Quotes from Martin Luther

For feelings come and feelings go, And feelings are deceiving; My warrant is the Word of God - Naught else is worth believing. I'll trust in God's unchanging Word Till soul and body sever, For, though all things shall pass away, His Word shall stand forever!

God wants our conscience to be certain and sure that it is pleasing to Him. This cannot be done if the conscience is led by its own feeling, but only if it relies on the Word of God.

PRAYER O God, our merciful Father in heaven, fill our hearts with patience under the cross, strengthen our faith, and so govern us that we give offense to none, neither in word nor deed. Grant us also this day all that we need for body and soul. Amen.

Therefore, when some say good works are forbidden when we preach faith alone, it is as if I said to a sick man: "If you had health, you would have the use of your limbs; but without health the works of your limbs are nothing"' and he wanted to infer that I had forbidden the works of all his limbs.

faith alone makes all other works good, acceptable and worthy

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Romans 3:28

I more fear what is within me than what comes from without.

The white devil of spiritual sin is far more dangerous than the black devil of carnal sin because the wiser, the better men are without Christ, the more they are likely to ignore and oppose the Gospel.

Hope is a soldier. It fights against tribulations, the Cross, despondency, despair, and waits for better things to come in the midst of evil. Without hope faith cannot endure. On the other hand, hope without faith is blind rashness and arrogance because it lacks knowledge. Before anything else a Christian must have the insight of faith, so that the intellect may know its directions in the day of trouble and the heart may hope for better things. By faith we begin, by hope we continue.

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.

But to fulfill the law means to do its work eagerly, lovingly and freely, without the constraint of the law; it means to live well and in a manner pleasing to God, as though there were no law or punishment.

the history of Protestantism is very great. It presents like no other of Luther's writings the central thought of Christianity, the justification of the sinner for the sake of Christ's merits alone.