I remember my original excitement as I purchased Gibson’s Be Thou My Vision devotional, hoping for something to standardize and assist in my personal devotion. As I was reviewing my new devotional, I was surprised that despite every day having a unique and robust offerings each one ended with the Lord’s Prayer. I was personally concerned that it might be Romanist to just repeat the same prayer day in and day out- after all didn’t Christ preface this prayer with a warning of vain repetitions:
"And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen [do]. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. "Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as [it is] in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
- Matthew 6:7-13
Somehow I thought that praying this prayer was okay, but not as a regularly scheduled “mantra” after all is this not the vainless repetition that we were warned about? When we repeat a practice does that mean it is inherently vain or incorrect?
For those in opposition to regular use of The Lord’s Prayer we typically either see the arguments “the Lord’s Prayer is used in Roman Catholic liturgy, therefore we should not use it” or “repeating the Lord’s prayer is is bad because vain repetition is bad”. However, neither of these arguments can stand scrutiny. The first argument is what is known as Guilt by Association– essentially something is rejected or discredited solely because of its association with a person, group, or ideology that is disliked. This argument doesn’t address the merit or biblical grounding of the practice but merely dismisses The Lord’s Prayer because of its assumed association with Roman Catholicism. The second argument is what is known as Category Mistake-equating “repetition” with “vain repetition” because the Lord’s Prayer is being repeated doesn’t automatically make it vain. The word in the Greek for “vain repetition1” means to stammer or babble on, which paints a clearer picture for what would be considered vain. When we earnestly repeat the Lord’s prayer we’re not stammering mindlessly, but focusing on the model Christ gave us to pray.
Proper repetition is something that can actually root a christian in proper fundamentals, and help encourage their faith. This is where God uses what the Reformed call the Ordinairy Means of Grace to help assure and strengthen the faith of believers.
Question 88: What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth
to us the benefits of redemption?
Answer: The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption, are his ordinances, especially the word, sacraments, and prayer;
all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.
- Westminster Shorter Catechism
God is a spirit, but condescends to man with physical means. As creatures who rely on sight, touch, taste, smell, & sound; God provides means to experience in these senses for us so we can be reminded of the promises He has in store for us. When we taste wine at communion, it is a vivid sign pointing to the blood poured out for us at the cross. When we pray from the heart, hearing the words we’re saying reminds us that God is faithful and gives His grace and Spirit to those who pray.2 Often, we participate in extemporaneous prayer and pray about what is on our mind- thanking God for the bounty on our plate or requesting healing for those in an accident on the highway. While these are great things to be sure to pray for, sometimes we can benefit from the prayer that God provided us. The six petitions within the Lord’s Prayer can provide us sustenance as we lift our hearts to God in prayer, focusing us on His will and grace for us. We begin to see that repeating the Lord’s Prayer not a vain thing to do, and it can actually strengthen and feed us spiritually.
Let me take a moment and reassure people that it is not a sign of weak faith to use prepared prayers as opposed to extemporaneous prayers. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit.3 What better way to be helped by the Spirit than to speak the words superintended and inspired by Him? These words have been echoed through the history of the church along with the prayers of David, Jonah, and others. When we say these prayers we stand in that echo of the great cloud of witnesses. The six petitions within the Lord’s Prayer provide a well-rounded prayer to the Lord that guides and strengthens us in real ways.
When we ask for God’s named to be hallowed, we focus our mind on the fact that God is holy and that we are to treat Him as such. It engages in what we think, say, and do to honor and praise the Lord. God is a great God who works through prayer, and it is important to remember how great He is. When we ask for His kingdom to come we are requesting the destruction of Satan’s work and the ascent of the Church. God has a people from the beginning of time that He gathers, protects, and preserves4; we are praying for those people to be gathered, protected, and preserved within the World focusing on other believers.
When we ask for His will to be done in heaven and earth we are understanding that we cannot do His will by our own nature, and so ask that he takes away our rebelliousness against that will so that His grace makes us willing to know, do and submit to Him in all things. Many conflate their own will with God’s and this shifts the focus from anthrocentric to theocentric prayer. When we ask for our daily bread we’re not only asking for sustenance, but reminding ourselves of His providence to provide that on a daily basis. God is not a God of merely great moments, but is one that walks alongside us daily in our life, and here we remind ourselves of that.
When we ask for the forgiveness of our debts we remind ourselves that we are indebted to God, and the only way for that debt to be paid is by the satisfaction of Christ. It reminds us of the testimony of Christ and the gospel. It chastens us to forgive others out of thankfulness of the forgiveness we’ve received. When we ask for deliverance from evil we admonish ourselves since we are continually drawn to the world, the devil, and our own flesh. We’re asking the Lord to provide His Spirit as He is faithful, and will not let us be tested beyond our strength.
Merely repeating something regularly is not the stammering or blabbering that Christ was condemning in Matthew 6, in fact repeating the words of the Spirit can be encouraging to us as a Means of Grace. Christ provided in the Lord’s prayer six petitions that are well thought out and well rounded for every believer within their walk with Christ. These petitions are noble requests, and we do good to ask them of the Lord with a faithful heart, as we ask with Amen that this shall truly and surely be! It is even more sure that God listens to my prayer than that I really desire what I pray for.5
- βατταλογέω, Strong’s G945, Matthew 6:7 ↩︎
- Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 45 ↩︎
- Westminster Larger Catechism Question 178 ↩︎
- Heidelberg Catechism, Question 54 ↩︎
- Heidelberg Catechism Question 129 ↩︎
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