The Law

When Paul says we are free from the law, he does not mean that God has changed his mind about the difference between right and wrong. He means that we are delivered from the futile attempt to get right with God or stay right with him by means of the law. But as a revelation of God's moral standards the law can never be abrogated. That's why Jesus himself said, in the Sermon on the Mount, that it would be a mistake for anyone to think his mission was to abolish the law. Not an iota of the Old Testament, he insisted, had become irrelevant with his coming (Matthew 5:17-18).

R Clements
No Longer Slaves
IVP
p104

Prayer

On Mt 15:21-28: Let us remember this history, when we pray for ourselves. We are sometimes tempted to think that we get no good by our prayers, and that we may as well give them up altogether. Let us resist the temptation. It comes from the devil. Let us believe, and pray on. Against our besetting sins, against the spirit of the world, against the wiles of the devil, let us pray on, and not faint. For strength to do duty, for grace to bear our trials, for comfort in every trouble, let us continue in prayer. Let us be sure that no time is so well-spent in every day, as that which we spend upon our knees. Jesus hears us, and in his own good time will give an answer.

JC Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Volume 1

Baker

p182