“But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” (Matthew 6: 7, 8 KJV).
No one can teach us to pray. We must all learn how to talk to God with the help of the Spirit. We learn as children to say or pray what we call the Lord’s Prayer (Mt. 6: 9-13), but we should learn to pray on our own and have a prayer life where we daily commune with God personally and privately.
God is omniscient and knows everything, so prayer is not about us informing God of the difficulties we are going through, because He already has that information. But prayer, among other things, is about us asking the Lord, who is also omnipotent, to become involved in all those difficulties. God does not usurp our will and do things in our lives without us first asking Him to become involved in every situation. And we must not assume that because God knows our needs, He will act on His own and we do not have to ask. He will not.
If we pray and our prayers are not answered, we should consider if we are meeting the conditions necessary for having our prayers answered.
One condition for having our prayers answered is our obedience to the Word of God. “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination” (Proverbs 28: 9 KJV). We must hear and obey God’s Word if we want God to hear us when we pray. We must hear to be heard.
Another condition is having no sin in our heart. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Ps. 66: 18). If our conscience convicts us of sin, we must first repent of our sin and receive God’s forgiveness before bringing any other request before Him (Ps. 51: 3).
One more condition for answered prayer is that we should not ask God to satisfy our covetous spirit. God promised to meet our needs, not satisfy our out-of-control lusts. “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4: 3). All our requests should be in accordance with God’s will.
Some people have the gift of gab, which is not a gift of the Spirit, and they exercise that gift when they pray. They think they have captivated the attention of God with their much speaking, but God does not hang around to listen, though the rest of us may have to.
To call fire down from Heaven, Elijah prayed a prayer that had sixty-three words in it (1 Kings 18: 36, 37). To get God to help him defeat the one-million-strong Ethiopian army, King Asa prayed a prayer that had forty-nine words in it (2 Chron. 14: 11). King Solomon said, “God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few” (Ecc. 5: 2).
Let our words be few, but sincere.
