Humility in Prayer

Also, keep back your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

-          Psalm 19:13,14

This is the attitude of the true Christ-follower. The Christian is not haughty, assuming that he is beyond anything. No sin is beyond conception. Our sin-addictions still pull upon us even though we have a new nature. There is no sin that we are beyond falling again into. It is a type of religious pride that rejoices in the apparent strength we now possess. In truth, it is only by the grace of God that we stand. It is only by the strength of the Lord that we are able to have victory over any sin. We must continually go before the Lord in prayerful petition for the strength to endure and emerge victorious.

The true Christ-follower does not assume that any of his words merit hearing before the Lord. Just as it is by His strength that we endure temptation, it is also by the grace of God that we can approach the Holy One. We must never delude ourselves into thinking that our prayers (or the prayers of others) are worthy of the Most High God lest we become like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable who pridefully praised himself in his self-righteous prayer. Rather we must humbly ask, as the tax-collector did, that our prayers, as weak and sin-stained as they are, would be an acceptable sacrifice to the Holy God. The most eloquent words can be wholly unworthy while the weakest sinner may approach boldly if his hope rests upon Jesus Christ.

In everything, we stand before the Lord on Christ’s merit --- not our own. All our thoughts, our deeds, and our prayers must be laid bare before Christ as an offering or they will fall away, being unworthy. It is only on Christ we live, breathe, work, and pray.