"When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do," said Jesus to His disciples in Matthew 6:7. This is given as a command by our Lord but there is much confusion over what He meant by "empty phrases" or "vain repetitions."

The attempt of this brief study is to look at the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 6:7-8 in an attempt to understand what He meant by not heaping up empty phrases in prayer. This is not a study of prayer in general but rather a study of this one aspect of prayer. It is the authors goal to bring some clarity and application to this important command of the Lord Jesus.