Moment of Meditation: Proper Prayer (Matthew 6:5-7)

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.
For they love to stand and pray
in the synagogues and at the street corners ...
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.
(Matthew 6:5-7)

Proper Prayer

In the congregation I attended in high school, there was a deacon whom I dreaded seeing listed as the closing prayer in the evening services. His prayers were almost as long as many sermons. Granted, most everything He said was a quotation from the Bible. But he would continuously pile up Bible quotations until they came to mean almost nothing.

I can't say that I can see into his heart to know that he was just filling up time in the service. Many might say that the prayers I use in worship are too long. But the prayers are filled with petitions asking for God's guidance and "deliverance from all affliction, wrath, danger, and distress."

God doesn't answer prayers because they are wordy. God answers prayers that are focused toward Him as our help in every situation. Prayers may be long. They may be short. But the content of the prayers is important. Pray God-focused prayers. Prayers like the one our Lord gave us. Amen.