Pause for a moment and honestly ponder the question, “Why do we pray?” Is it to defeat terrorist groups and rescue persecuted Christians worldwide – or is it to plead my son to make the high school baseball team or my daughter to receive a college scholarship? Is it to protect preborn children from “Choice” – or for my cure from a recent diagnosis of cancer? Is it for the courage to share the Gospel with my lost neighbor, coworker or son-in-law – or for my hope to get promoted at work?
Now hear me on this: praying for all these up close and personal matters are good and right, but are these all issues we’re praying for? If so, then it’s not right! Such a practice even defies our very words when we end our prayers with the familiar close to the Lord’s Prayer: “For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory forever. Amen.” Perhaps a more fitting way to climax them may be to transpose the “Thine,” with “Mine;” “Mine is the Kingdom, the Power and Glory.” Ouch!
Why not visit on Sunday in order to be reminded that the motive of our prayers ought not be for our sakes, but for God’s?