Have you ever heard the story of Martin Luther’s famous, yet apocryphal, devotion to prayer amidst the business of life?

The story usually has someone asking Brother Martin what he would be doing the next day. Luther answer this question by saying something like, “Work, work from early till late. In fact I have so much to do that I shall need to spend the first three hours in prayer in order to be able to get it all done.”

In his little book Enjoy Your Prayer Life Michael Reeves says, “Tales like this turn our bones to jelly because we know we’re not like that. So to prove we are all sinners, and therefore naturally awful at prayer, here’s a real quote from Luther that will comfort you.” At perhaps the busiest time of his life he wrote to his good friend Philipp Melanchthon:

You extol me so much . . . Your high opinion of me shames and tortures me, since – unfortunately – I sit here like a fool and hardened in leisure, pray little, do not sigh for the church of God . . . In short I should be ardent in spirit, but I am ardent in the flesh, in lust laziness, leisure, and sleepiness . . . Already eight days have passed in which I have written nothing, in which I have not prayed or studied; this is partly because of temptations of the flesh, partly because I am tortured by other burdens. – Luther’s Works, Vol. 48

Reeves concludes, “Even Luther, a man who valued prayer very highly, was a real person, a real sinner.”

And real sinners will always struggle at prayer.

So let us take heart. Our struggles are not unique; they need not cripple us. May you rise today with the Spirit’s power and storm the throne of grace. The Father delights to hear from His children, even those that haven’t spoken with Him in quite some time.