Prayer And Study Resources

Prayer

... you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:12-13

What can be more excellent than Prayer;
what is more profitable to our life;
what sweeter to our souls;
what more sublime, in the course of our whole life,
than the practice of prayer!
-- St. Augustine

All true teachers of the Holy Scripture define
the nature and meaning of prayer, to be nothing more
or less, than a lifting up the mind or heart unto God.
--Martin Luther

Prayer is essential in the life of the Church and the lives of its members, but many of us have a very difficult time at first. Here are a couple of resources and several links that might be helpful to someone seeking to begin or enhance their prayer life.

◊ Commentary on the Lord's Prayer, Martin Luther, 1532:
Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML (from the Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount)

◊ A Simple Way To Pray, Martin Luther, 1535:
Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML
(also found as A Practical Way To Pray and by other titles)

◊ Sermon for The Second Sunday of Lent (Matthew 15:21-28), Martin Luther. This beautiful sermon about the Canaanite Woman centers on prayer, and the need to be persistent in our prayer requests to God.

◊ First Passion Sermon (Matthew 26:36-46), from Martin Luther's Holy Week series "Sermons on the Passion of Christ." This is an excellent sermon on Christ's prayer at Gethsemane, and how His prayer should guide our prayer.

◊ Sermon XII – On Prayer by Dr. Martin Luther

◊ Luther on Prayer, Pastor Julian L. Freeman, Grace Fellowship Church, Toronto, Canada
        (Opens in a new window at an exterior site.)

◊ The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence:
Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

◊ The Prayer module from "The Grace Class," with emphasis on the Lord's Prayer:
Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

◊ Scriptural References in the Prayer module from The Grace Class:
Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

◊ Prayer in the New Testament - 3rd Edition, by Doug Anderson:
Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

◊ Daily Prayer - 2nd Edition, by Doug Anderson:
Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

◊ Prayer By St. Augustine
MS Word | HTML

◊ The Psalms with a Table of Psalms - The Psalter is the traditional prayer book of the faithful; it is an excellent source for many types of prayer.

◊ John the Baptist in the New Testament:
Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

◊ Advice for Good Prayer, Rev. Mike McHugh

◊ The Church Sermons (Postils) of Martin Luther

• Martin Luther's Sermons
  Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Lexington, KY.; scanned and edited by the Dr. Richard Bucher
• Martin Luther's Complete Church Postils of 1544
  Web edition by Finn B. Andersen; organized by Church season and includes a scripture text table.

These two Church Postil links open in new windows at exterior sites.

◊ Morning_Service from the Church_Book of 1892 - For those Sundays when I'm out of town, ill, or when the weather is too inclement to safely travel to church.

See below for software links (readers for Microsoft™ Word and Adobe™ PDF).

Prayer Links

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

Daily Devotions
from the Lutheran Hour Ministries, Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.
People of Christ with the Message of Hope
Available as a daily email. A great way to kick off the day.

Today's reflection from Our Daily Bread

Daily Prayer Online at Sacred Space
    A few minutes of peaceful and fulfilling prayer from the Irish Jesuits.

Pray As You Go
A 10 minute devotion including music, scripture and reflective questions;
download to your MP3 player, or burn to a CD, for prayer wherever you go.
Source: Jesuit Media Initiatives, London

Oremus Office
Daily since 1993 by Steve Benner and Simon Kerchaw

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola
 

The Daily Readings from the Lectionary

Today's Readings
US Conference of Catholic Bishops

The Office of Readings / Mass Readings
From Universalis

Oremus Office
Published daily since 1993 by Steve Benner and Simon Kerchaw

Presbyterian Church of the USA

The Lutheran Lectionary
A guide to the one-year Lutheran lectionary.

The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod - Three-Year Lectionary

Other lectionaries can be found from this search of Google^TM: Daily Lectionary
   Note: Links open at an external site in a new window.

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The Motley Crew Bible Study Group

February 17, 2010: Rich Text Format | MS Doc | PDF | HTML
Sermon for the Third Sunday In Lent, Martin Luther's Sermon on Luke 11:14-28, a parallel passage to one we considered this week.

