Praying for Yourself

[JustinHesychast]

Is it wrong to pray for yourself? Is it selfish? Shouldn't one's preayers be focused on the will of God and on others?

[choirfiend]

You can definitely ask the will of God for yourself. Also, check out how often we ask for mercy, say, in the Psalms, asking God to cleanse our hearts, and various other prayerful requests. These are certainly also the will of God, and it is fitting that we pray so.

[MariaRegina]

Whenever we pray the Jesus Prayer, we are praying for God to have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

When we are healed, then we can better pray for others.

[silouanathonite]

Yes, it is ok to pray for yourself. As mentioned above, the Jesus Prayer is refered to in the Church as "The Prayer". When Christ showed us how to prayed, He made sure that we also made petitions for ourselves & others.

Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven
Give us this day, our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

So to answer your question, shouldn't it be focused on the will of God and others. It should be focus on all those things. Pray each line above and focus on the words and it will show you what you should pray for. There are books just written about the Our Father & the significance of the prayer. Straight from our Lord's mouth, how much more perfect would that prayer be?

[gzt]

one of the most common prayers is, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

[NyssaTheHobbit]

I'm glad to read this thread. My last church did this whole cat & dog theology thing for a while; "cats" are focused on what God can do for them, and "dogs" are focused on what they can do for God. (I know, this analogy does not work in real life, as any cat and/or dog owner can see. A dog begging for treats or insisting on a head pat is hardly focused on what he can do for his master.)

I got the impression from the pastor's sermons that if we prayed anything at all for ourselves, we were being "cats." Yet I could remember examples of Christ telling us about appropriate prayers for ourselves.

[orthodoxy]

Is it wrong to pray for yourself? Is it selfish? Shouldn't one's preayers be focused on the will of God and on others?

From what I can tell the only two prayers with the stamp of approval by Jesus Christ are the "Our Father" prayer and "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner" or the prayer of the publican. Nearly every one that called out to Jesus said "Lord have mercy" and He answered.

Personally when I was a protestant I found myself more likely in the prayer of the pharisee trying to manipulate the hand of God to make others see things "my way" as in "O God, I do this and that for you. Do you see that person over there? He needs to have Jesus in His life. Please Lord I pray that He will find you as I have". Blah Blah Blah.

I have come to the reality that the best place to be is in the will of God thus a prayer for another would be "Thy will be done in their life" or "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on "Joe" or "Mary". Neither is manipulative but only asking God for His will and grace.

When I was a protestant I always saw the mercy of God as "God please dont hit me", cowering in a corner waiting to be struck down by His wrath, but now as an Orthodox Christian I understand "mercy" to mean "pour your grace upon me as a healing oil upon the head of thy servant". Thus when one prays "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me" or "Joe" or "Mary", I am asking that God pour His healing balm upon His servant that what ever the afflicition that I or they maybe suffering will lead to mine or their salvation.

the unworthy

kyril