Matthew 6:7

"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" (Matthew 6:7 RSV).

Comment:

Affirmations can be 'many words' and 'empty phrases'—but only if we believe the Power we seek lies in the words themselves. The Lord's Prayer itself—which Jesus offers just a few verses later in this same chapter—can be empty if we focus on strictly speaking the correct words and ignore the dimension of faith the words are meant to represent. Properly understood, an affirmation is not an attempt to 'change God's mind,' or to persuade God to grant us something that is being denied or withheld. An affirmation is a statement of spiritual Truth; there is no 'magic' in the combination of words or sounds. When we couple an affirmation with a corresponding denial, we are simply making a mid-course correction in our own consciousness. We are denying power to a false belief that is manifesting in our lives as negative energy, and we are affirming a universal spiritual Truth that we may have lost sight of. We are shifting our faith from the illusory to the True. The words don't do that; we do it in consciousness. 

Blessings!        

Rev. Ed