Matthew 6:7 "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words."
Matthew 23:14 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation."
Sometimes we fall into a wrong way of thinking in regard to prayer. We begin to believe that God will not hear our prayers for one reason or another. Perhaps we do not think our prayers are long enough, or that we do not sound as good as other people when they pray. Maybe we are afraid to pray aloud in a meeting. Whatever the reason, we can end up feeling that it is better not to attend a prayer meeting, better not to pray, than to do so with all the faults and failings that our prayers have. This thinking is very wrong, as we will see in our final reasons to pray in this series.
We have two texts this week that should persuade us that God is not going to accept prayers more readily because they are long. In the first, Jesus teaches his disciples that it is wrong thinking about God to believe that He will be more likely to hear our prayers, or more impressed by them, if we multiply our words and repeat ourselves over and over again. He has no stopwatch with which to determine if a prayer has lasted long enough to warrant an answer. A prayer comprising endless repetition (or chanting) of a request is unlikely to have the right motivation and the right heart in it to be heard by God. So Jesus tells us we are wrong to think of God in this way, and to assume that meaningless repetition will bring about an answer to our prayers on the basis of our outward effort alone.
If our first text tells us that we should not aim to impress God with the length of our prayers, the second one indicates we will fare no better if our aim is to impress men with how long they are. Jesus teaches us that another reason why people make long prayers is to show off before others. They like to be admired and respected and one way they do this is to turn their prayers into a lengthy performance that is not intended for the ear of God as much as to gain the attention and admiration of men.
For our purposes this week, let's note that we should not become discouraged, and cease praying, if we feel our prayers are not long enough for God. Nor should we neglect prayer because we cannot manage the long prayers of our brothers and sisters. Rather, we should be encouraged to pray because it is not outward things such as length and repetition that will cause God to hear us. He is concerned that the prayers on our lips accurately reflect the thoughts of our minds and the desires of our hearts, no matter how long or how short they are. He looks to see that our motivation in praying is not selfish or worldly but is in tune with His will and He answers accordingly.
When Peter prayed, "Lord, save me!", Jesus did not allow him to drown because he only managed a prayer of three words. The thought that He might do so is monstrous and absurd! So let us not give in to wrong thinking about God or to feelings of inferiority in comparing our prayers with those of others. Let's remember that God hears prayers that come from a rightly motivated heart, concerned for His will to be done and His Name to be glorified, and let's come to the prayer meeting this week and pray in this way to our Heavenly Father!
