If you have been to prayer meetings, you have probably heard various types of prayer. Sometimes you might hear what I call “Magic Spell prayers.”
Praying with Magic Words
There are some prayers that people memorize and then say as quickly as possible, as if it is only the words that matter. The Lord’s Prayer is one example. While memorized and recited prayers can be meaningful and helpful, they sometimes degenerate into jumbled string of words where the person praying simply tries to get through as fast as possible.
It sounds something like this:
Ourfatherwhoartinheaven
hallowedbythynamethykingdomcome
thywillbedoneonearthasitisinheaven
giveusthisdayourdailybread
andforgiveusourtresspassesasweforgivethose
whotresspassagainstus
forthineisthekingdomandthepower
andthegloryforeverandeveramen.
Such prayers are more often found in the liturgical settings where prayers are read out of a book or memorized and recited. The goal in such praying seems to be to get the words out as fast as possible. It doesn’t really matter if others understand you or not, of if you really mean the words or not. All that matters, apparently, are the words themselves.
In such cases, I sometimes imagine God saying to such people, “Whoa there! Slow down! Take a breath! I like that prayer, but I can’t understand a word of what you’re saying!”
God understands what is being said, of course, but He doesn’t care for such prayers because there is no focus on relational communication in praying this way.
Those who pray this way reveal a mindset that believes that prayers are like magic incantations, where the only thing that matters is that you pray with the magic words.
This sort of praying might be what Jesus had in mind when He criticized some people in Matthew 6:7 for babbling their prayers, thinking they will be heard for their many words. It is not the words God cares about, and especially not how fast we can get them out.
When you pray, slow down.
It is better to say five meaningful words to God, then 10,000 words without thought or meaning. God wants a relationship; not recited prayers.
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🙂 Good stuff! In the church I left, personal prayer time was heavily emphasized – and it was taught that we should pray the prayers Paul wrote, especially the ‘Ephesians Prayers’, every day. It took on a ritualized, even superstitious tone. And they believed that Paul recorded his prayers for us so we should pray them. After all, how could we possibly pray better prayers than Paul. Sigh. They really did imbue these with magical like qualities, although they’d be highly offended at the suggestion.
Since I have been out of the institution, I have found that one of the most powerful prayers we can pray is a sincere, heartfelt, “God, help!” I don’t think I will even be able to ‘pray’ Paul’s prayers again. Which is good. Honest conversation with God does a whole lot more….
Having said the above, I also believe that if someone is praying prayers from the Bible sincerely because they have been taught to do so, God listens. After all, the issue is the sincerity of the heart. I think He smiles and hears the heart of the prayer as He leads to deeper understanding.
Katherine,
Yes, I think praying Scripture can be incredibly helpful and beneficial. But you are right, as soon as they become recitations, or we think that we cannot pray just as well as Paul, then we are headed down the wrong track on prayer.
I’ve always found it odd that some repeat the Disciples’ Prayer at all, given that Jesus prefaced it by saying, “When you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition” (Matt 6:7). He then said to pray “in this way” (Matt 6:9), not “pray this prayer.” It was meant simply as a model or demonstration. I don’t think Jesus ever wanted us to “pray” the Disciple’s Prayer.
Chuck,
I’m glad you called it the “Disciples’ Prayer.” That’s truly what it is. The actual Lord’s Prayer is in John 17. It is ironic, isn’t it, that we repeat this prayer right after reading to not repeat prayers.
I agree with what you say Katherine and Chuck my Church is no different and the Sunday chatterings only serve to insult our God and annoy me. I try and sit with my head down and honor the King of the Universe by focussing on His Words.
I feel the Church treats God The Father and God The Son and God The Holt Spirit like an aging relative who has gone a bit deaf and daft, so we placate them as there may be an inheritance coming our way in the not to distant future. We refuse to listen to what they have to say as there is nothing they have to say thats of any value to us as we say “yes dear” and hand them another biscuit, thinking of the thousands they are going to leave us when they are dead. We rub our hands in anticipation and with avarice.
