Do you pray for yourself? I’m not talking about asking God for “food and clothing,” though there is nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact, God commands and encourages His children to ask Him for their daily bread (Matthew 6:11Matthew 6:11
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
WP-Bible plugin)! The kind of prayer that I’m referring to is asking the Lord to bring about real Christian growth in your life. We have been conditioned to pray for others, but we feel that petitioning God on our own behalf is somehow self-serving and contrary to the Scriptures. Christians rally to pray for the hungry in Africa and the devastated in Haiti, but are reluctant to bow their knees in prayer for their own spiritual growth. Why is it that so many of us neglect prayer for our own spiritual development? Allow me to suggest a few reasons why we avoid this kind of prayer.
A failure to understand the importance of seeking the Lord’s strength in spiritual transformation heads the list. Many Christians think that spiritual transformation (i.e. being conformed to the image of Christ) can be accomplished through human initiative. We conclude that Christ- likeness is the necessary result of personal effort and determination. While it is true that the Bible commands the believer to work out his own salvation (sanctification) with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12Philippians 2:12
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12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
WP-Bible plugin), it also tells us that God is at work (energizing) in us making us both willing and able to undergo this radical transformation (Philippians 2:13Philippians 2:13
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13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
WP-Bible plugin). Since God has determined that every Christian be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29Romans 8:29
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
WP-Bible plugin) and since He is the One who is at work in us to accomplish this goal, doesn’t it stand to reason that we should pray to Him asking Him for daily power for the process?
Another reason why this kind of personal prayer never crosses our mind is because we never make Christ-likeness a priority. We somehow think that God is really not concerned about our spiritual growth. God is indifferent and it really doesn’t matter to Him how we live. Beloved, the Bible declares that God’s will for us is that we be dedicated to Him (1 Thessalonians 4:31 Thessalonians 4:3
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
WP-Bible plugin). God is far from indifferent concerning our spiritual growth. He has willed it to be so! Henry Martyn, a missionary to India in the early 1800’s, understood the importance of his own spiritual development. He said: “Let me be taught that the first great business on earth is the sanctification of my own soul.” Martyn made his sanctification a priority and he prayed about it.
Finally, I think that many believers avoid personal prayer out of discouragement. Oh, we understand that we have the omnipotence of God at our disposal to accomplish our sanctification. We even understand that transformation is according to His perfect will for us. But many times we fall short of that biblical standard. We experience failure after failure and we begin to think that the quest for Christian maturity will never become a reality for us. We become discouraged, convinced that we are the exception to the rule and that even though God has accomplished transformation in the lives of so many others, He is powerless to bring us to Christ-likeness. Beloved, nothing could be further from the truth! Take heart! In Ephesians 3:14-21Ephesians 3:14-21
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
WP-Bible plugin, the Apostle Paul prays a powerful prayer for the saints at Ephesus concerning their sanctification. Paul concludes that prayer by praising God for His ability to accomplish the sanctification of all His children. Let the truth of verse 20 sink into your soul. Take heart and pray for yourself like you have never prayed before!
