Words of The Mouth and Not by The Heart

And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for
they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like
them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
- Matthew 6:7 8
How many established prayers does the Catholic Church or the
whole Christian Church has? I don't know. Don't ask me. I don't know how
many. But I can tell you some which came from the Catholic Church:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Apostle's Creed/Nicene Creed

The Lord's Prayer
Hail Mary
Doxology or Glory Be
The Angelus
Three O'clock Prayer
The Holy Rosary
The list goes on and on, and these prayers doesn't just include the

Roman Catholic prayers. For sure, in the number of church that

Christianity has, there will be a lot of established prayers coming from
them as well. But you know what, I got a bad news for us Christians: We're
starting to pray by our mouths and not by our hearts.
As a Christian who was raised in the ways of the Catholic Church, I
have been taught of these prayers. When I was a kid and even before I
had realizations about how I show my faith to God, when I pray, I would
always sound like a robot saying something similar to a command or a
code that seems to be failing or not being executed. Im sure, for most
Catholics, this sounds true. Let me ask you a question then. When was the
last time you prayed whole heartedly? When did you pray to God under
His overwhelming presence? When did you pray using your heart and not
your mind or mouth?
Brothers and sisters, why dont we try everything again, from
scratch. Look at the Bible verse that has been put on the entry of the post.
Take the time reading Matthew 6:7. It says, And in praying do not heap

up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be
heard for their many words. What does it mean? Why ask? That clearly
tells us everything. We shouldnt pray using empty and meaningless
words to God. I will tell you, honestly, that I was like that before; a person
who prays with meaningless words maybe because I only wanted people
to regard me as a religious or a prayerful person. But I tell you, Im not
even aware of that. What I know is that Im praying, thats all; but thats
what I really thought.
Let me share this story with you. When I came from a Youth Camp
and serve as part of the service team and music ministry, I was really
tired and sleepy. But before I reach my house, my friends and I were
talking about how the worship we did was overwhelming and how we had
visions. After that, I asked about them the things that they did as
household leaders. By the way, household leaders are the head of each
household within our community, that is within the Church, entrusted of
the responsibility of leading the members of his/her household or what we
call family back to Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and
teaching them advocacies of the ministry and community, that are related
with the teachings of the Bible and the Church. Now going back to the
topic.
I asked them about whats their role in the community and they
said, we are one of the people who are in the front lines of the battle
between good and evil, rescuing anyone from the grasp of Satans lies and
the worldly desires and taking them back to God, and knowing their true
purpose in life. They also mentioned on how household leaders are
regularly attacked by the Devil, and how he executes his schemes on
them until they fall back into his hands, unable to fulfill his role to the
Master Plan of the LORD. With those things that Ive heard, I have realized
something. They are vulnerable and are in need of help that they could
ever get. Then one of my friends said, Thats why we always pray so that
we will be guided in the right path the LORD have set out for us and also
for guiding our household members to the right path that the LORD wants

them to follow; in other words, His Will. That moment was enough for me
to pray for my household leader, and not just mine. Every household
leader within our community experiences the same attacks and they need
the help of the people who can help them. The only way I could help them
was to offer a prayer to God, asking guidance for the people fighting on
the front lines, rescuing people who are in need of saving in the name of
Jesus Christ. And that is where it all started.
The simple prayer time that I had for praying over the household
leaders became a personal communication with God to guide, help and
protect everyone: myself, the Christians who are helping in the fulfillment
of Gods plan, and the people who are, right now, in need of saving by His
Word, salvation through Jesus Christ. That continues until today. Starting
from that very moment, the prayers that I offered to God had meaning,
they came from the heart. As if it was my soul, with the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, talking to Him. It was not just my mouth, my physical body
feeling and speaking. It was my soul. Then with the prayers that I had
offered to Him, the personal communication that I have with Him and also
maintaining that relationship with Him (since I believe that the body is the
Temple of the Holy Spirit, and if the Holy Spirit is in me, then so as the
Father and the Son. In other words, God is in me), more blessings came in
my life. Im not just talking about the simple blessings (but Im still really
thankful that I am alive till this day), Im also talking about the blessings
that I was asking for, that my family was asking for. And despite of the
problems that I face, despite of the pressure from other people about my
Faith, despite all of the sadness that happened in my life, I still prayed.
I prayed when I wanted to worship Him and just right out sing
praises of Him through worship songs. I prayed when I know Ive really
done something troublesome and really wrong in His eyes. I prayed when I
was very thankful of all the things that He has given me. I prayed when I
wanted something from Him, especially that right now Im looking for a
job and it is just hard looking for one. The only thing that I did was to pray

and maintain that communication with our LORD, and everything just falls
into place like it is meant to be there.
The experience that I had is an example of a transition from praying
through the physical body (which uses the mouth), to the spiritual body
(which would include our hearts and our souls). Always remember how the
LORD have taught us how to pray (Matthew 6: 9-13). Always remember
the LORDs prayer. It is a powerful prayer. Even if we ask Him for all of the
things that we want or we need, He already knows it ahead of us. After all,
he is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the One who
governs time and destiny itself. Thats why when we pray we can only be
grateful to all of the things that He gave, He is giving and He will give us
later on. Praying to God is gratefulness itself to Him, thats why we have
to mean all of the things that we say to Him. Because just like a word
without meaning, faith without works is like a body without a soul, its just
dead. (James 2:17)