Some Prayers Need to be Repeated

Once more he went away and prayed the same thing.

Mark 14:39

What is going on here? Why is Jesus praying the same thing again in the Garden of Gethsemane? Does He think God doesn’t hear Him? Does He think God needs to be asked again?

I don’t think so. Although Jesus was clearly wrestling in prayer in the garden, I don't think He was wrestling with God. He wasn’t trying to convince God to do His will. No, Jesus was wrestling in prayer against His own human will. He was praying Himself into a more willing submission to the Father’s will.

Have you ever prayed something you really didn’t want to pray or said something you really didn’t want to say? If you have, then you know it’s hard to really mean it from the depths of your heart at first. But, eventually, over time, you get more used to the idea and surrender yourself to it more and more as you pray it again and again. With each prayer you mean it a little more until, eventually, you can pray it and really mean it.

That’s how I understand the time Jesus spent praying in the garden. As He prayed “not my will but yours be done” over and over again, He became more and more settled in His surrender to the Father’s will .

This is a helpful reminder to us that some prayers need to be repeated. They need to be prayed over and over again. Not for the Lord’s benefit but for our own. Sometimes it takes a lot of praying to bring your will into alignment with God’s will. Sometimes it takes a lot of time and effort, a lot of wrestling in prayer, to be able to pray something and really mean it.

So, pray earnestly. Pray seriously. Lift your prayers up to the Lord over and over again until you really mean what you are praying, until you are fully surrendered to His will in your circumstances.

The Pharisee's Prayer

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

Luke 18:10-12‌

The Pharisee’s prayer is 33 words long in English, and it contains 4 favorable comparisons for himself. It’s long and arrogant and all about himself. When you look closely at his prayer, you realize that all the Pharisee did was thank God for making him so superior to other men. 

His prayer is full of pride for himself and contempt for those he believes are beneath him. The Pharisee doesn’t ask God for anything. He makes no requests. And the reason why is obvious enough. In his own estimation, he doesn’t lack anything. So, he prays about his own greatness. He uses prayer as an opportunity to sing his own praises to God.

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Jesus is teaching us in this passage that not all prayers are pleasing to God. In fact, some prayers can be downright sinful. God hates pride! He hates arrogance! Don’t use your prayers to exalt yourself. Prayer should be a time to sing God’s praises, not your own. 

And don’t use prayer as an excuse to look down on other people. Don’t allow your prayers for other people to turn into an opportunity to slander them or pour contempt on them before the Lord. Make sure your prayers for other people are seasoned with grace. "For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).

How Jesus Started His Prayer

This, then, is how you should pray:

Our Father in heaven...

Matthew 6:9

These four little words, "Our Father in heaven," start the Lord's prayer off with an important balance. They are like training wheels, teaching us to balance two important principles in prayer. 

First, Jesus teaches us to address God as ‘Father.’ That word, ‘Father,’ grabs hold of the All-powerful, Eternal, Creator of the universe and brings Him close. ‘Father’ is a relational word. It reminds us as we pray that God isn’t a god who is far away, He is a god who is close by... a god who loves us.

‌‌But then come the words “in Heaven,” which balance God’s closeness as a Father with the truth that He is high above us. Yes, God is our Father who loves us, but He is also the one who sits on the throne of Heaven. He is both near to us and highly exalted and beyond us in every way.

‌‌These two truths must be balanced and held in tension in your prayers. Your prayers should be personal and intimate like a conversation with your Father, but they should also be respectful and worshipful because you are talking to the King of Heaven. Your prayers shouldn’t err too much on either side but should strike a balance between humble adoration and childlike closeness.‌ When you pray, pray with an awareness of both these truths.

How Nehemiah Started His Prayer

Then I said: “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

Nehemiah 1:5

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Most of us begin every prayer we pray the same way, “Dear God”; but I have no idea where we get that from. It’s not from the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible will you find someone start a prayer with the words “Dear God.” 

Frankly, I don’t think it's a very helpful way to begin a prayer. It's so formal and distant. It sounds like we are writing a letter to God, not having a conversation with Him. And most of the time when we say those two words, we don't mean anything by them. We aren’t really saying anything about how dear God is to us. It's just a meaningless way to get our prayer off and running. 

Notice that Nehemiah doesn’t start his prayer that way though. He shows us a better way. He starts his prayer with: 

“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments.”

That's so much better than "Dear God!" I want to encourage you to think about how you start your prayers. It's not necessarily bad to start your prayers with “Dear God,” but it may be a rut that is holding your prayer life back. 

So, when you pray, think about who you are praying to and address Him as such. Try starting your prayers off with “Heavenly Father" or "Lord God in Heaven” or “Lord God Almighty” or “My God, My Rock, My Savior” or “O Great Friend of Sinners.” Try anything to break yourself out of the rut of “Dear God.” 

I freely admit that it has proven more difficult than I thought it would be to break the habit. But ‌I have found that my prayers are much more meaningful when I start them off by really thinking about who God is. Why not give it a try?