Q&A Home > P > Prayer "When you pray not to be repetitious in request, for God knows of your needs." So does that mean we don't really have to ask? Holy Gospel of St. Matthew 6 and Holy Gospel of St. Luke 11:1-4 specifically addresses how we should pray. I encourage everyone to read this chapter during the time that St. Matthew wrote his Holy Gospel, hypocrites were wearing masks of compassion yet were known to be heartless. The hypocrites missed the spirit of prayer. They prayed in places of worship and on street corners to please men and not God.
God wants us to have the "spirit" of prayer. In order to have the true "spirit" of prayer, we must have a personal and intimate relationship with God, which leads to the vision of His Glory. Vain repetition or "babble" does not lead one to an intimate relationship with God. We need to be humble, put our sins before us, and pray always. Praying silently, in few or many words all these modes must come from the heart and be turned toward God. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself instructs us on how to correctly use words repetitiously (Matthew 8:13). When we pray, we are not to make demands of the Lord, or lecture to Him but simply be humble (go into your room), personal and intimate (pray to your Father), and sincere (do not use vain repetitions).
Keep in mind that it is not repetition but "vain repetition" which the Lord Jesus Christ condemns. St. Luke states that the Lord Jesus Christ gave instructions on how to pray, in an answer to the request of one of His disciples, "Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples."
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