Keep them short. Almost all prayers in the Bible were
brief. Conversely, hypocrites think they
will be heard for their much speaking. See what Jesus had to say about such
babbling in (Matthew 6:7).
Don’t yell, scream, whoop, howl, or holler. Pagans think they will be heard for their
loud prayers. The Baal-worshippers on
Mount Carmel are the poster children for this foolishness. (See I Kings 18:26)
Don’t pontificate. The overly religious think they will be heard
for their pious words. They just pile
scriptural phrases on top of scriptural phrases and use weird words outside of their normal vocabulary. God is not impressed with that sort of
thing. See what (Ecclesiastes 5:2-3) has
to say about this affliction.
In
Scripture, the length of one’s prayer seems to be irrelevant. Measuring our prayers (by time, the volume of
one’s voice, pious words, the length, etc) is an exercise in futility and
ranks as the ultimate in silliness.
When
the sweetheart goes into her house at night, she does not gauge the depth of
her boyfriends love by the length of his monologue.
Just
talk to God. Just talk.
Be
Authentic. Transparent.
Be
real. Not pious.
The
thief on the cross uttered a nine word prayer, “Lord, remember me when You come
to Your Kingdom.” Jesus accepted this prayer
and told him, “Today you’ll be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43). One thing I love about this prayer is that it
confirms a short, fervent prayer can change one's entire destiny even
at life’s last minute!
As a new believer I would often pray softly
throughout the day. And, with a new
believer’s imperfect understanding, I refused to speak a final ‘amen’ because I
that felt like I was ending the prayer and closing the door of communication
with God, and I wanted Him to be with me all day long and to be able to pray to
Him at any time.
After
thirty three years of walking with Him, I still feel the same way.
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