The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-10-17
PRAYER Motives.

All prayer, whatever may be its form, or
whatever it may include in its scope, IS actu.
ated by some kind of a motive. When per-
son prays there is some reason why he does
so. But whatever may be the motive, it is
very certain that it should be a good one.
And we may be very sure that whenever a
prayer is truly and wholly ,ndited by the
Holy Spirit, every motive which underlies
that prayer is good.
But we are compelled to admit that not a II
of the prayers of even Christian people are
governed by good motives and pure pur'
poses. So great are our infirmltles that our
motives are often more or less corrupt,-they
are vitiated by personal ambitions and gross
selfishness We have an illustration of an
unworthy motive in the epistle Of James, w.,
8, where he says: "Ye ask and receive not,
because ye ask amiss. that ye may spend it
in your PLEASURE r. w. In the preceding
verse the apostle says: "Ye have not, be-
cause ye ask not" Now these two state
ments amount to the same thing, so far as
the receiving is concerned. In neither case
is there anything received. In one case
there is no praying, and, consequently there
is no receiving In the other case there Is
prayer, and yet there is no receiving, be-
cause the prayer is amiss,-it Is faulty, i'm.
proper and wrong.
Il is selfish and vicious motive The pc.
titioners are represented as asking God tor
favors for the purpose of spending them for
the qualification Of their mere pleasures and
unholy desires. Such a motive must Of
necessity, corrupt all prayer and turn it into
q solemn mockery. We have another illus
tration of an unworthy motive in prayer in
the case of James and j ohm. who sought per-
sonal promotion in the kingdom of Christ.
Their prayer was, that one Of them might
be seated at the right hand of Christ, and the
other at His left in His kingdom There is
no evidence that there was any wicked de-
sign in their making such q petition; but
their motive was entirely improper, and this
so weakened it and corrupted it that it was
not acceptable. And how often is selfish
ness busily working at the very roots Of
prayer!Oft we pray for things which if re-
ceiv ID would minister to our pride. our ca
We may not always be truly conscious Of
this.
We may not always stop to think what the
real character of our motive is. But so
much the more do We need the Holy Spirit
to help our intirmities and teach US how to
pray. Many prayer is worse than useless
for want of a proper motive and true govern
ing principle. 1t is owing to such lack as
this that people often pray Tor things which,
if they were received, would prove a dam
age and even a curse to them. They pray
LOT IL duS"olCu, WouAQ lhfSAfO
themselves and their friends in unending
trouble.
The true motive is found in the words Of
our Saviour, VIXEN He said: "Not my will,
but Thine be done" This is the supreme
motive which should govern every Christian
heart. We should bow our wills without re-
serve to the will of God, and desire no other
power to rule US, and no other will to mas
ter us Let us learn that will by praying
the Holy Spirit to reveal it to US. If we
pray according to Gods will. then our prayer
will always be answered. Hartford Relig-
inus Herald