20th August, 2019
VAIN REPETITIONS
David Abankwah
Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
-Matthew 6:8 | KJV
Prayer is one of the obligatory duties of a Christian. You can’t opt to pray and you can’t choose to pray but you MUST pray everyday. The first thing prayer does is that, it fulfils one of the duties of righteousness. When Yeshua Messiah was about to be baptised in the River Jordan, He told John the Baptist to baptise Him because it was key to fulfilling all righteousness. Many people don’t know they have sinned when they don’t pray. The one who knows the right thing and does not, to him it is sin. No believer doesn’t know that he or she shouldn’t pray but because of excuses of laziness and busyness, many exempt themselves.
Second, prayer delivers you from temptations (Matthew 26:41). Third, prayer delivers one from evil (Matthew 6:13). Fourth, prayer enforces the will of God to be done (Matthew 6:10). Fifth, prayer enhances the relationship you have with God through a healthy communication. Sixth, prayer facilitates the expansion of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:10). Seventh, prayer based on repentance, makes God forgive sins. Eighth, prayer makes your necessities of life available for the taking (Matthew 6:11). Through prayer, Yahweh is glorified in praise and worship (Mathew 6:9).
With all the benefits of prayer, there are many guidelines as to how one should pray. Vain repetition is one of the don’ts of prayer. Yeshua said in the Sermon on the Mount, “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). The word vain means “empty” or “useless”; so Yeshua is warning us that, repeating worthless phrases in our prayers will not help us to be heard by God. Our Heavenly Father is not concerned with word count, flowery expressions, or mantras; He desires “truth in the inward being” (Psalm 51:6).
Many religions, including some branches of Christianity, have rote prayers that they advise repeating over and over again. Some churches even go so far as to require their members to recite a certain prayer a specific number of times in order to be absolved of sin. This is a throwback to paganism and superstition; such formulaic prayers are “vain repetitions” that have no place in the church. Jesus has already atoned for our sins once and for all (Hebrews 10:10), and we can approach the throne of grace boldly on the merit of Christ’s sacrifice (Hebrews 4:15–16), not because of our “many words” (Matthew 6:7).
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David Abankwah 