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 door and 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.