Awakening Day 7

"And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." Matt 6:7-8

One night in college I was hanging out in my RA Karl's room.  He was a Junior and wore hippie shirts and smelled like patchouli oil. It's the oil that hippies wear so they don't have to shower every day. Needless to say, as a freshman, I was in awe of him. He had invited a number of us to his room to hang out and pray together, so I went expecting a lot of hanging out and maybe 5 or 10 minutes of prayer. I was wrong. Karl started the prayer time by just sitting there in silence. I did not know what to do.  I thought maybe he waiting for one of us to start, but right when any of us was about to, Karl would start praying. Just a few well thought words or phrases and then silence again. His pauses between words were so long I thought a few times that he might have fallen asleep. I would open my eyes and peak around to make sure that we were still praying and catch the eye of a friend as he nervously peaked around too.  We both looked at Karl, who looked deep in thought, shrugged our shoulders and closed our eyes and went back to waiting for Karl to say something. Finally I realized that in those long and almost uncomfortable moments of silence, Karl was carefully choosing his words. When he did speak they were the most honest and thought out phrases that I had ever heard anyone pray. There was a casualness about it for sure, but more than that there was sincerity of heart that came out with every carefully chosen word.     

More than the babbling or repeating of words, prayer is about sincerity of heart. Saying the same words over and over like a magic incantation is no way to ensure that God will hear our prayers. Now, it's not wrong to come to God many times with the same request - Jesus often encouraged persistent prayer. But he condemns the shallow repetition of words that are not offered sincerely. We can never pray to much if our prayers are honest and sincere. Before we pray we should, like Karl, make sure we mean what we say.

Prayer Focus: As you pray today, consider your words carefully and be as sincere and honest with God as you can be. Don't over think it either, just come to God honestly and with right motives. Spend the right amount of time thinking about what you say and quietly listen to what God is stirring in your heart.