4 Short Prayers Christians Need to Stop Saying

Here are four short Christian prayers that we need to stop saying.

1. Forgiveness for the Same Sin

First John 1:9 has brought a lot of comfort to a lot of people, as it says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” It doesn’t say He forgives us if we keep asking for forgiveness for one particular sin. Even if we commit a terrible sin, our sin is never greater than our Savior. We don’t have to keep asking for forgiveness for the same sin. Imagine you’re a parent and your child comes to you and apologizes for breaking the lamp. The next day he or she apologizes for the very same thing, day after day. The parent would finally say, “Hey, that’s been forgiven. You don’t need to keep bringing it up. Don’t you trust that I’ve forgiven you?” Do you see the connection between the earthly father and our heavenly Father in that story?

2. My Will Be Done

God’s will is always done, even if bad things are happening to us (Rom. 8:28) so we should pray for His will and not our will to be done. God’s will cannot be altered or changed by human activity but God can even use the evil actions by men for His good (Gen. 50:20). So even in man’s scheming and wickedness, the will of God is never hindered and is always done. In other words, He can use evil to accomplish His will even though He is not the source of that evil. If you look at the cross, you see the greatest travesty of justice ever, yet God used that great evil to redeem a people for Himself by means of the Redeemer. We can pray for our will, but God’s will is going to be done anyway. More importantly, we should pray for God’s will to be done in our life over our own will and that means we will be doing what is the will of God. Paul writes, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God” (1 Thess. 4:3-5). Pray for God’s will to be done and then do it to the best of your knowledge.

3. Praying for God’s Wrath

What I mean by praying for God’s wrath is that we should not be praying for harm to come to our enemies. Remember the so-called Sons of Thunder who asked to have fire come down out of heaven and consume the Samaritan village that had just rejected Jesus and His message (Luke 9:54). At this remark, Jesus “turned and rebuked them” (Luke 9:57) and told them that’s not the way we react. You and I are told to “bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Rom. 12:14), not call fire down from heaven! “Repay no one evil for evil” (Rom. 12:17), “but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19). On the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head” (Rom. 12:20). In other words, let his or her conscience bring them to repentance, but leave justice up to God.

4. The Rock and the Hammer

Sometimes when we pray for people who are lost, we pray for their problems to be solved. They might be going through financial problems, relationship difficulties, or health issues. Instead of praying that they would have all their problems solved, why not pray for God to use these trials to draw them unto Himself. When we try to solve our lost friends and family members’ problems, we might be getting between the rock (the crisis) and the hammer (God’s hand). I am not saying don’t help people, but pray these problems bring them to God so that they might have everlasting life in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

It is so easy to pray in a christian way and not in plain language that is easy to understand. Some of the best prayers I’ve ever heard were from children because they prayed from the heart and weren’t concerned with what others thought of their words. They were honest, sincere, and genuine, and God will hear and answer those types of faith-based prayers.