And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.In praying, don’t use vain repetitions as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.And in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
7 sermons cite this verse
… and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. When you pray, don't use vain repetitions as the heathen do, but they think they'll 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. I'll stop there. It's a tragic thing, but really, sin knows no boundaries. It can follow us to the very throne of heaven where I'm actually missing the whole point of what prayer should be. Focusing the intention upon myself. This was the problem with the Pharisees. They prayed to be seen by men. The Pharisees loved the theater of prayer. It was sort of like a performance. They would go to a street corner and stop and pray loudly and people would look, oh, look at that religious man. Oh, how devout he is. how impressive he is. Jesus is saying, God's not impressed. He's not impressed one bit because you're doing it for others to see. And so he's showing us that is not how we should pray, nor should we offer ritualized, repeated prayers. That's why I don't really love memorized prayers, that people pray over and over again, just say, 10 our fathers, and you'll be okay. Is there some magic in a little prayer that we pray. When we pray, God looks on the heart. It's a conversation with God. For instance, here's a memorized prayer. We'll say to our children, okay, honey, it's time to go to bed. Now pray this prayer. Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. …
… I wanna read the context of what he's writing together in Matthew 6, verses one through 18. We'll start with verse one here. Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your father in heaven. So, whenever you give to the poor, don't sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets to be applauded by people. But truly, I tell you, they have their reward. But when you give to the poor, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you. Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites because they love to pray standing in synagogues on the street corner to be seen by people. But truly I tell you, they've received their reward. But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, that's our word, and pray to your father who's in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you. …
… In Matthew chapter 6 verse 7, Jesus says, and when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. What is that about? I thought the purpose of prayer was to inform God what I need and what I want. And Jesus says, no. God is not up in heaven with a notebook and a pen telling you to slow down so He makes sure to get all of your requests. He knows them before you even ask them. That begs the question, what's the point of prayer then? Oh, and this is where we realize the point of prayer. the point of prayer is not to inform God but to experience intimacy with the God who knows you and me better than we know ourselves this is going so much deeper than a list of requests before God, not that it's bad to lift things up but to know that our Father knows the depth of our hearts, that there is nothing hidden from Him that He understands and knows us our circumstances. …
… Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now, when I pray this portion of the prayer, when I get to the thys, and I appreciate, you know, we're praying kind of the old King James English here. We could say your will be done, but I like the thy because it rhymes with my. And when I come to this portion, I really punch the thy. I mean, anytime I say it, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Why do I punch it? Because my basic orientation in life, and so is yours, is my kingdom come. My will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so Jesus is upending what's going on inside my heart. He's turning me inside out and he's calling me to pray. And when I pray this, remember, or I'm praying, in essence, I'm praying, Lord, help this be the desire of my heart. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. …
This is the five minute sermon. It starts right now. Oh boy, I better hurry. All right. When you pray, do not use vain repetition as the heathen do, for they think 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. I love that. He says, when you pray, don't repeat your prayer over and over and over and over and over again. The heathen pray that way because they think that by praying a prayer over and over again, they can earn the answer. They engage with God who gives them points for repeated prayers. Don't do that. That's what the heathen do. And then the reasoning behind that. He says, for your father knows what you have need of. to come before my father first of all it doesn't remove from me the responsibility to pray for my daily needs here it says give us this day our daily bread so the very next verse is he gives the assignment to pray for our daily needs so it's not he knows what you need so don't pray he doesn't say that he says he knows what you need so come before him as a father who does not need to be persuaded to take care of his children. Be a part of the ever evolving economy of heaven where in your partnership, you make agreement to see the release of his supply and his abundance. …
… And when you're praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray then in this way, Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. And thinking about Father's Day, again, I was drawn to this passage because it repeatedly addresses God as Father. That's what we need to understand in its most full sense, the relationship that we enjoy with the eternal God. He is our Father. In what sense? Well, we could say He's our Father in the physical sense. …
… to impress them rather than to impress the Lord. Now our Lord tells us how we are to pray. Look, if you will, in verse 7, and when ye pray, use not vain repetition as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. When you pray, you don't pray to impress God. You don't pray to impress God. God is not impressed with the rhetoric of your prayers. God is not impressed with your much speaking. God is not impressed with your eloquence. You don't have to be a junior-sized Shakespeare in order to pray. You don't have to use King James English to pray, and you'd better beware of using trite phrases that are often repeated. I am guilty of doing that. That's one of the great dangers of being a preacher, is that sometimes you get little shibboleths, little phrases that you put into your prayers. I, down at the old church one day, I had gone from early in the morning to late at night, and I had meetings all day long. …