In his Gospel, Matthew describes Jesus as warning his disciples against babbling long prayers as the pagans, that is, those who were neither Jews nor Christians, did. They tended to recite an endless list of the names of gods hoping against hope to hit upon one secret name which will force the god to act. Behind such a prayer is the idea that the god can be made to act in their favour for "they think they will be heard... "Jesus reminds his listeners that God's hand cannot be forced by the length of one's prayer. It is the quality rather than the quality that matters. The main quality of prayer is one's trust in the Father's loving providence. God, who know everything has provided for our needs even before we even knew what they were.

The "Lord's Prayer", as taught to us by Jesus is ultimately a prayer of trust. In this prayer, we begin by proclaiming the majesty and holiness of God. Then, we pray that in time, God will bring His kingdom to fulfillment and assume His rightful rule over the world. Only then, do we turn to our own concerns: food, forgiveness and freedom from evil. The "Our Father" reminds us that if we are truly God's children, we have to be first concerned with the triumph of God's cause, and only then with our own petty concerns. Elijah is shown as an excellent example of one who was totally committed to the concerns of God, and in return, he was empowered, protected and provided with all that he needed by God.