Many of us feel like we're not very good at prayer because we often have a hard time praying for a long time about something. We will try to tell God about a need, or about something we desire, or we're burdened about, but we feel like we didn't pray about it long enough. So we repeat ourselves, and then we turn around and maybe say the same thing again and again. We feel like somehow for our prayers to be powerful, we have to talk about it a lot to God.

But Jesus taught us something totally opposite of that. In Matthew 6:7-8, Jesus said:

Jesus said your prayers are not answered because of your many words. Our prayers are not powerful because we pray long prayers. Our prayers are powerful because we're talking to a powerful Father, and we are His children simply telling Him what we need.

When I was a pastor many years ago in my hometown, I had an elderly deacon who was a wonderful man of prayer. He wasn't very eloquent; he wasn't very educated, and he often mispronounced his words. But when I say he could really pray, I don't mean that he prayed beautiful prayers. What I mean is that when he prayed, he got answers.

I remember one time we were badly in need of rain, and he felt burdened to pray for rain. He told me later that he went home one night and as he lay in his bed, he spoke out loud and said, “Lord Jesus, you know we need rain. Let me hear from you, Lord.” He said he lay there for a few minutes in the silence, listening—and nothing. So then he said again, “Lord, let me hear from you.” And he said in just a few seconds, he began to hear the raindrops hit the tin roof of his old house.

Now that's some powerful prayer.

The power of prayer does not come from your many words. It comes from the power of your Father that you're talking to as His child. So make your needs known in simple faith.