The Praying Man:
Purity and Honesty Are Essential

By A. W. Tozer

Ye ask, and receive not. because ye ask amiss,
that ye may consume it upon your lusts.   James 4:3

    Prayer is usually recommended as the panacea for all
ills and the key to open every prison doorand it would
indeed be difficult to overstate the advantages and
privilege of Spirit-inspired prayer.

    But we must not forget that unless we are wise and
watchful, prayer itself may become a source of self-
deception.

    There are as many kinds of prayer as there are
problems and some kinds are not acceptable to God. The
prophets of the Old Testament denounced Israel for
trying to hide their iniquities behind their prayers.
Christ flatly rejected the prayers of hypocrites and
James declared that some religious persons ask and
receive not because they ask amiss!

    To escape self-deception, the praying man must come
out clean and honest. He cannot hide in the cross while
concealing in his bosom the golden wedge and the
goodly Babylonish garment. Grace will save a man but it
will not save him and his idol! The blood of Christ will
shield the penitent sinner alone, but never the sinner
and his idol! Faith will justify the sinner, but it will never
justify the sinner and his sin!

    No amount of pleading will make evil good or wrong
right. A man may engage in a great deal of humble talk
before God and get no response because unknown to
himself he is using prayer to disguise disobedience!

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Yours in Christ,
Paul N. F.