A Pause to Ponder God's Word
"Many Words ..."

One evening the telephone rang. I answered and a women on the other end quickly began telling me about a product that I should purchase. When I told her that I was not interested, she proceeded to tell me all the benefits this product would provide me. I began to tell her again that I really wasn't interested, but she interrupted my response with even more information about this product. I soon was able to convince her that I was not going to purchase the product no matter how good it was or how much she told me about it and the conversation ended. The women went on and on as if she believed that if she talked long enough I would eventually give in and purchase the product. Is this belief so strange? Not really. Many of us approach prayer in this very same manner.

When teaching His disciples about prayer Jesus instructed, "do not to keep on babbling like pagans do, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." (Matthew 6:7) How many times have we approached our Heavenly Father with the same attitude as the telemarketer who called me. We come before God babbling on and on. We ask the same thing in twelve different ways. Our verbosity suggests that He's not listening. Our prayers rabble on in an attempt to appease Him into giving us want we want or to impress Him with our great Spirituality, thereby getting Him to give into our whims. God is neither appeased or impressed.

It really is not a matter of long prayers verses shorts prayers. It is a matter of approaching prayer with the a proper understanding. Jesus points out two misunderstandings in this passage. The first is that many words gets God's attention. The second is that the Father doesn't know what we need. When prayer is viewed as a means to get what we want, we believe we must bombard Him with our request, otherwise He won't listen to us. When we forget that He already knows our needs, we pray as if we have to explain our request so He will understand and give us what we ask. In reality, prayer is not a means to get what we want. Prayer is a means of learning what God wants and our bringing all things into alignment with His will. We do not need to coerce Him into meeting our needs. He promised He would. Our petitions flow out of our dependence and trust in Him, not out of our wants and whims.

Do not mistaken wordy prayers with persistent prayer. Jesus teaches us to be persistent in prayer through a couple of parables. (See Luke 11:5-10 and 18;1-8) Persistence is not wearing God down. When God withhold answers it is not out of selfish indifference, but out of loving wisdom. Persistent prayer accomplishes something in us. Through Persistent prayer we are prepared to receive; our requests are purified and clarified; and our dependence upon God strengthened.

There was a men's group in a church that was facing some real difficulties that decided they needed to have an all night prayer meeting about the issues. They gathered in the church one night around 7:30 p.m. and began praying. After about two hours one older saint stood up and began to leave. The other men called out to him, "Brother, this is an all night prayer meeting. Don't leave now." He responded, "gentlemen, I have prayed through on this matter. I have entrusted the problems to the Lord our God. He has given me peace of heart. To continue to prayer would be an act of mistrust. You pray until you have peace. I'm going home to sleep."

Beloved, let us not babble on like the pagans. Let us pray to Our Father in heaven Who is listening, Who knows our needs before we ask, and Who answers according to His Divine wisdom, love and justice.

Keep Close To Jesus
Pastor Gerry


A Pause To Ponder God's Word is written and distributed by Gerald Whetstone, Ordained Elder and teacher in the Church of the Nazarene. These devotionals may be transmitted, duplicated, used in part or in entirety without permission for nonprofit purposes only. Responses welcome. To Subscribe Click Here.
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