Luke 11:1
Lord, teach us to pray.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): We’ve got to learn how to pray!
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): “Lord, teach us to pray,” is itself a good prayer, and a very needful one, for it is a hard thing to pray well.
JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): The chief fault of some good prayers is, that they are too long: not that I think we should pray by the clock, and limit ourselves precisely to a certain number of minutes; but it is better of the two, that the hearers should wish the prayer had been longer, than spend half or a considerable part of the time in wishing it was over…Long prayers should in general be avoided, especially where several persons are to pray successively; or else even spiritual hearers will be unable to keep up their attention.
DAVID STONER (1793-1826): Long praying is, in general, both a symptom, and a cause of spiritual deadness.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Some of us seem to think it necessary to make one long prayer about all sorts of things—many of them very right and very good, no doubt—but the mind gets bewildered by the multiplicity of subjects.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): How many prayers have we heard that were so incoherent and aimless, so lacking in point and unity, that when the amen was reached we could scarcely remember one thing for which thanks had been given or request had been made, only a blurred impression remaining on the mind.
WILLIAM S. PLUMER (1802-1880): This ought not to be―nor should prayers be tedious.
JOHN NEWTON: This is frequently owing to an unnecessary enlargement upon every circumstance that offers, as well as to the repetition of the same things―and here I would just notice an impropriety we sometimes meet with, that, when a person gives expectation that he is just going to conclude his prayer, something not thought of in its proper place occurring that instant to his mind, leads him as it were to begin again. But, unless it is a matter of singular importance, it would be better omitted for that time.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): If each person will offer the petition most laid upon his heart by the Holy Spirit, and then make room for another, the meeting will be far more profitable, and the prayers incomparably more fervent than if each brother ran round the whole circle of petition without dwelling upon any one point—far better for the whole meeting that the many wants should be presented experimentally by many intercessors…Long prayers either consist of repetitions, or else of unnecessary explanations which God does not require; or else they degenerate into downright preachings.
ISAAC WATTS (1674-1748): Some persons are greatly faulty in this respect; they are speaking to the people and teaching them the doctrines of religion, and the mind and will of God, rather than speaking to God the desires of their own mind. They wander away from God to speak to men.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: What can be more painful than to hear a man explaining and unfolding doctrines? The question forces itself upon us: “Is the man speaking to God, or to us?” If to God, then surely nothing can be more irreverent or profane than to attempt to explain things to Him; but if to us, then it is not prayer at all—It seems, at times, as though we meant to explain principles to God, and give Him a large amount of information.
JOHN NEWTON: Indeed this can hardly be called prayer. It might in another place stand for part of a good sermon; but will afford little help to those who desire to pray with their hearts.
WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): It is difficult to remain long in prayer, and not slacken in our affections. Especially observe this in social prayers; for when we pray in company, we must consider them that travel with us: as Jacob said, “I will lead on softly, as the children are able to endure.”
C. H. SPURGEON: It is necessary to draw near unto God, but it is not required of you to prolong your speech till everyone is longing to hear the word “Amen.”―“He prayed me into a good frame of mind,” George Whitefield once said of a certain preacher, “and if he had stopped there, it would have been very well; but he prayed me out of it again by keeping on.”
JOHN NEWTON: There are several things likewise respecting the voice and manner of prayer, which, if generally corrected, would make meetings for prayer more pleasant than they sometimes are…
Very loud speaking is a fault, when the size of the place, and the number of hearers, do not render it necessary―It may seem indeed to indicate great earnestness, and that the heart is much affected; yet it is often but false fire. It may be thought to be speaking with power; but a person who is favoured with the Lord’s presence may pray with power in a moderate voice; and there may be very little power of the Spirit, though the voice should be heard in the street. The other extreme, of speaking too low, is not so frequent; but, if we are not heard, we might as well altogether hold our peace. It exhausts the spirits, and wearies the attention, to be listening for a length of time to a very low voice.
D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): Another thing: Be yourself. I detest the kind of people that take a religious tone when they begin to talk.
JOHN NEWTON: Some have a tone in prayer, so very different from their usual way of speaking, that their nearest friends could hardly know them by their voice…It is pity that when we approve what is spoken, we should be so easily disconcerted by an awkwardness of delivery; yet so it often is—and probably so it will be, in the present weak and imperfect state of human nature.
C. H. SPURGEON: Cant phrases are another evil.
JOHN NEWTON: Many, perhaps most people who pray in public, have some favorite word or expression, which recurs too often in their prayers.
C. H. SPURGEON: A very favourite was “Thy poor unworthy dust”—We have heard of a good man who, in pleading for his children and grandchildren, was so beclouded in the blinding influence of this expression, that he exclaimed, “O Lord, save Thy dust, and Thy dust’s dust, and Thy dust’s dust’s dust!” When Abraham said, “I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes,” the utterance was forcible and deeply expressive; but in its misquoted, perverted, and abused form, the sooner it is consigned to the dust-bin, the better.
WILLIAM S. PLUMER: Avoid all cant phrases. They pall upon the ear.
JOHN NEWTON: I shall be glad if these hints may be of any service to those who desire to worship God in spirit and in truth, and who wish that whatever has a tendency to damp the spirit of devotion, either in themselves or in others, might be avoided.
