Bible study, video complement Luther’s prayer guide

A free, two-part Bible study and video on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther’s A Simple Way to Pray are now available for free download.

“For Luther … the right place to begin to answer the questions, ‘What is prayer?’ and ‘How shall we pray?’ and the like is with our Lord’s own command and promise,” writes the Bible study author, the Rev. Dr. John Sias, pastor of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, Colstrip, Mont.

Delegates to this summer’s 65th Regular Convention of the LCMS were given Luther’s brief, practical guide on prayer — written for his barber and friend, Peter Beskendorf, in 1535 — as helpful pre-convention reading. With the creation of the Bible study and the video, however, all pastors, church workers and congregations are invited to study prayer in a more in-depth and purposeful way.

“Because there are so many unbiblical things said and written about prayer all about us, every Lutheran should have A Simple Way to Pray and read it,” noted LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison in the March 2012 issue of The Lutheran Witness. Harrison recently served as translator of the document, which can be ordered from Concordia Publishing House. “Luther’s little book on prayer will revolutionize your prayer life.”

An excerpt of the Bible study can be found in the May issue of The Lutheran Witness. To download the full study, click here. The video, featuring Harrison’s explanation of the text, may be found here.