Praying to be Heard

Matt. 6:7-8 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him.”

Words don’t mean much if they don’t come from the heart.  We may pray and pray and pray, but if we aren’t sincerely praying from the heart, we are just making a lot of noise.  We may impress other people by our praying, but our praying falls on deaf ears.

There are some people who repeat the same prayers over and over again.  Some people don’t know how to pray any other words than what they have been taught.  When I was a kid, “Now I lay me down to sleep…..” was a prayer I repeated over and over again.  At meal time many will say a simple prayer of thanks that they say every time.  Some people will repeat a certain chant they have been taught.  It doesn’t matter how many times we may repeat these prayers, if they do not come from a heart connection with God, they are meaningless words that don’t reach the ears of God.

God knows our hearts before we even pray.  He knows our needs and wants us to express them in words.  He wants to hear the expressions of our hearts, not out mouths.  For God, it’s all about relationships.  He doesn’t want to be talked at; He wants to be talked to.  If you find yourself praying the same prayers over and over again, you need to stop it now.  You need to talk to the Lord as you do to your friends.  You need to speak from your heart and not just repeat the same things over and over. 

The Lord hears and answers the prayers spoken from a sincere heart.