PRAYER:
WRONG USE OF; SELF-INTEREST; PRIDE: SPIRITUAL

The problem is self. Selfishness is never so exquisitely selfish as when it is on its knees.…

Self turns what would otherwise be a pure and powerful prayer into a weak and ineffective one.

I may, for instance, pray earnestly for the glory of God to be manifested to this generation of men, and spoil the whole thing by my secret hope that I may be the one through whom He manifests the glory.

I may cry loudly to God that the church be restored to her New Testament splendor, and secretly dream that I may be the one to lead her in; thus I block the work of the Spirit by my impure motive. My hidden desire for a share of the glory prevents God from hearing me. So self, all bold and shameless, follows me to the altar, kneels with me in prayer and destroys my prayer before it is uttered.…

Too often we pray for right things but desire the answer for wrong reasons, one reason being a desire to gain a reputation among the saints. Long after every hope of getting on the cover of Time magazine has ebbed away from our hearts we may still harbor the unconfessed desire to get on the cover of Christian Life. That is, if the world will not appreciate our sterling worth, then the church will!

Isaiah 42:8; Matthew 6:1–5; James 4:3–4

Keys to the Deeper Life, 63, 64, 65.