Luther said, "To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing."Prayer is an important part of our spiritual life, but who do we pray FOR? Do we pray for our benefit of for God's? Do we pray to be better people, to somehow earn favor with God?
To take Luther's comparison of prayer and breathing further, who do we breathe for? Do we ever breathe for anyone else? Certainly not! We breathe to have life. In prayer, we "breathe" so that our new life in Christ will be made stronger. Just as God provides the oxygen we need to breathe, He also provides the Words we breathe in prayer. And the pneuma, that is the Spirit, "helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." Romans 8:26.
I encourage you to be healthy "breathers" and not asthematic Christians. If you don't know what to pray, try this "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."
Or, "Holy Spirit, my Comfort, pray for me a sinner."
Amen.
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