Faith Alone Quotes

“God wants us to pray, and he wants to hear our prayers—not because we are worthy, but because he is merciful.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“If you try to deal with sin in your conscience, let it remain there, and continue to look at it in your heart, your sins will become too strong for you. They will seem to live forever. But when you think of your sins as being on Christ and boldly believe that he conquered them through his resurrection, then they are dead and gone. Sin can’t remain on Christ. His resurrection swallowed up sin.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“You must learn to call on the Lord. Don’t sit all alone or lie on the couch, shaking your head and letting your thoughts torture you. Don’t worry about how to get out of your situation or brood about your terrible life, how miserable you feel, and what a bad person you are. Instead, say, “Get a grip on yourself, you lazy bum! Fall on your knees, and raise your hands and eyes toward heaven. Read a psalm. Say the Lord’s Prayer, and tearfully tell God what you need.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“if you want to be comforted when your conscience plagues you or when you are in dire distress, then you must do nothing but grasp Christ in faith and say, “I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who suffered, was crucified, and died for me. In his wounds and death, I see my sin. In his resurrection, I see the victory over sin, death, and the devil. I see righteousness and eternal life as well. I want to see and hear nothing except him.” This is true faith in Christ and the right way to believe.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“All teachers of Scripture conclude that the essence of prayer is simply the lifting up of the heart to God. But if this is so, it follows that everything else that doesn’t lift up the heart to God is not prayer. Therefore, singing, talking, and whistling without this lifting up of your heart to God are as much like prayer as scarecrows in the garden are like people. The name and appearance might be there, but the essence is missing.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“They mistakenly assume that their good works can save them. Just make sure that you are born again. Because if you are not, your good works are worthless.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“Good works have always been valued more highly than faith. Of course, it’s true that we should do good works and respect the importance of them. But we should be careful that we don’t elevate good works to such an extent that faith and Christ become secondary. If we esteem them too highly, good works can become the greatest idolatry. This has occurred both inside and outside of Christianity. Some people value good works so much that they overlook faith in Christ. They preach about and praise their own works instead of God’s works.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“You must pray diligently and strive to resist the desires of your sinful nature. Ask God to give you a Rebekah or Isaac instead of a Delilah or Samson—or someone even worse. Finding a devoted, loyal wife or husband isn’t a matter of good luck. It’s not the result of good judgment, as unbelievers think. Rather, a devout spouse is a gift from God.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“The world doesn’t want to be punished. It wants to remain in darkness. It doesn’t want to be told that what it believes is false. If you also don’t want to be corrected, then you might as well leave the church and spend your time at the bar and brothel. But if you want to be saved—and remember that there’s another life after this one—you must accept correction.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“We aren’t condemning good works. People first have to be made ready to do good works by being born anew. Only”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“Beware of the philosophy that leads people to say, “What can I do? What’s the use of praying? What good is it to worry? If it’s predestined, it must happen.” Yes, it’s true that what is predestined will happen. However, we aren’t commanded to know what is predestined. In fact, we are forbidden to know it. We test God when we delve into unknowable matters. God has given Scripture to us so that we can know what we should and shouldn’t do. He expects us to act on this knowledge. What we cannot know, we should leave to God. We should stick to our responsibilities, vocation, and position in life. God and God alone knows what is predestined. You aren’t supposed to know.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“When you become aware of your sin and frightened by it, you must not allow the sin to remain in your conscience. This would only lead to despair. Rather, just as your awareness of sin flowed to you from Christ, so you must pour your sin back on him to free your conscience. So be careful you don’t become like the misguided people who allow their sin to bite at them and eat at their hearts. They strive to rid themselves of this sin by running around doing good works. But you have a way to get rid of your sins. You throw your sins on Christ when you firmly believe that Christ’s wounds and suffering carried and paid for your sins. As Isaiah said, “The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). Peter said Christ himself “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). And Paul said, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“We pray because we are unworthy to pray. Our prayers are heard precisely because we believe that we are unworthy. We become worthy to pray when we risk everything on God’s faithfulness alone.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“Before you pray, check to see whether you believe or doubt that you will be heard. If you are doubting or uncertain, or if you are merely trying a prayer to see what happens, your prayer won’t be worth anything.