SPS - Selfish Prayer Syndrome

"I feel so selfish when I pray."

Sound familiar? Ever felt that way? Better yet, have you ever not felt that way?

I'm willing to bet we all think it or feel it at times, if not most of the time. It's so easy to get wrapped up in our circumstances that our prayers continually drift "selfward." Then we start beating ourselves up for not being spiritual enough to see past our own needs and suppress those selfish prayers.

So we stop. Before we know it, the guilt of SPS - "Selfish Prayer Syndrome" - has weighed us down to the point that prayers almost cease altogether. I know I have experienced this, especially in recent months. Any given day, my prayers are filled with a selfish swirl of the following:

• God, please help my wife to feel good and get through her workday.
• God, please sell our house in Maryland.
• God, please help me find a job to pursue the calling you've put on my life and provide for my family.
• God, please take away my wife's disease.
• God, please help us find a new church family.
  
• God, please help us pay the bills this month.
• God, please protect our marriage and kids.
• God, please give us opportunities to serve You.
• God, please give us the wisdom to know when to wait and when to go after it.
  

Yeah, I'm pretty selfish. These are all legitimate challenges we've been facing over the past several months. They all kinda hit the fan at once, and that's new territory for us.

I'm tired of praying selfishly (or at least feeling selfish), so I'm asking God to work on my heart in that area. He immediately took me to the Psalms where I am reminded that I'm not alone. Even David, the Shepherd-Boy-Giant-Slayer-Turned-King/Man After God's Own Heart/Bible Hall-of-Famer spent a lot of prayers on his own circumstances. An awful lot...

Then the thought occurred to me that my prayers have had the right words, just in the wrong order. See how different the same prayers come out when they are prayed with an adjusted, God-centered focus:

• Help my wife to feel good and get through her workday to please You, God.
• Sell our house in Maryland to please You, God.
• Help me find a job to pursue the calling you've put on my life and provide for my family to please You, God.
• Take away my wife's disease to please You, God.
• Help us find a new church family to please You, God.
  
• Help us pay the bills this month to please You, God.
• Protect our marriage and kids to please You, God.
• Give us opportunities to serve You to please You, God.
• Give us the wisdom to know when to wait and when to go to please You, God.

All of a sudden, the same prayers take on a completely different meaning when the focus is on God's glory and not my circumstances. My prayers are transformed from selfish pleas to humble requests that are pregnant with opportunities for God to glorify Himself! Whether He chooses to answer them the way I want isn't really the point. The bigger issue is for God to be pleased.

We're in a valley. And valleys, they say, is where the most fertile soil and potential for fruit is. It's in the valley that God has the most opportunity to mold us and teach us things we would otherwise miss out on, like the principle I've pointed out above. It's in the valley that God has the most opportunity to answer prayer and pour out His blessings. It's in the valley that trust is forged and deepened beyond imagination. I praise God for this valley.

Ever suffer from SPS?