Martyn Lloyd-Jones again on Prayer

Posted on July 1, 2018 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

Martyn Lloyd-Jones said this about prayer in a sermon on John 17:

“Our whole idea of prayer is false. We think of prayer only as guidance and requests. Now if you were to put that into practice in human relationships you would regard it as insulting. No, the thing the saint wants to know above everything else is that all is well between his soul and the Father. There is nothing the saint delights in more than to know God as his Father. He likes to maintain the contact and communion, to assure his heart before God and in the presence of God. The saint is in this difficult world, there are temptations from the outside and the whole world is against us, and the saint is tried – sometimes he almost despairs. So he goes to God immediately, not to ask this or that but just to make certain that all is well there, that the contact is unbroken and perfect, that he can assure his heart and know that all is well.”

This quote was found in The Assurance of Our Salvation (Studies in John 17): Exploring the Depth of Jesus’ Prayer for His Own which is a collection of Lloyd-Jones’ sermons on John 17.

Jesus tells us that we are to approach God in a childlike way. What is more childlike than to look to our father to assure us that everything will be OK?

Life as a flawed human in a flawed world is often difficult. But, for the Christian, we have the assurance that God will see us through to the end. I don’t think it is possible to over emphasize what Paul tells us in Philippians:

“I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6, CSB)

We have been told this, but we have a patient Father who is willing to tell us over and over again that he is with us and all will be well.

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

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