04/10/2024
Do we ever find ourselves praying just because we think it is required of us, or we simply think we should? Today's devotional is an interesting one; it will both convict, and encourage us, all in the same breath. E.M. Bounds taught a lesson on the sincerity of prayer by defining the difference between babble and prayer. His lesson started with the statement that "Prayer is a necessary phase of spiritual habit, but it ceases to be prayer when it is done by habit alone." Have our prayers become habit? Do we pray the same words day after day? Have our prayers become babble and chants?
“When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.”
Matthew6:7-8 CSB
I am in the habit of coming to the Lord in prayer each morning, and sometimes I pray for the same things repetitively. Bounds warns us that this can become nothing more than a habit if it is done without a depth and strength of spiritual desire. He says words without this desire become babble, and if we are honest with ourselves we will realize this is truly a danger. I have listened as some people pray incredibly ornate prayers meant for human ears, and I have heard others gauge the sincerity of their prayers by their duration. It is good to speak well to God, and often it takes time to say what our spirit desires, but in both cases, our heart and soul must be in the effort. Embellished prayers and lengthily prayers become just babble without the sincere worship and desire accompanying them.
Pastor Bounds used a wonderful Psalm as an example of prayer based on intensity and spiritual desire. He selected verse 2 from Psalm 42 for this purpose; it is a verse which speaks to the heart and desire of prayer. Let’s read it together and ask ourselves if it speaks to the way we come to the Lord in prayer…
“My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”
Psalms 42:2 KJV
This Psalm gives the account of tears and the pouring out of one's soul in prayer. It is the essence of passionate prayer that is more than habit, even though it is offered continuously, as is revealed to us in the words "for I shall yet praise Him."
“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”
Psalms 42:5 KJV
Then this Psalm goes on to teach us the importance of trusting in God when we pray to Him as the God of our lives.
“Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.”
Psalms 42:8 KJV
And finally our Psalm today concludes with verse 11 in which the psalmist ties all of this together and tells us who he directs his prayer to.
“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.”
Psalms 42:11 KJV
So words cease to be babble and become prayers when prayed in this manner. Prayer is not just habitual, although it could be if we are not careful, prayer is not repetition, although some prayers are, and prayers are not weighed on the eloquence or number of their words, although they can be both flowing and long. Heartfelt prayers are sincere, typically private, and are from the heart; they are based on a trust in God, and founded in our faith and love for Him.
This morning when we begin our new day of prayer, let's pay special attention to the spirit in which we offer our prayers. I begin my mornings by preparing myself for prayer. I read a devotional message and then study the chapter from which it was drawn. Then I wait on my God. I do this to prepare myself for prayer... to place myself in the proper spiritual atmosphere from which my soul can breathe and exhale prayer. My greatest fear is to babble before the Lord or to take for granted this marvelous, mystical, and holy tool of worship that we call praying.
You may not have a method in which you prepare yourself for prayer, so let me offer you one... Sit still in a quiet place this morning. Close your eyes and listen in silence to your spirit, and when you can leave the world behind and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit once more, then offer your prayers to the God of your life. And he will commune with you.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the time we spend together in prayer each day, and thank you for the way I feel your Holy Spirit as it comes over me while I am preparing myself to be in your presence throughout this new day. Help me Father to pray as I should and not to chant, babble, or stand chanting prayers openly so that others would see and hear me. Help me to pray quietly from my heart so that I don’t simply receive an earthly reward, but a heavenly treasure. Open my mind Abba so that I will hear Jesus clearly when He says “Pray like this”, and not mistakenly hear Him say “Pray this”. Help me to take the template for prayer that He has taught us and make its words my own. Help me to wrap these, my prayers, in my own spiritual intensity, and love for you, and not to simply recite or chant them. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who communes with me all day, and every day, as we walk together in conversation. Hear the desires of my heart, and feel the love I have for you as it pours forth from my soul. This is the day that you have made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it… praying as I should, in the name of Jesus, and from the depths of my soul.
Amen, Amen, Amen.
“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Matthew 6:9-15 KJV
Rich Forbes