Whatever pertains to our salvation and directly to the glory of God we should ask for in prayer without any doubt, for it is clear that God wants to have His glory and our salvation unimpaired. But when temporal affairs are concerned, God's will is not so clear. A person may be poor, sick, miserable, and despised and yet be saved, as happens to all Christians. Since, then, salvation is not affected by the lack of such temporal things but this lack may often produce something good, he who prays for aid and help should certainly believe that God helps and will help. Yet he should make his will depend on the will of God; if the desired help does not serve God's glory, or disadvantageous to our salvation, we should be glad to bear the cross still longer.
This is praying aright in such matters, namely, believing that God can help and yet not prescribing time, degree, or end to God, how and when He is to help to us. For we usually lack the knowledge to discern what we should ask for and how we should ask for it, as St. Paul says Rom. 8:26. Conversely, we must confess that God knows well what would be most conducive to His glory and our salvation. Therefore we should make our will depend on His and not doubt in the least that He will certainly grant our petition if it redounds to His glory and to our salvation.
Martin Luther
What Luther Says, pp. 1098-1099
Compiled by Ewald M. Plass
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