30 Days On The Mount

child-like and sincere, trusting in his love and care for us.

‘ Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference. ’ xiv We will never know the rewards of a relationship with the Father unless we spend time in his ‘treasure room.’

HEATHEN’S PRAYER

10 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans (heathens), for they think they will be heard because of their many words. This is the third-time Jesus mentions when you pray, strongly advocating that his disciples must pray. He warns us to not keep on babbling (battalogeo) a unique word that is not found anywhere else in the bible or in ancient literature. It is translated as “to heap up empty phrases” in the RSV and thought by some to mean ‘to stammer.’ Jesus further expands its meaning in the next sentence when he explains it as many words (polulogia) ‘a torre nt of mechanical and mindless words.’ xiv ‘A noisy flow of sound without meaning…values quantity (and perhaps volume) rather than quality. It is not necessarily purely mechanical, but rather busy and unnecessary. ’ xiv The prophets of Baal in the OT illustrate this point so well: “Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting, ‘O Baal, answer us!’ But there was no reply of any kind …So they shouted louder…They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response.” (1 Kgs 18:26, 28)

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