Teach Me to Pray - Week #24: The Chief End of Prayer

"I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father." John 14:12,13

"That the Son may bring glory to the Father...Every answer to prayer He (Jesus) gives will have this as its object; when there is no prospect of the Father being glorified, He will not answer."

John 6:38 gives us the keynote of Jesus' life: "I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me." Jesus' greatest passion and desire is to glorify His Father, and He tells us that the way He will do this when He ascends to the Father will be through answering human prayers that are in agreement with the Father receiving glory.

Murray points out that this is a reality that divides soul and spirit, serving to discern the thoughts and intents of the human who is praying. "Jesus in His prayers on earth, in His intercession in heaven, and in His promise of an answer to our prayers, makes this His first object - the glory of His Father. Is it so with us? Or are self-interest and self-will the strongest motives that urge us to pray? Or, if not, do we have to confess that the distinct, conscious longing for the glory of the Father is not what animates our prayers?"

As I was reading this chapter, I paused and cried out to the Lord that He would burn this desire more deeply into me. As a sincere follower of His, I certainly want His glory in my prayers but I recognize that I need this to thoroughly fill my heart and mind and being, not only in prayer but in all areas of my living.

In fact, Murray goes on to say that it is only as we live all of life for His honor and glory that we can hope to pray with His glory as our chief desire and purpose. "Only when the whole life, in all its parts, is surrendered to God's glory can we really pray to His glory. 'Do it all for the glory of God' (I Cor. 10:31), and 'Ask all to the glory of God' - these twin commands are inseparable. Obedience to the former is the secret of grace for the latter."

Living in such a way is not possible through our own efforts. Only in Jesus do we see such living, but the good news is that He dwells in us by His Spirit; as He increases in us and we decrease, Jesus teaches us to live and pray in Him to the glory of the Father. His increased presence within us comes through simple, daily obedience to Him in all areas of our life.

When we pray with lesser motives than God's glory, our prayers can't be answered; and when prayers aren't answered, God cannot be glorified! "How humbling that so often our joy or pleasure in prayer for someone or something is far stronger than our yearning for God's glory. No wonder there are so many unanswered prayers."

Faith is willing to give up all lesser motives so that the Father will be glorified in answered prayer. How often I have prayed wanting relief from the pressure and pain that comes from seeing others in pain. The Lord understands this human tendency but He comes with great grace to teach us to pray without mixture of motives, making our requests and interceding with thanksgiving and for His glory and praise. I'm learning to draw on His grace a day at a time to live with the pressures and pain while I cry out in prayer for Him to act in such a way that He will receive glory, even if that means I must wait longer in the pressure of pain.

Murray says that the way we attain to living and praying for God's glory is through confession of our sin in this. "Let us wait on God in prayer until the Holy Spirit reveals it to us and we see how we have sinned in this regard. True knowledge and confession of sin is the sure path to deliverance."

"Blessed Lord Jesus, I come again to you. Every lesson you teach convinces me more deeply how little I know how to pray in the right way. But every lesson also inspires me with hope that you are going to teach me and that you are teaching me not only what prayer should be but also how to pray as I ought...Teach me also to live and to pray to the glory of God. To this end I yield myself to you again...I have given self to death as already crucified with you. Through the Spirit, self's workings have come to nothing. Your life and your love of the Father are taking possession of me. A new longing begins to fill my soul that every day, every hour, in every prayer, the glory of the Father may be everything to me. Lord, I am in your school to learn this. Teach me...Lord, show me your glory. Let it overshadow me. Let it fill the temple of my heart. Let me dwell in it as revealed in Christ. Fulfill in me your own good pleasure...Amen."