Gerhard and Walther

Prayer is our spiritual armor with which we not only guard ourselves and are able to protect ourselves against the enemies’ might (Eph. 6:18), but also with it we can battle and fight against the enemy (Rom. 15:30).—Johann Gerhard, Schola Pietatis, III:314.

From the moment mankind fell, the reason for man’s destruction has been that he wants to be his own lord. Every person, by nature, thinks or lives as if he were convinced he is an absolute lord over everything that belongs to him.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 617.