In history the Reformed have taught a lot on and about prayer. Today we think of prayer as consisting of a bit of praise to God for what He has done for us and then asking for more things that He can do for us. But notice that when we praise God for what He has done for us, we are very centered upon ourselves. When we ask for more things that He will do for us, we are again asking Him to do things centered on self. In prayer it seems as if all the selfish things of the heart will arise and plead for God to give it to them. This selfishness and self-centeredness are given religious expression and even said to be a good and holy thing as long as it is “prayer.” We have sanctioned selfishness and pride within the Church in the name of prayer. Let us hear the words of Stephen Charnock on this matter of prayer being an expression of our self-centeredness and practical atheism:
“When we entertain a high opinion of ourselves, and act for our own reputes, we dispossess God from our own hearts and while we would have our fame to be in every man’s mouth, and be admired in the hearts of men, we would chase God out of the hearts of others, and deny his glory as a residence anywhere else, that our glory should reside more in the minds than the glory of God; that their thoughts should be filled with our achievements more than the works and excellence of God…It is evident, in performing duties merely for a selfish interest; making ourselves the end of religious actions, paying a homage to that, while we pretend to render it to God…Things ordained by God may fall in with carnal ends affected by ourselves; and then religion is not kept up by any interest of God in the conscience, but the interest of self in the heart; we then sanctify not the name of God in the duty, but gratify ourselves; God may be the object, self is the end; and a heavenly object is made subservient to a carnal design… in the actual aims men have in their duties. In prayer for temporal things, when we desire health for our own case, wealth for our own sensuality, strength for our own revenge, children for the increase of our family, gifts for our own applause; as Simon Magus did the Holy Ghost; or, when some of those ends are aimed at, this is to desire for God not to serve himself of us, but to be a servant to our worldly interest, our vain glory, the greatening of our names… when pardon of sin is desired only for our own security from eternal vengeance; sanctification desired only to make us fit for everlasting blessedness; peace of conscience, only that we may lead our lives more comfortably in the world; when we have not actual intentions for the glory of God, or when our thoughts of God’s honor are overtopped by the aims of self-advantage… how is it with our confessions of sin? Are they not more to procure our pardon, than to shame ourselves before God, or to be freed from the chains that hinder us from bringing him the glory for which we were created; or more to partake of his benefits, than to honor him in acknowledging the rights of his justice? Do we not bewail sin as it hath ruined us, not as it opposed the holiness of God?”
We can see from these words of Charnock what idolatry it is for man to have himself as his highest motive in prayer. When we pray and our desire is for ourselves rather than God, though indeed we might have some fleeting thoughts of God in the so-called prayer, we are in the midst of idolatry and call it religious duty. We should know that it is the height of arrogance and sin to pray in an effort to use God for our own selfish intents and motives. We should know that in prayer as in all of life we are to do all to the true glory of His name and we are to love Him with all of our beings while we pray and in the intents and designs of the prayer. Could it be that in the “prayers” of the professing Church we see idolatry and self-love as much if not more than anywhere else?
Instead of the focus of prayer being asking God for things for our own purposes, we are to pray in His name and for the sake of His name. In other words, true prayer is when the soul of a human being loves God above itself and loves itself only for the sake of His name and begins to plead with God for the sake of His own name. After all, we are to love Him more than ourselves. After all, if we loved Him more than ourselves and ourselves only for His sake, we would pray for all that we prayed for in order that His glory would be manifested. If a holy prayer is only the prayer that is truly out of love for Him and for His glory, then what is God’s intent for prayer? Is prayer a way for God to show how focused He is on human beings or the way for human beings to manifest how focused they are on God? Could it be that human beings in true prayer are really signs of changed hearts so that their prayers are really the breathings forth of God’s love for His own glory? Our prayers themselves are to be God-centered in all ways and in that they show union with God and His own centeredness upon Himself. Even in (perhaps especially so) our prayers we are to show the glory of God’s focus on and love for Himself. If not, we do it for pride and self.
God Loves... Himself 
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