Jesus said, “When
you are at prayer, don’t engage in mindless repetition like non-Jews do, for
they suppose that they will be listened to because they speak at great length.”
—
Matthew 6:7 (USC)
Less is
more, both on earth and in heaven, it seems.
What might not even
be expressed with words has a weight of worthiness a hundred-fold worthier in
significance. So it is with prayer.
We are connected
with the Lord our God whatever we
think or do with that. The very fact we live – and share in this thing called
existence – where perceptions run rife and we are so affected by everything
around us – means we already relate with God.
But do we commune
with him?
God is listening to
our every word and thought in any event. Do we dignify our Lord by actually acknowledging his
Presence? Will we have our deeds sanctified by divine consideration? Are our
thoughts brought captive in obedience with Christ?
Prayer is not only
useful, it’s an imperative for the Christian. How else are they to know their Lord? And knowing him is not dominating
the conversation – indeed, how fortunate are we that God speaks to us!
A good prayer will
hardly be repetitious. As we search for the words to say, or we express
ourselves mindfully – apprehending the heart and making it bear on the mind –
we speak without knowing what we will say next. But if we do repeat our words
and have our hearts attuned we are not being verbose for the sake of
repetition.
In any event, what
we pray affects how we will pray as the Holy Spirit does business with us.
***
What Jesus must want
most of all in his believers is the will to pray from the heart.
If we pray in all
honesty, with a mind full of integrity for what we are saying and for whom we
are talking to, we will say no more and no less than what needs to be said.
***
Our God is listening
to us.
He wants to honour our
requests and our pleas as much as he wants to receive our thanks and praise.
Our opportunity is to communicate with God just as we would like to be
communicated with.
***
QUESTIONS in REVIEW:
1. What is it like to pray? How do
you experience yourself talking with God? Do you find yourself saying ‘wrong’
things? If so, what do you think God thinks about this? (Can we ever get prayer wrong?)
2. Without feeling under pressure to
get our prayers out succinctly, how do we get to the point when speaking with
God? Is it okay if we take a while to express what we are really trying to say?
© 2015 S. J. Wickham.
Note: USC version is Under the Southern Cross, The New Testament in Australian English
(2014). This translation was painstakingly developed by Dr. Richard Moore, a NT
Greek scholar, over nearly thirty years.
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