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Lord’s Day Schedule‡

  • Sabbath School—9:45 a.m.
  • Morning Worship—10:45 a.m.
  • Afternoon Worship—2:00 p.m.
  • ‡ Regular schedule temporarily suspended.
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Notes from Sabbath School: WLC #184

Notes from Sabbath School on the Larger Catechism, WLC #184 — For what things are we to pray?
WLC #184 — Q: For what things are we to pray?
A: We are to pray for all things tending to the glory of God,1 the welfare of the the Church,2 our own3 or others’ good;4 but not for anything that is unlawful.5
  1. Our first priority in prayer must be to glorify God.
    • This is what the preface to the Lord’s Prayer demonstrates.
    • This is our reason for being.
    • There is the greatest good, and so this should be our first priority.
  2. We may know what things tend to the glory of God only as we find this revealed in Scripture.
    • We must not be pragmatists and pursue in prayer whatever seems to be popular or successful.
    • We must pray for those things which God has revealed in Scripture as proper means of glorifying Him.
  3. The Church is precious in God’s sight and we are to pray for her prosperity.
    • The Church is no mere human organisation, but “the house of God, a divine institution, the body of which Christ is the head.” (Vos, p. 531)
    • God has revealed that he links the prosperity or downfall of nations to the treatment of His covenant people, promising blessing to those that bless her, and cursing to those who curse her.
  4. Prayers for our own good.
    • Things revealed as God’s will are always for our good and ought to be prayed for earnestly and confidently. (E.g., Psalm 34:14, 73:28)
    • Matters not explicitly revealed as God’s will must be requested in humble submission to God’s will, in the attitude of our Saviour who prayed “Not my will, but thine, be done.”
  5. Prayers for the good of others.
    • First, praying for their salvation.
    • “(T)emporal blessings … insofar as God will be truly glorified in bestowing them.” (Vos, p. 532)
  6. We must not pray for that which is unlawful.
    • The intermediate ends do not justify the means.
    • We may not do evil in an attempt to accomplish good.
    • Since we must make it our aim to pray according to God’s moral will, we may not pray for that which is contrary to God’s moral will.

  1. Matt. 6:9. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. ↩

  2. Ps. 51:18. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Ps. 122:6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. ↩

  3. Matt. 7:11. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? ↩

  4. Ps. 125:4. Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts. ↩

  5. 1 John 5:14. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us. ↩

Posted: 10|1|08 at 10:17 pm. Filed under: Sabbath School.
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