November 2________________________________________
When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. -Matthew 6:7(NLT)
BABBLING PRAYERS
A poem and essay by ILMA
When you repeat again and again your request
It leads you nowhere, it is a futile quest
Some people think that by nagging the Lord
They can have every wish they have in this world.
God knows already what you need even before you ask
Why not just be honest with Him and open your heart?
Babbling and rote prayers doesn’t have meaning
They are just an exercise for sound uttering.
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I grew up surrounded by people who prayed formula prayers. At age seven, I can remember the mass in Latin where I just heard sounds and a language I can’t understand. It seemed like it was all a ritual. We were going inside the church, genuflecting before I sat in the pews and making sure my head was covered with veil, not making noise aside from what we were told to answer and saying out loud in unison with everybody the prayers that were taught to us in school. It is amazing that even at that young age, the Holy Spirit was teaching me that this kind of praying was wrong. So, I had this voice inside my mind that told me to talk to Jesus instead. It felt right to pray this way. ________________________________________
PRAYER
Lord, please let me never babble on when I pray.
REFLECTION
How can one avoid babbling when praying?
For more testimonials about God’s word, please go to YouTube and type ILMA’s poem devotional or go to www.ilmaarts.com posts. To receive emails of my poem devotionals, email me at ILMA.ARTS.STUDIO@gmail.com