Handbook, or Short Instruction

sins: I would probably never pray again because of my sins if I were to wait for my own worthiness or fitness. Now, Lord, I know this: that I should pray in Christ and also be heard for his sake. But I do not know where, in what place I must seek and address You—whether You are perhaps more pleased on Mount Sinai with Moses, or on Mount Tabor with Christ, or in the Temple with the scribes; whether one place is holier than the other.

But I recognize through Your light within me that one place is worth as much as another, for You fill heaven and earth; You are present in all places. Psalm 139 For if I ascended to heaven, You would be there; if I made my bed in hell, You would be there also; if I flew to the sea, even there Your hand would find me; if I said "darkness must cover me," the night would still be light around me. Just as all times are as one time before You, so all places are as one place before Your eyes.

And so I may come to You in the field, on the sea, in my private room, or in the church; the location makes me neither more blessed nor more condemned, for the location is outside of me, and Your kingdom requires no physical place; it exists in the spirit within me. But that I go into my little chamber original: "Kämmerlein" — a reference to the "inner room" or "closet" mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 6 and shut the door behind me, I do this...