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.