Is repeating the same words or the same thought over and over when praying to God sinful? Is this vain repetitions? If not, what does the Bible mean by vain repetitions? Does it mean repeating phrases without meaning or repeating phrases without purpose?
Is it true that if I pray to God for something all day on a given day, my prayer won't be any more effective than were I to pray for it five minutes that day, because I would be using vain repetitions? Does praying for something a long period of time on a given day ever lead to better or quicker answer from God?
Thank you for your answers.
It is not how long or how often you pray but why you pray that matters. God looks at the intent of the heart not the words or how long one prays.
Look what we see in scripture:
Luk 18:10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray.
One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Luk 18:11
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed,
‘God,
I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
Luk 18:12
I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’
The Pharisee's prayer was all about himself
Luk 18:13 But
the tax collector stood at a distance,
unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead,
he beat his breast and said, ‘
God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’
The tax collector's was about what God could do
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Prayer is not a wish list or a list of how good you are but the chance to speak to and praise God for all that He has done for us.
Repeating the same words over and over in a prayer is not sinful but the question is why would you think it was necessary? I ask God for discernment all the time but I do not repeat it over and over in a prayer.
For me vain repetition in prayers is just to make the one praying look more spiritual, to puff them up.
