When you pray, do you sometimes find yourself stumbling over your words? Or perhaps you repeat the same thing over and over, trying to say it better each time.
Sometimes when I pray, I catch myself praying as though I were writing. I’ll be mid-sentence and I’ll hit backspace, or I’ll delete the sentence completely. I end up in prayer-editing mode, as though I somehow need to get the wording right before I can publish and send it off.
Imagine the computer screen, the white page, and the blinking cursor as it moves forward, then back. Forward, then back. One word disappears and makes way for another, or a full sentence gets removed with a blank space left in its place.
In Matthew, Jesus helps us with this.
When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need,
and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.Matthew 6:7-13 (New Living Translation)
Don’t babble on and on! I like that. The idea here is that we don’t need to be like those who think that the gods need to be impressed by our prayers; that our repetition and prayer formulas will somehow get their attention; that we can wear them down and obtain their favour if we only say these exact words; that if we say them often enough they will understand what we want from them.
Don’t babble on and on. Why not? Two words: Father knows.
Your Father already knows exactly what you need before you even ask. You’re not praying to some distant deity. You are praying to a God who is close and who knows you.
So Jesus is saying: When you pray, relax. Breathe. Let your attention and your words be guided by a few simple, yet profound, realities.
Begin by acknowledging who you are talking to and remembering the bigger story you find yourself in. You are not on your own floating island. (v. 9-10)
Then, ask God for what you need. Jesus highlights three key areas:
Your physical needs - You don’t even have to figure out how many slices of bread are required to make it to midnight, only that God will give you the bread you need for today. (v. 11)
Your relationships - With God and with others. Forgiveness is at the core. (v. 12)
Your spiritual life - Awareness of the spiritual battle and your need for God’s protection and deliverance. (v. 13)
Do you struggle to find the right words when you pray? How does it change prayer to remember that your Father already knows?