jesus’ parable of the sower, the sower casts seed on several different types of ground. Some seed falls by the wayside and it is trampled by men and where birds snatch up the seed. Some seed falls on rock and springs up immediately but then dies for lack of moisture. Other seed fell among thorns but the thorns choke the seedling to death. Still other seed falls on good soil and produces vegetation.

Jesus explains that “Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.” (Luke 8:12) These people do not hear the word with meekness. They hear the word but do not take it to heart and easily cast it aside as something that cannot benefit them in this life.

Jesus then says that “the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.” (Luke 8:13) These people want to hear the Word and be Christian, but the temptations of the world tease them away from the gospel so that they abandon it. These are the people who want to remain friends with the world and be Christian at the same time. St. James chides this attitude in James 4:4, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Jesus tells the disciples in John 15:19, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own.” These people hear the Word but do not want to repent from their sins and be hated by the world for Christ’s sake.

Next, Jesus says, “Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.” (Luke 8:14) These are those who hear the Word of God but refuse to give up their reliance upon mammon and carnal pleasures. They may begin to bear fruit, but they cannot bear mature, ripe fruit that benefits anyone. This soil is similar to the rocky soil.

Finally, Jesus says, “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” (Luke 8:15) These are those who hear the Word of God and desire to have it fulfilled in their lives. They are those who “who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” (Matthew 5:6) To have a “noble and good heart” does not mean to be a good person, for no one is good but God. (Matthew 19:17)

It also means to have a heart that wants to hear God’s Word, receive it, ponder it, and meditate upon it. The good soil receives the seed of the Word. It does “not despise preaching and His Word, but holds it sacred, and gladly hears and learns it” as we confess in the explanation to the Third Commandment. In this petition we pray that God gives us the desire to hear good preaching, study the Scripture privately in our homes and corporately with others in our congregation. We pray that God would make us into this good soil every week.

The fruit that we will bring forth “by patient continuance is welldoing” are the good works which spontaneously follow faith. We are to daily repent of our sin and “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,” (Matthew 3:8) that is, forsake our sin and fight against it because “having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness.” (Romans 6:22) Hearing the Word in repentance and faith “we should bear fruit to God.” (Romans 7:4)

Just as planting a seed has a goal, so there is a goal to the implanting of the seed of the Word. The goal is “eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality.” (Romans 2:7) Let always continually beseech the Lord that He make us into good soil so that we may hear His Word and receive it with humility so that we bear the fruits belonging to the seed of the Word in our lives.