Is it acceptable to repeatedly pray for the same thing, or should we only ask once?

Should we pray for a thing more than once?

No definite rule can be laid down with regard to such a matter. In some cases we are made to feel that our petition, for some wise reason, will not be granted, and that we are not at liberty to continue asking. Instances of this may be rare, but most assuredly they occur. Moses, when he prayed that he might be allowed to enter Canaan, was forbidden to repeat the request (Deut. 3:26).

On the other hand, sometimes when asking the Lord for a special thing, an overwhelming sense that one is heard, and that the petition is granted, comes upon one, and one feels that to ask again would be presumptuous.

But these are exceptional cases, and generally speaking, the Lord would have us go on praying for a thing that is upon our hearts. He often keeps us waiting for months, and even for years, before giving an answer, in order to test the reality of our desire and to prove our faith. He would have us importunate about what we seek of Him, and thus show that we are really in earnest. This is the lesson conveyed to us in the parable of the traveller who applied to his friend for bread at midnight (Luke 11). He was heard because of his importunity. Another parable—that of the injured widow (Luke 18)—enforces the same truth, that men ought not to faint or grow weary in prayer.

It is not that God is a hard and unwilling Giver, but that importunity is a test of earnestness and faith.

The very "importunity" of the man at the unseasonable hour of midnight, was the occasion of his obtaining the loaves (Luke 11:8). One can lay down no rules in such cases. The truly exercised heart gets its own answer from God. At times we can, with simple confidence, "make known," and commit the request to God. At others the heart is conscious that it cannot but cry to God until the heart is at rest as to the petition. He will not give it till His own time, and meanwhile the soul is kept in earnest exercise; faith is tested and patience tried, and the heart watches and waits on Him. Again, such is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us; and if we know that He hears us, we know we have the petitions that we desired of Him (1 John 5:14-15). He listens to everything, and grants that which is in accordance with His will. He cannot fail in power, and we have the reply. The true heart would ask nothing contrary to His mind and will. Back

Our Lord does not forbid frequent repetition but “vain repetition.” He Himself, blessed be His name, in His agony in the garden, prayed the same thing three times over. This is sufficient to prove that there may be repetition which is very far indeed from being “vain.” An individual in the privacy of his closet, or a number of Christians in public assembly, may earnestly, fervently, perseveringly and importunately urge and re-urge a certain matter which presses heavily on the heart, without being open to the charge of “vain repetition.”

This, however, does not mean that we are not allowed to repeat certain requests in our prayers which are a real burden on our hearts. We have to make a distinction between vain repetition of constantly repeated "formulas," and the intensive fervent prayer of a believer who in his trouble constantly repeats his request. Did not the Lord Jesus Himself present the parable of the widow to His disciples, that they ought always to pray, and not to faint? He then explicitly said: "shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?" (Luke 18:1-8; Acts 12:5; Rom. 12:12; Eph. 6:18).

"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as those who are of the nations: for they think they shall be heard through their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like them, for your Father knows of what things ye have need before ye beg anything of Him." Martin Luther says on this: "Here He censures the abuse of prayer, when they that are praying make use of many words and babblings; He calls this a heathenish practice, a loose, idle and useless talk, of such who think they would otherwise not be heard. The spirit of the worshiper prays, and because he knows that God will hear him, he dares not use such endless, idle talk -- the fewer the words, the better the prayer." (Luther's notes on the Gospels.) The Pharisees had their long prayers with many vain repetitions. One only needs to take up an orthodox Jewish "prayer book" to see the numerous vain repetitions, repeating phrases over and over again. That our Lord had this first of all before Him seems clear. Yet what else is Christendom but, as one has said, "an unauthorized revival of a departed shade"? (Adolph Saphir on Hebrews.) It is an aping after that which no longer exists. The rituals of Christendom with their liberal use of the Psalms in responsive readings, set forms of prayer for all occasions, their chant and rapid delivery, are but the daughters of the old mother -- Phariseeism. Here we mention especially rituals which are used at the Lord's supper, generally called by that unscriptural word "sacrament." There are used repeatedly phrases like "Lamb of God, have mercy on us," "Almighty God, have mercy on us," "O Lord, save us." These indeed are vain repetitions, and at the Lord's table when they are used by a believer (who only has a right to the Lord's table) they are worse than vain. Vain repetitions, however, may also be used by such who use no formal prayers, ritual and prayer book. This is often done when the name of God and the Lord is falsely used in public prayer as well as other oft-repeated phrases. Others have gone into an extreme and have declared that the Lord teaches here that a petition should be made only once, and that if we have asked in faith for something once, to ask again is only proof of our unbelief. The Lord teaches no such thing. Our Lord Himself in Gethsemane made the same petition three times, and Paul with his thorn in the flesh had besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him (2 Cor. 12:7).