February 10, 2010: Rich Text Format | MS Doc | PDF | HTML

February 3, 2010: Rich Text Format | MS Doc | PDF | HTML

January 27, 2010: Rich Text Format | MS Doc | PDF | HTML

January 20, 2010: Rich Text Format | MS Doc | PDF | HTML

January 13, 2010: Rich Text Format | MS Doc | PDF | HTML

January 6, 2010: Rich Text Format | MS Doc | PDF | HTML

December 16, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Doc | PDF | HTML

December 9, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Doc | PDF | HTML

December 2, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Doc | PDF | HTML

November 18, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Doc | PDF | HTML

November 11, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Doc | PDF | HTML

September 23, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML
Excerpt from The Didache concerning False Prophets:
 Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

September 16, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

September 9, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML
The Prayer module from The Grace Class, with emphasis on the Lord's Prayer
Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML
Scriptural References in the Prayer module from The Grace Class
Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

September 2, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

August 26, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

August 19, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

August 12, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

August 5: 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

July 29, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML
Background: "The Effect of Herod the Great and His Descendants Upon the Early Church"
Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

July 22, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

July 15, 2009: Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML

The Gospel of Matthew:  Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML
Questions only from the beginning in mid-July through August 26.
Questions and Answers in the files above.

 

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Advent Devotions

Devotions from the Lutheran Hour Ministries, 2009

From Nazareth to Bethlehem

Who Would Have Thought?

Devotions for 2009 by Douglas D. Anderson

Come, O Emmanuel
Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML
A Devotional for the Eight Days Prior to Christmas
Based on the Great "O" Antiphons

Sing Hosanna! Zion Sing!
 Rich Text Format | MS Word | PDF | HTML
A Devotional for the Four Weeks of Advent

Other Advent and Christmas Resources

Advent - Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB
The History, Mystery and Practice of Advent, 1841

Calendars of Carols
For November, December and January

Carol Services
Advent and Christmas Carol Services

 

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Lenten Devotions

Psalms for Daily Prayer During Lent
MS Word | HTML

The Seven Penitential Psalms
MS Word | HTML

The Great Litany
Especially for the Ember Days, but a good penitential prayer at any time.

The Passion of Christ - The Gospel Accounts in Parallel
MS Word | HTML

Sermon on Contemplating the Holy Suffering of Christ - Martin Luther
MS Word | HTML

The Lent Sermons of Martin Luther
Web edition by Finn B. Andersen
Opens in a new window at an external site.

 

The Lenten Sermons of Martin Luther

Including both the Church Sermons (kirchenpostille from 1521-1525) and the House Sermons (hauspostille from 1531-1535). I am planning an additional note on the English sources for Luther's sermons. Please check back.

I have attempted to exclude any unnecessarily provocative language that typified the controversies of those times (by all parties). As necessarily, I have summarized the main points within square brackets. In other cases, omissions are marked by three consecutive periods (ellipses, i.e., “...”).

I found the HTML versions of these sermons hard to red (although one solution is to reduce the size of the browser window). Accordingly, I've created Microsoft™ Word and PDF versions of these sermons in a two-column format.

Luther's Eight Wittenberg or Invocavit Sermons: PDF
Source: Matthias Loy, ed., Dr. Martin Luther's House-Postil, or, Sermons on the Gospels for the Sundays and Principal Festivals of the Church Year. Volume 2. Two Volumes. Second Edition. (Columbus, Ohio; J. A. Schulze, 1884), pp. 387-436.

Delivered the eight days beginning March 9, 1522, Invocavit Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent. In these sermons, he hammered home the primacy of core Christian values such as love, patience, charity, and freedom, and reminded the citizens to trust God's word rather than violence to bring about necessary change. These were not Lenten sermons, per se, but were important statements of Christian faith and action.

Sermon for Septuagesima Sunday (The Third Sunday Before Lent)
MS Doc | PDF

Sermon for Sexagesima Sunday (The Second Sunday Before Lent)
MS Doc | PDF

Sermon for Quinquagesima Sunday (The Sunday Before Lent)
MS Doc | PDF

The First Sunday in Lent
MS Doc | PDF
Invocavit Sunday. “He shall cry to me, and I will hear him...” Psalm 90: 15, 16 (Vulgate). The verse in the Vulgate begins Clamabit, but Invocavit, occurring in the Old Latin Psalter, was already established and persisted in common usage.

The Second Sunday in Lent
MS Doc | PDF
Reminiscere Sunday. “Remember, O Lord, Thy compassions and Thy mercies ...” Psalm 24: 6, 3, 22.

