“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words." Matthew 6:7

What does it mean for believers not to babble on and on in prayer using many words? Does it mean we can't keep praying the same thing? No. Jesus did that in the garden of Gethsemane, praying "...not My will, but what You will." And He went away and prayed, saying the same words" (Mark 14:39). What kind of going on and on is meant here? Any good Jew would daily pray the Shema (consisting of three short passages of Scripture: Deut. 6:4-9; 11:13-21; Numbers 15:37-41) every morning and evening. As early as you could, as soon as it was light enough to tell the difference between blue and white you'd pray it - but before 9 a.m. At night you had to say it before 9 p.m. To be sure many said it out of love and adoration of God; but surely there were others that just rattled through it to get through it, to check it off the list of things to do. We can do the same thing with our prayers, especially the Lord's Prayer; saying it without even thinking about what it means.