However, let us look at the prayer itself; for nothing can be more blessed, and all the truth of it abides for us. "When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking" (ver. 7). Now it is plain that our Lord does not forbid repetition, but vain repetition. We find our Lord Himself, when He was in an agony in the garden, repeating three times the same words. But vain, formal repetition, whether words read out of a book, or framed sentences of the mind, He does positively forbid. Again, let me press the plain fact, that our Lord here is not providing for the public wants of the Church; nor do we hear that it was so understood. There is not the smallest thought of such a thing after the gift of the Holy Ghost, when the Church was formed and at work in this world. So that while the Lord's Prayer was given as the most perfect model of prayer, and may have been used as it stands by the disciples previously to the death of our Lord and the gift of the Holy Ghost, yet it seems plain that afterwards it was not so. The New Testament is, of course, the only test of this. When we come to tradition, we shall find all sorts of difficulty on this as on other subjects, but the word of God is not obscure. In no way does it leave us uncertain as to what God's mind is: else indeed the very purpose of a revelation would be defeated. What then is the permanent use of the prayer? Why is it given in Scripture? The principle always abides true. There is not a clause of that prayer, I believe, but what one might proffer now, even to "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." For it is a mistake to suppose that it puts the sinner upon the ground of prayer in order to acquire forgiveness of his sins. Our Lord speaks of the believer — the child of God. Our daily faults and short-comings we need to spread before our God and Father, as He encourages us to do day by day. It is a question of His government who, without respect of persons, judges according to the work of each; and hence He will not own the petition of one who cherishes an unforgiving disposition toward others, even if they have done us ever so grievous wrong.

Verse 44. We learn an important lesson here. Three times over; but not vain repetition! In an earlier part we are told not to use vain repetitions, but the blessed Lord here uses "the same words." We may pray the same thing over and over again, and it may not be vain repetition, if our heart is in it. Ah, it was not possible! We find further on, that the two thieves proposed something that was impossible, — "Save thyself and us." If He saved Himself He could not save them. He must go through it all.

It would be a mistake, in our judgment, to adduce this Scripture as urging importunity in prayer. It is quite true that the same exhortations are found in Luke in another connection (Luke 11:5-13), but even there they only flow out from an illustration of importunity. The difference of dispensation has also to be remembered, for since Pentecost it would not be according to truth to pray for the Holy Spirit, as in Luke, seeing that He now dwells in believers, and is bestowed upon all who receive the forgiveness of sins through faith in the efficacy of the finished work of Christ. It will be observed that in Matthew "good things" are what are sought, and not the Holy Spirit; and these "good things," we cannot doubt, especially in their application to Christians, are heavenly blessings. Taking it thus, it will be at once seen that importunity is out of the question; that it is rather the expression of an ever-increasing energetic confidence in the Father for the blessings on which, through grace, the heart is set. Knowing, that is, that it is His mind to bring us into the enjoyment of all that Christ has secured for us, the soul will wait on with purpose and energy until the prayer has been answered. There is, perhaps, even more than this as implied in the terms used; for after the exhortations and their connected promises (" Ask; and it shall be given," etc.), the Lord adds as encouragement, "For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Asking then for heavenly blessings, they are received, in the sense of being made good to the soul; seeking for them with true purpose of heart (compare Psalm 27:4), they are found, they are sought for and discovered, the true heavenly portion of the saint is apprehended; and, lastly, to him that knocketh it shall be opened; the heavenly door is, as it were, opened, and the soul enters into its proper sphere, the sphere where Christ is, where He is everything, and where His glory fills the scene. If, therefore, this Scripture goes down and begins with the first desires of the believer, it also rises up to and includes his most exalted blessings. It indicates, at the same time, the royal and only pathway into heavenly enjoyment.

Then He speaks of man going to a friend at midnight and asking for three loaves. "And he from within;" these are pregnant words! Are you "within"? It is a dangerous condition in this world. What I mean by that is, losing your sympathies with the joys and sorrows around you. So the Lord shows out God's grace, on the dark ground of that man's selfishness. You have not to "ask" and "seek" and "knock"; that is importunity. But "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." See the divine readiness in answer to human necessities. Never say importunity is needed to move God. At your leisure read Daniel 10. For "three full weeks" Daniel was chastening his heart before God, and no answer was given. At the end of that time the answer came; and how? The angel told him that as soon as ever he began to pray, he was heard; but a certain transaction that was going on in heaven, hindered the answer. He went on in importunity for three weeks, but as soon as ever he had prayed, he was heard. So you may have been praying for a long time, and getting no answer, but be sure the interval has been well employed; if not in heaven, in the chastening of your spirit. This beautifully illustrates what we get here. There is no reluctancy in God; not that selfishness to be overcome that there was in the man at midnight; but there may be reasons to delay the answer, and when it does come, it may be in a way you are little prepared for. Paul prayed three times, and the thorn was not taken away; but the answer came at last, and in a way he had not expected. The thorn was left until the day of his death, but he was given grace by which he could triumph in it.