Reformation
500 WEEK 45: Heidelberg Catechism QA 116-119
Question 116: Why is
prayer necessary for Christians?
Because it is the chief part of
thankfulness which God requires of us, and because God will give His grace and
Holy Spirit only to those who earnestly and without ceasing ask them of Him,
and render thanks unto Him for them.
The Christian
life is a life of thankfulness. Prayer is the chief or main part of showing
ourselves thankful for our salvation. God saved us first of all that we
might thank and praise Him for His glorious grace. “Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ …having predestined us to
adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of
His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph. 1:3, 5-6). You
are “His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him
who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9; cf. Psalm
103:1-2; 116:12-17). “No one has faith who is not thankful for it; for all
those who possess true faith taste the grace of God, and those who have tasted
the grace of God show themselves thankful to God for it, and desire it more and
more” (Ursinus, 620).
The second reason
why prayer is necessary is because it is God’s appointed way for us to receive
all those things that are necessary both for soul and body. “Call upon Me in
the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm
50:15). “For everyone who asks receives” (Luke 11:10). Our Father in heaven
already knows what we need (Matt. 6:8) but still He requires us to ask Him,
because He wants us to realize what our real needs are;
and that He is the only who can meet our needs. “We do not obtain the
blessings which are necessary for us, except we ask them at the hands of God;
for He has promised them to none but such as ask. Prayer is, therefore, just as
necessary for us as it is necessary for a beggar to ask alms” (Ursinus, 620).
But don’t the
wicked receive many gifts from God, who nevertheless do not ask or desire them?
“The wicked do indeed received many gifts [Matt. 5:45]; but not such as are
principle nor peculiar to the elect, as faith, repentance, conversion,
remission of sins and regeneration. And still further, the gifts they do
receive do not contribute to their salvation, but to their destruction”
(Ursinus, 620).
Our
greatest need as Christians is for a continual supply of God’s grace and Holy
Spirit, so that we might live an obedient and thankful life. Jesus says to all
believers: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask Him!” Since we believers already have the Holy Spirit, to ask our
Father to give us the Holy Spirit is to ask for an increase of the
Spirit’s grace and gifts, primarily the gift of sanctification, which is
precisely what produces in us the faith and desire to call upon Jesus as LORD
(1 Cor. 12:3). “God effects in us a desire for the Holy Spirit and gives Him to
us in the very same moment…. We might also make a distinction between the beginning
and increase of the Spirit within us, inasmuch as we do not desire the
latter before we have the former. No one desires the Holy Spirit, except he in
whom the Spirit dwells” (Ursinus, 621). For the Christian, prayer is a way of
life: giving thanks, praying for help, and giving thanks for the help received:
“pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God”
(1 Thess. 5:18; cf. Eph. 5:20; Phil. 4:6-7).
Question 117: What
belongs to such prayer which is acceptable to God and which He will hear? First, that with
our whole heart we call only upon the one true God, who has revealed Himself to
us in His Word, for all that He has commanded us to ask of Him; second, that we thoroughly know
our need and misery, so as to humble ourselves in the presence of His divine
majesty; third, that we
be firmly assured that notwithstanding our unworthiness He will, for the sake
of Christ our Lord, certainly hear our prayer, as He has promised us in His
Word.
Three things are
necessary for our prayers to be acceptable to God. First, we must
sincerely ask the true God what He commands us to ask. “God is Spirit,
and those who worship Him must worship in spirit [sincerely] and truth
[according to Scripture]” (John 4:24). “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything
according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14). “God does not desire us
to direct vague and wandering petitions to Him, being uncertain what we should
pray for. A king would consider himself derided and mocked if anyone were to
kneel before him, without knowing what to ask as his hands” (Ursinus, 620). Second,
we must ask with humility, which is to realize how unworthy we
are to receive the help we so desperately need. “I am not worthy of the least
of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown me” (Gen. 32:10);
“we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor
do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You” (2 Chron. 20:12). Third,
we must ask with assurance that God will hear our prayer for Jesus’
sake. Jesus said, “whatever you ask [according to His will] in My name,
that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask
anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14; cf. Mark 11:24; Heb. 11:6).
Question 118: What has
God commanded us to ask of Him?
All things necessary for soul and body,
which Christ our Lord comprised in the prayer which He Himself taught us.
When the
disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1), Jesus taught them
what we call the Lord’s Prayer (recorded in Luke 11:2-4 and Matthew 6:9-13).
Jesus did not say, “Pray these exact words and no other.” He said, “In this
manner, pray” (Matt. 6:9); that is, pray like this. The Lord’s Prayer “contains, in the most condense form,
all things which are to be sought as necessary for soul and body. It is in like
manner a rule or pattern with which all our prayers ought to conform and
agree…. Hence Augustine declares that all the prayers of the saints which we
have in the Scriptures are contained in the Lord’s Prayer. Augustine also adds,
that we are at liberty to express the same things in other words when we pray”
(Ursinus, 625-626).
Question 119: What is the
Lord’s Prayer? Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your
name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us
this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For
Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
NOTE: These Posts were written and designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .
Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert: Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism 116-119
For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 45
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