In my post about accusers, I mentioned that one of the naysayers claimed that, by exhorting my Facebook followers to pray that Hurricane Milton (2024) be rebuked, I was violating one of Jesus’ admonitions about prayer.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Matthew 6:7 (KJV)
Here’s the NIV translation.
7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
From the context, Jesus is cautioning the individual who is praying and not many individuals who may be praying for the same thing. But I got to thinking about the individual.
When I pray for something, then pray for the very same thing the next day, and the next, am I praying like a pagan? Maybe yes, maybe no.
When my friends, Tom and Clarice, prayed that God would give them a child, it’s certain that the prayer went up to Heaven many times on repeat. Go back, however, and read the story again. It seems to me that when Tom decided to let the Lord’s will be done and declared his love for his wife and no other, they got what they had been praying for. A double portion in fact.
The great thing, however, is that the Lord Himself provides a solution to this conundrum.
24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Mark 11:24 (NIV) and other places in the Gospels
I’ve had to learn to pray like this and just when I think I’ve got it down, some more poop falls on my head, and I must learn it again. And I can hear it now: “what if you’re praying for something that is against God’s will?” God is perfectly capable of letting you know that, usually via His word, but not exclusively. The key is to examine your own motives.
And I am learning all of these things today.
I’ve accepted the fact that school never ends, not in this life at least, and probably not in the next one.
UPDATE: Jesus is even more specific in Luke 18:1-8 (NIV):
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
The emphasis is mine.
Crazy fact: more than once, I have cited this parable during my prayers, but forgot it when I was composing this post! Thank God for my siblings in Christ, like Eric I.
So keep on asking!
*****
Read the updates about my financial situation in previous posts. Temporarily, my Stripe account is down so I have changed my donation button to Cash app: $jbaldilocks. I’ll revert to Stripe this Monday.
Perhaps this will help.
18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”