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“It is faith—without good works and prior to good works—that takes us to heaven. We come to God through faith alone.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“The gospel tells us who Christ is. Through it, we learn that he is our Savior. He delivers us from sin and death, helps us out of all misfortune, reconciles us to the Father, makes us godly, and saves us apart from our own works. Anyone who doesn’t acknowledge Christ in this way will fail. For even if you already know that he is God’s Son, that he died, rose again, and sits at the right hand of the Father, you still haven’t known Christ in the right way. This knowledge doesn’t help you. You also must know and believe that he has done all of this for your sake—in order to help you.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“After coming to faith, no one should think that sin can be taken lightly. Sin is truly sin, whether it is committed before or after one comes to know Christ. God always hates sin. Every sin is a mortal sin—a sin that leads to death—as far as the act itself is concerned. But it’s not a mortal sin for the believer. Christ the Reconciler atoned for sin by his death. For unbelievers, not only are all of their sins mortal ones, but even their good works are sins. As Paul says in Romans, “Everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“If you want to be saved and be a Christian, then stay open to correction. Preachers have to rebuke, or they should leave their position. The Christian who won’t accept correction is only pretending to be a Christian.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Romans 3:28”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“That’s why God imposes the cross on all believers. He wants us to experience and demonstrate God’s power.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“The gospel is a powerful word, but it cannot do its work without trials. No one will discover its power unless they experience it. The gospel can show its power only where there is a cross and where there is suffering.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“So we must guard against real sins. But it’s also to real sinners that the gospel reaches out.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“Christ doesn’t want sinners who refuse to admit that they’re sinners.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“It may be a shorter or longer account. It may be presented briefly or more extensively. But if the preachers teach us that Christ is our Savior, that we are justified by faith in him without works, then it’s the same word. There is only one gospel,”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“The most important requirement of prayer is firmly holding on to God and believing that he is merciful and compassionate—someone who wants to help us.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“Instead, we should remember to forgive others even when they have caused us suffering, as we often experience in this life. If we are unwilling to forgive, we can be certain that we won’t be forgiven ourselves.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“Psalm 34:7 This is one of the most remarkable passages in the Psalms. We can claim it as our own. But you might say, “I don’t see or feel God’s angels around me. Actually, I feel like I am under the power of the devil and am being led to hell.” My answer would be, “Don’t let yourself think that way! If you had been handed over to the devil, he wouldn’t let you live one hour without plunging you into a life of crime. As a matter of fact, he probably wouldn’t even give you time to do anything wrong, but would kill you right away. You are still alive because of the protection of the holy angels. The time will come when you have to leave this earth, and with God’s permission, you may be subjected to Satan’s anger. But God, in his mercy and grace, will strengthen you through his Word.” When you are handed over to Satan, it will only be for a very short time. This isn’t to condemn you but to test you, to bring about salvation and endless blessings. Christ said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). In the same way, Christ was handed over to murderers, but only for a short time and to bring about salvation. So when you feel Satan bothering and tempting you, pray and thank God that you won’t fail but that you are only going through a trial in order to be purified. Jeremiah comforts us by saying, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his com-passions never fail” (Lamentations 3:21–22).”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free. Psalm 118:5 You must learn to call on the Lord. Don’t sit all alone or lie on the couch, shaking your head and letting your thoughts torture you. Don’t worry about how to get out of your situation or brood about your terrible life, how miserable you feel, and what a bad person you are. Instead, say, “Get a grip on yourself, you lazy bum! Fall on your knees, and raise your hands and eyes toward heaven. Read a psalm. Say the Lord’s Prayer, and tearfully tell God what you need.” This passage teaches us to call on him. Similarly, David said, “I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble” (Psalm 142:2). God wants you to tell him your troubles. He doesn’t want you to keep them to yourself. He doesn’t want you to struggle with them all alone and torture yourself. Doing this will only multiply your troubles.”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“This is exactly how those who rely on their own efforts to be justified still act today. They concentrate on the good that they do, which they hope will please God. They don’t trust in God’s mercy and his grace. They aren’t hoping that God will forgive their sins through Christ. This”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

“God’s approval isn’t based on what a person does. Rather, he accepts what a person does because he already approves of the person. The person hasn’t earned God’s approval through the good that he or she does. Because”
― Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional