Matthew 6:7-8 “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”
In the sixth chapter of Matthew Jesus gives us good advice about prayer, what it should and should not be. I’ve always looked at prayer as being a conversation with God, and I know for me personally I try to get to the point of the conversation quickly. That may be due to the fact that if someone is telling me something and they go into a long story I lose interest and begin to tune them out until they get to the point. It’s a bad habit, but it’s true. I remember at my last church I had two very dear friends who had totally different styles of prayer. One was short, sweet and to the point, the other would go on and on and on, often saying the same thing three or four times. There were times you could tell she was searching for words because she would repeat “thank you” or “praise God” several times until she thought of something to say. I loved both of these ladies dearly, but when the second one would start praying, I would be praying “Please Lord, help her not repeat herself”. And there were several people who were uncomfortable praying out loud around her because their prayers were very short. She was taught that prayers should be long in order to be meaningful, and that repetition was good. And there are times when our prayers will be long because we have countless things on our list to thank Him for, or a multitude of people whom we have prayer request for. Sometimes we repeat ourselves once or twice for emphasis (although I don’t know why we do that because God heard us the first time), but as this verse in Matthew says we shouldn’t use vain repetitions. Are we repeating ourselves because we like the sound of our own voice or because what we are praying for is so deep in our hearts that we are having difficulty putting it into words? When Jesus gave us the model prayer it was short, sweet and to the point, why use a thousand words to say what you need to say when you could do it in twenty words. God hears your words, and even if what you are saying doesn’t come out the way you want it to – God understands because He knows what you want to say before you even say it. And if you have come to the point where you are searching for something to say, it may be time to say AMEN. If you are asked to pray out loud, just ask God to give you the words, if it is only three or four sentences don’t let that stop you. God would rather have three or four heartfelt sentences than a book full of words. Until next time may God bless you and bring peace to your heart.