The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: keep and deter us from praying, as though it were not of much
consequence if we do not pray, or as though it were commanded those who
are holier and in better favor with God than we; as, indeed, the human
heart is by nature so despondent that it always flees from God and
imagines that He does not wish or desire our prayer, because we are
sinners and have merited nothing but wrath. Against such thoughts (I
say) we should regard this commandment and turn to God, that we may not
by such disobedience excite His anger still more. For by this
commandment He gives us plainly to understand that He will not cast us
from Him nor chase us away, although we are sinners, but rather draw
us to Himself, so that we might humble ourselves before Him, bewail
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