Early African converts to Christianity were known for their devotion to prayer. Each one reportedly had a separate spot in the thicket where he would pour out his heart to God. Over time the paths to these places became well worn. As a result, if someone began to neglect his prayers, it was soon apparent to the others. Those who were faithful would attempt to restore the negligent one by saying, “Brother, the grass grows on your path.”
In one sense, the paths of our prayers need to stay worn and busy. Routine prayer is important. Without a habit of prayer, we soon lose discipline and find ourselves neglecting communication with the Father. Prayer must be persistent. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he told them a parable about a man who received help, not because he was a friend, but because of his “impudence” (Lk. 11:1-13). The person who stays with prayer stays with God.
On the other hand, some of prayer’s paths can be treacherous. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said of the pagans, “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt. 6:7-8). The Gentiles looked at prayer as a contractual obligation. They saw prayer as a formula or incantation that, when uttered, bound deities to their service. This is the spirit behind the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, who cried nothing but “O Baal answer us!” from morning till noon (1 Kgs. 18:26). Another example can be found in an account of a riot in Ephesus, where pagan worshipers chanted “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” for two hours.
The ancients are not the only supplicants capable of “empty phrases.” We can find other meaningless variations in the rosary beads of Catholicism, the prayer wheels of Buddhists, and the Muslim’s rigorous recitations toward Mecca. Some might even find them in Christian churches, where we pray for those on “beds of affliction,” bless the preacher with a “ready recollection,” and ask God to “guard, guide, and direct” us. Admittedly, we have our unspoken templates for prayer, and these can lead to hollow, meaningless prayers if the words have become so worn that they are uttered as a rote formula. William Barclay writes, “When a man begins to think more of how he is praying than of what he is praying, his prayer dies upon his lips.”
Let us not forget, though, that after Jesus warned of “empty phrases,” he gave us a template for prayer:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matt. 6:9-13).
Right off, you notice Jesus’ brevity and the simplicity of his words. There is no pretense here, no attempt at rhetoric. Just a simple, heartfelt offering to God.
However, this is the Model Prayer. “Pray then like this,” Jesus said. How are we supposed to use a template for prayer when it comes on the heels of a warning about using “empty phrases”? A person doesn’t have to recite these words very long before they become second nature and form replaces heartfelt desire.
But take a closer look. Each item in Jesus’ prayer is broad enough to represent the needs of every Christian who kneels before God. We see relationship (“Our Father”), reverence (“hallowed by your name”), submission (“Your kingdom come, your will be done”), request (“Give us this day our daily bread”), penitence (“and forgive us our debts”), listening (“as we also have forgiven our debtors”), and a plea for strength (“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”). Jesus did not mean for us to recite his example word for word. He said, “Pray then like this.” The Model Prayer is a means by which we find our own prayers in a form that is acceptable to God.
Templates are not supposed to provide content, only form. No one downloads a template for a resume, for example, from Microsoft Word and sends it to a prospective employer without personalizing it. The template provides an acceptable structure for unique content: every good resume is a one-of-a-kind.
The reason why long, formulaic prayers are irrelevant is because, in Jesus’ words “your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt. 6:8). Let us not forget that prayer is for the one who prays.
At its core, prayer should be the communication of a grateful child to his Father. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the words are; if there is nothing behind them, they are spoken in vain. Say your prayers from the heart, and they will have meaning.