The Spiritual Discipline of Prayer: The Heart of Prayer - Humility

As followers of Jesus we know we must pray. Jesus prayed, His disciples prayed, and we are commanded to pray: And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kind of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18

Prayer is a means by which we commune with our great God and Savior. It is an avenue by which we get to experience and delight ourselves in Him. There are promises attached to prayer such as in Philippians 4:6-7. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Prayer is a means that God uses to fight against an anxious heart. I don't know about you, but when I find myself becoming anxious about life and the things that go on around me, I have to remember that God has given me the tools I need to battle it and have the peace of God settle my heart and keep me focused on Christ. Sounds great! Sounds like something I need to be busy about doing.

So, I ask myself, why do I struggle to have a constant attitude of prayer? I think the number one hindrance to a life of unceasing prayer flowing from a heart of thanksgiving is PRIDE. Stuart Scott defines pride this way: Pride is the mindset of self (a master's mindset rather than that of a servant): a focus on self and the service of self, a pursuit of self-recognition and self exaltation, and a desire to control and use all things for self. Pretty nasty stuff. Pride is guaranteed to ultimately lead us to our destruction according to the Bible. ( 1 Peter 5:5) Proud people are not praying people. Proud people think that their problems are too big for God. Proud people think they can endure and handle things on their own. If I want to know if I am proud, I evaluate the way and how often I pray. The prayers of the proud are few and far between or self-focused; they are all about being seen by family, friends, and society as godly, righteous, a fantastic prayer, a good man/woman. The proud will pray so as to say, “Be like me, look at me, I am great.” Or pride will say, “God is obligated to me because of my great theologically sound prayers.”

Another way to evaluate whether or not pride is hindering your prayer life is to take note of how often you compare yourself favorably to others. Remember, God is not impressed with you because of your knowledge and wordiness so do not deceive yourself into thinking you are impressing Him and obligating Him with your prayers. He certainly wasn't impressed by the hypocrites in Matthew 6:5-8.

If pride is the hindrance then humility is the remedy. Humility is a complete and utter dependence on God. A life of prayer is a manifestation of that complete and utter dependence. We pray when we see God as the only source of strength, hope, compassion, and provision for all things. If we see ourselves as among the weak and foolish, nothing can keep us from dropping to our knees. We will pray for our children because it isn't our awesome parenting skills that will save them, it is Jesus! We will be driven to our knees for our brother's and sister's in Christ because we are not great counselors, disciplers and friends, rather Jesus is. We will wake up in an attitude of prayer because we acknowledge our very breath is held in His hands. We pray so as to stand against sin because we know how sneaky our own flesh is and have no confidence in ourselves to conquer it. We pray because we cannot help but breathe out praise to the One who is awesome in His Compassion, Love and Power.

So how do we fight the pride and become more humble? Prayer is the answer. God humbles us to see pride as sin against Him and we are moved to pray, but not yet as we ought! In faith, we must continue to come before Him humbly seeking the grace that only He can give. It is a discipline we must practice in faith knowing that God will move and work in our hearts, giving us more grace to slay the pride enabling us to pray more. Prayer then is not only a sign of the humble but also a means to humility. Be eager to pray so that you can see God work. Pray in humble expectation. That is where I'll pick up tomorrow... The Heart of Prayer - Expectation. Do you truly believe God will hear you, answer you, and work in you as you pray?

In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch. Psalm 5:3