Weekend Talk: More on babbling prayers

I discussed the subject of babbling prayers with my co-workers during the week, pointing out the Lord’s caution, “When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans.”  

The unanimity with which my colleagues expressed their sentiments against babbling prayers did not surprise me. It only urged me to revisit this subject due to its overwhelming need to heed the Lord’s admonition to refrain from babbling prayers.  

My colleagues had their own experiences and some even imitated how some “babbling prayers” were offered on radio, television and at church gatherings. 

A babbling session

One colleague had recorded a session of babbling prayers on his phone and played it to our hearing and our dismay.  

He then narrated the story of a church just behind his residence at Ashongman in the Ga-East municipality that employed three prayer warriors.  

“The church is too silent during the day,” the pastor told the prayer warriors, “so I want you to keep the place alive.” All that the warriors were required to do from morning to evening was to “pray in tongues” over microphones.

Of course, the pastor didn’t tell them to babble, but that was precisely what they did!  

One of the warriors complained to our colleague, “I can’t do this any longer. My jaws are hurting and I know our prayers are not genuine, for we fake the tongues, which worries me.” So he resigned.

This confirms that such “fake” prayers exist in our time as it was in Jesus’ time, which made him warn us against babbling instead of genuinely praying.

Joyful Noise

Let’s not confuse “Make a joyful noise to the Lord” (Psalm 100:1) with “babbling”, which is unintelligible and says nothing. 

A Bible commentator explains: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord means to praise God and God alone when we worship, using our own voice, hymns and instruments.”

Another commentator says, “The joy of the Lord, which is the gladness of heart, comes from knowing God, abiding in Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Simply put, “joyful noise” means singing aloud happily. So, being joyful and being loud should not be equated to “babbling”.

Prayer topics

The leader of a prayer session mentioned specific prayer topics to bring before the Lord—family, church, the elections, the sick and travellers.
When the leader said, “Pray now,” many of the people began praying in “tongues” straight away without making any reference to the topics the leader listed. 

What happened to the need to pray on those specific topics clearly in the language they understood? Were the “tongues” they resorted to communicating the topics to the Lord in real prayer or was that “babbling”?

One day a pastor trying to justify this babbling performance said, “You don’t understand what you are saying, but God does.”  Like seriously?  

We tread on this topic carefully, for we do not want to undermine any kind of prayer that is genuine. However, there is the need to heed Christ’s warning against babbling like pagans and to bring some sanity into the counterfeit that is often associated with any form of communication.

Laziness

Praying is “talking”, and talking is a doing word. That means prayer exerts energy, travailing before God. Of course, it is a privilege to exercise that effort because of the honour of talking with Almighty God. 

But it is becoming clear that some people resort to “speaking in tongues” because it is much easier that way, rather than engaging the Lord in an open, clear and intelligible communication.

Could it, therefore, be that using “tongues” to communicate makes talking easier and less tedious, which is why some people approach God with “tongues” instead of making the effort to speak in a language the person understands?

Since by using “tongues” the speaker doesn’t have to think about what next to say except to “babble” on and on, might laziness and taking things for granted be responsible for “babbling” instead of truly “praying”?

By the way, this article is not about praying in tongues at all; it is about not “babbling like pagans”. The only reason “tongues” is mentioned here is because it is the area that is often misused and abused as the apostle Paul discovered.

Personal relationship

Central to every discussion on spiritual matters is having a true and active relationship with the Lord. Without this relationship, whatever we do is of no value, for in the end, he will say, “I do not know you.”

Therefore, we engage in prayer as true children of God, not just church-goers. And as children, we long to reach out to our heavenly Father in prayer. 

The Lord is willing to listen to our prayers and help us deal with the issues we face. If all we do is “babbling”, as Jesus warned, then how useful is the time spent doing this?

The writer is a publisher, author, writer-trainer and CEO of Step Publishers.
E-mail: [email protected]