I wonder if the Jews downfall happened in the same way. Did they think God was too old to understand the real needs of a sophisticated people who had just come from a modern culture where everything was made to stimulate all our senses until we rolled ecstatically around on the floor in complete abandon. “Your too old God, give us an exciting King, tall, strong and handsome. A king who will understand and answer all our demands”. So God agreed to there demands, and proceeded to worship their new King and the one who came after him and cried out with great joy. “Saul kills the enemies in their thousands but David in the tens of thousands. “Come worship the King in the beauty of Holiness”.
Will the Church ever learn before it’s to late.
Your brother in Christ Clive
Clive,
Wow, what great questions and insight. It would be interesting to see how most people view God, and you may be right, many of us may view him as an aging relative who is deft and daft whom we must placate until he gives us our inheritance.
I fear you might be right.
Ant I’m sure your saying, prayer is all about relationship with The Father. In spite of King Davids wickedness, he really had a deep, honest relationship with The Father as his Psalms show.
It’s not about pleasing God so he wont Zap us It’s about loving one another, Him and us. Wow does that not blow your mind, that The King of the Universe wants to play with us, Yes Dad. It’s about forgiveness, repentance, changing and moving on, leaving the past behind while still knowing that there is no condemnation from our heavenly Dad. Davids example of that was when he stopped praying for the life of his son and immediately washed, dressed and ate and moved on.
As you are to your daughter we to have be examples of what prayer is. Paul said “pray constantly” Yes, it’s a walk not a talk, you know what I mean.
Your Bro in Christ, Clive
I will write later about Paul’s statement to “pray without ceasing.” (I’m happy to see we are all thinking along the same lines!)
Can I make a confession? I HATED prayer meetings. I am a man of prayer. Instead of talking to myself, I tak to Jesus. So prayer meetings were just fake. I doubt the disciples got together and prayed like they do today. I believe that organically, if we know someone’s life, they can ask us to pray for them, and immediately I’ll pray for them. It could be 3 seconds. I don’t think our Lord has a stopwatch and is grading us by length 🙂 My 4 yr old daughter prays, because she sees us praying.
Your sins are forgiven, my son. 😉
There does seem to be some sort of gathering for prayer here and there in Scripture, but as you point out, I don’t think they looked like our prayer meetings today.
Also since prayer meetings are usually at 7 PM on a Tuesday, I usually can’t wait to tell someone then my prayer needs. I would just call my friends, and ask them to pray for me then. Makes more sense to me to do it that way than to wait a week for a half hour session. 😉
“Those who pray this way reveal a mindset that believes that prayers are like magic incantations, where the only thing that matters is that you pray with the magic words.”
Excellent series this is. Prayer is very much misunderstood and it looks like you’re bringing up some great points.
Just to add, books like Ephesians and Colossians were written to audiences that practiced magic chants to accomplish things like making someone love them, causing someone harm, or having prosperity. One of the main elements of the chant was the name of the spiritual force they were calling upon. This is why Paul talks about the name of Jesus so much, the “name above every name.” This kind of mindset is still found in Christian circles when you hear the pushing of the concept of “just do this and you’ll get this.” We want formulas to feel like we’re in control instead of letting Christ be the Head and let Him control. Good stuff here. Thoughts?
Michael,
I did not know this about Ephesians and Colossians. I would love to read more about this. Do you know of a book or article where this is discussed?
It would really help add significance to the sample prayers which Paul writes about in these two letters!
Jeremy,
The book that I read that was really good about this is called Powers of Darkness: Principalities and Powers in Paul’s Letters It’s really good for understanding the cultural background of the letters, which helps to unlock insight into how it applies to us today. I think it will be a good resource in your study.
Thank you. That book does look good. I have heard of it in some of my other reading recently.
I really try to focus on the words. It ocurred to me one day it really is the perfect prayer and was one of the things that convinced me Jesus was indeed divine.