The Third Sunday in Lent
MS Doc | PDF
Oculi Sunday. “My eyes are ever towards the Lord...” Psalm 24: 15, 16

The Fourth Sunday in Lent
MS Doc | PDF
Laetare Sunday. “Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her...” Isaiah 66: 10,11

The Fifth Sunday in Lent
MS Doc | PDF
Judica Sunday. “Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy...” Psalm 42: 1,2

A Sermon for Palm Sunday
MS Doc | PDF

 

Three Sermons for Holy Thursday:
First Sermon For The Day Of The Lord's Supper
MS Doc | PDF

Second Sermon For The Day Of The Lord's Supper
MS Doc | PDF

Third Sermon for Holy Thursday
MS Doc | PDF

 

Two Sermons for Good Friday:
How To Contemplate Christ's Holy Sufferings
MS Doc | PDF

A Sermon on Confession and the Lord's Supper
MS Doc | PDF

 

Sermons for Holy Week

Introductory Meditations
MS Doc | PDF

First Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

Second Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

Third Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

Fourth Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

Fifth Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

Sixth Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

Seventh Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

Eighth Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

Ninth Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

Tenth Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

Eleventh Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

Twelfth Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

Thirteenth Passion Sermon
MS Doc | PDF

The text of the Passions sermons was taken from Matthias Loy, ed., Dr. Martin Luther's House-Postil, or, Sermons on the Gospels for the Sundays and Principal Festivals of the Church Year. Volume 2. Two Volumes. Second Edition. (Columbus, Ohio; J. A. Schulze, 1884). These sermons are also found in Loy's separate edition,
Sermons on the Passion of Christ

Daily Lenten Devotions are available from the Lutheran Hour Ministry.

Lenten Devotions from LentenDevotions.Net
 From The Mount of Transfiguration to Mount Calvary – A Lenten Journey
Walking With Jesus

Both of these devotions are printed in booklet format (full sheets in landscape mode).

 

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Additional Study Resources

Here are a few web sites that can provide helpful information concerning Biblical study:

• Bible Gateway. 20 Bibles plus passage lookup, keyword search, topical index, numerous commentaries, and other valuable resources.

• Classic Bible Commentaries. Ten of the best classic commentators (in the public domain). This page is hosted by E-Word Today, a site that also offers numerous translations of the Bible, devotionals, and other study products.

• The NET Bible. A contemporary translation with outstanding notes. A version for download is available at no cost.

• Greek Interlinear Bible. The Greek text — based on the 1894 Textus Receptus — with English translation. A Hebrew Interlinear is also available at this site, Scripture4All. A free download of the Greek Interlinear Bible is available. The use of the Textus Receptus was required due to copyright issues; they had previously used the WHNA Greek text. "At a later date we plan to add the NA/USB variants as a comment or popup window."

• CrossWalk. Another excellent study and research resource. Head for their Bible Study Tools to access 26 Bible translations, a parallel Bible, an interlinear Bible, plus 11 commentaries, 4 concordances, 6 dictionaries, an encyclopedia, both a Greek and a Hebrew lexicon, and other resources. Their Greek Interlinear Bible is based on N.A. 26. They have an extensive library of the writings of the Early Church Fathers (and other historical works under the History link).

• Study Light offers an interlinear Bible, parallel Bible, 21 commentaries, 4 concordances, 8 dictionaries, 2 encyclopedias, both Greek and Hebrew lexicons and other Bible study resources. They also offer a free download of Bible Explorer, Version 4.0.

This is certainly not an exhaustive listing of excellent resources, but should provide a good first start to any research project. Numerous public domain translations, commentaries, etc., are available at Project Gutenberg, Google Books and the Internet Archive. When looking for a book still in print, I first go to Advanced Book Exchange, an consortium of thousands of independent book sellers (note that ABEBooks was acquired by Amazon in December 2008).

Here is a more complete list of additional resources: Additional Research Resources.

 

Lookup a word or passage in the Bible
Include this form on your page

 

Bible Study Resources from Study Light

Bible Search

Interlinear Bible Search

Parallel Bible Search

 

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Location on the web of Prayer and Study Resources

http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/prayer_and_study_resources.htm

http://tinyurl.com/lj8tn7

Copy, paste and bookmark.

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Software Links

All software descriptions are from the manufacturers. Inclusion does not constitute recommendation.

Microsoft™ Word Viewer 2003. "View, print and copy Word documents, even if you don't have Word installed."

Open Office™. "A multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office
suites (including Microsoft™ Office), free to download and use." Download Open Office.

AbiWord™ - "Word Processing for Everyone." Small. Fast. Multi-platform. Free.

Adobe™ Reader 9.1. "Use Adobe Reader to view, search, digitally sign, verify, print, and collaborate on Adobe PDF files."

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