"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:26-34
Sadly, the church often reflects the unbiblical world view of her surrounding culture. Perhaps the worst encroachment of cultural values that infiltrates the church is preoccupation with self. Self-gratification, self-assertiveness, and self-advancement wrongly influence many committed believers who unwittingly adopt secular mores. Nowhere is this self-indulgence more intrusive than in our prayer lives.
Our prayers are often litanies of self-oriented requests - punctuated occasionally with the needs of others. Certainly God wants us to bring our problems and desires before Him, but prayer was never meant to be an exclusive domain for self. One of the great joys of prayer is seeing God answer our petitions on behalf of others. It is exhilarating to see God bless our brethren in Christ and to see unbelievers come to know Him.
This kind of transformation in our prayer lives comes when we learn that sufficiency of God meets our needs. Our Lord will take care of our food, our clothing, our necessities. Knowing that fact, we can move on to intercession for others. The more we allow Christ Jesus to pray through us for others, the more our focus on self is diminished.
