Posted on 02/13/2018 7:00:09 AM PST by Gamecock
John Calvin’s third rule of prayer was that we must always pray with genuine feeling. Prayer is a matter of passion: “Many repeat prayers in a perfunctory manner from a set form, as if they were performing a task to God … They perform the duty from custom, because their minds are meanwhile cold, and they ponder not what they ask.”
A fourth rule of prayer from Calvin was that it be always accompanied by repentance: “God does not listen to the wicked; that their prayers, as well as their sacrifices, are an abomination to them. For it is right that those who seal up their hearts should find the ears of God closed against them.”
Calvin said a humble submission is required: “Of this submission, which casts down all haughtiness, we have numerous examples in the servants of God. The holier they are, the more humbly they prostrate themselves when they come into the presence of the Lord.”
If I can summarize Calvin’s teaching on prayer succinctly, I would say this: The chief rule of prayer is to remember who God is and to remember who you are. If we remember those two things, our prayers will always and ever be marked by adoration and confession.
Coram Deo
Do you pray with genuine feeling? Do you always accompany your prayers with repentance?
Passages for Further Study
Philippians 4:6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
1 Peter 4:7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
Ping!
There are sometimes you may not “feel” like praying...that’s exactly when you should pray.
John Calvin had a guy killed because he disagreed with him theologically, Michael Cervantes, I would take everything he said with a big grain of salt
I guess you really have a problem with Roman Catholicism then.
James 5:16 KJV Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
My point was Roman Catholicism had far more killed.
Organized religion ... “how” you pray is more important than anything else ... for instance content and sincerity?
What if you’re in the throes of sin and you pray to God for help?
Calvin presupposes that you have to be perfect or near perfect for God to hear you. Is that a correct understanding?
Yet God never abandons us. He’s always looking for us. He’s always with us, even if we’re eating out of a pig trough.
The Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, believed in, gives us “boldness and access” to the Father. That’s the believers firm foundation. We can grow and mature in this, but there is NO separation any more due to sin. We “are accepted in the Beloved”.
I got the above from Paul, not Calvin:
“In Him and through faith in Him we may enter God’s presence with boldness and confidence.”—Ephesians 3:12
“...the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”—Ephesians 1:6
In Him. By Him.
An undeniable point.
Content and sincerity are both part of how you pray.
Attacking the Catholic Church on a Protestant/Evangelical Devotional thread.
You just can’t stop.
That’s my point ... but we need “rules” for this?
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Some people are not at ease without rules.
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Calvin was a nut. Sorry, true.
I hope you’ll tolerate a question from a Catholic.
It might help to define what Calvin means when he says that God closes his ears to the prayers of the wicked. Who is “wicked?” If faith is the instrument of our salvation (even Catholics believe that much), isn’t the mere act of praying (presuming, of course, that it is sincere) a sign of faith? If by “wicked” one means “one behaves wickedly,” and “prayer” shall be understood as prayer in deference to God’s will, wouldn’t the true prayer of the wicked be deliverance from wickedness and therefore it would be heard?
Or does Calvin precisely mean that God does not hear the insincere nor self-seeking prayer?
Today I count, "God please help me", as one of my most heartfelt and effective prayers - He knows what I need versus what I would like and I trust Him to do as He will.
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