A Devotional by Keith D. Wallace

Matt 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Up until recent years Bible-believing Christians used this verse to point out to Catholics and others of the like that prayers read out of a prayer book did not line up with scripture.  Who would have ever thought there would come a time when this verse would have to be used to show so-called Bible-believers the same exact thing.

Anyone that has an email account has, at some point, received a forwarded message that has some type of religious message.  They usually say something about some kind of problem in the world, then they offer up some words of encouragement, or perhaps some kind of touching story and at the bottom of the email they will have a prayer for you to recite that deals with the message from the email.  Christians send these emails out thinking that there is nothing wrong with them.  I believe most of the Christians who forward these messages have a pure motive, but the problem isn’t their motive.  The problem lies in the “canned prayer”.

A “canned prayer” is just like canned fruit or canned vegetables.  When you are hungry for beans you go and get a can of beans off the shelf.  Many people use prayer books the same way they use that can of beans.  The books say when you are depressed, pray this prayer.  When you are having financial trouble, pray this prayer.  When you need forgiveness, pray this prayer.  But that’s not what God wants to hear.  God doesn’t want some mindless recitation of preprinted words that have no true meaning to you.  God looketh on the heart (1 Sam 16:7) and wants to know what we want or need in our own words from our own heart.

“Praying” these canned email prayers is no different than picking up a Catholic prayer book and reciting what you see therein.  There is nothing wrong with praying about the topics discussed in those emails but make sure you are doing it the proper way.  Pray in your own words and talk to God with what is on your own heart.  Don’t rely on some preprinted words to help you along.  If you are not that experienced in how to pray, just keep praying and it will get easier.  Remember that you have the Holy Spirit to help you in talking to God.  Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.