“7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”That is we are not to “babble”, repeat the same word over and over again in a meaningless way. This is praying with our minds disengaged from our lips. We should not pray thinking there is some special formula, a certain number of times that we ask God until something is answered. He will answer the request if it is in His will. This is the key thing.
Having said all this there are times when we have to be persistent in prayer, to keep praying for some things over and over again. For example, the salvation of your loved ones may take many years of praying for them, not just a one time thing. Another thing that will take repeated prayer is what to do with your life. In some cases, God wants you to develop perseverance and to keep praying and not to give up. Another reason I believe why we have to pray over and over for some things is that God’s will becomes clearer to us as we continue to pray and eventually our prayer changes to conform to His will and that is when it is answered.
[answered by Pastor Quang of the English Congregation]
