Little Prayer Book

Psalm 145.

...gather all our thoughts, indeed, lift our whole heart to GOD and Christ, and conduct ourselves in no other way than as if the Lord were present before our eyes—just as He truly is present to all those who call upon Him, to all those who call upon Him in earnest. A reference to Psalm 145:18: "The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth." We should lay before Him all our need, distress, sorrow, and concerns—above all, that we be delivered from sins—with fervent desires original: "hitzigen Begierden" – literally "heated" or "burning" desires, emphasizing a passionate intensity in prayer.; we should also, with faith, perceive and wait for His hearing, answer, comfort, help, and assistance in all that which is for our salvation.

Matthew 6, 7.

Behold, thus should we prepare ourselves for prayer, if we wish to pray rightly. But now, in times past, along with many other superstitions and errors, a very ruinous and grave abuse has taken root in Christian prayer, which unfortunately still persists today even among those who have recognized the truth to some degree: namely, that one makes prayer a cold, dead, external, and futile original: "vergeben" – meaning in vain or useless. work, by merely reciting the words without spirit and faith, babbling along original: "hinplappert" – to prattle or chatter without thought; a reference to the "vain repetitions" of the Gentiles mentioned in Matthew 6:7. with the mouth without heart, love, or earnestness.