Looking for a simple prayer for spiritual growth? That’s the topic we’re covering in this Tea on Tuesdays devotion.
Prefer to watch? Here’s the video:
A Simple Prayer for Spiritual Growth
Do you know which sin is behind every single sin we commit? It’s selfishness. That’s the sin I’m asking God to root out of my life this year, in more powerful ways than ever before. I’m doing this through a simple prayer that I want to share with you with you today.
The prayer that I have been praying is this:
Show me where I’m being selfish, Lord.
I know that selfishness underlies every single sin. It’s surprising the ways God is revealing where I’m being selfish that I wasn’t realizing before.
In my book, Transforming Your Thought Life, I lay out 17 different thought life categories that are problematic for us. In the book, I tell you that each one of us has a characteristic sin, based on the dark sides of our personalities. For me, this is the chapter on Thoughts That Criticize Others, because I’m tempted to judge other people. That chapter really resonates with me in terms of how I need to control my thought life.
One of the Bible verses I’ve been meditating on recently is Romans 12:14 NIV:
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
The part I’m focusing on is just the “bless and do not curse.” I’m taking it beyond the situations of people causing me pain and suffering. I’m applying it to anything I see on social media that tempts me to judge. This five-word portion of the verse is now a basis of prayer to God: “Help me bless and not curse, Lord. Take away this root of selfishness when I’m tempted to judge other people, Lord.”
So, I knew this would be an area of sin where God would be working on me, because it’s one of my characteristic sins. But, like most people who have read my book and given me feedback on it, I’m realizing I have other areas to work on too.
Discovering Hidden Areas of Selfishness
People say things like this about my book: “I go to the table of contents to zone in on that chapter that I know is my problem area. But then, after I’ve read that chapter, I bounce around to the other chapters and realize I’ve really messed up in lots of areas!”
That’s what the sin of pride does. It gets underneath every single thing that we’re focusing on, whether it’s regretful thoughts, angry thoughts, untrue thoughts or impure thoughts. Any of those areas really have selfishness underneath.
That’s actually what God’s been doing in my life these past few weeks when I’ve been praying, “Show me where I’m being selfish, Lord.” He’s showing me all these areas, especially ones hidden in my heart, where I didn’t realize I was being selfish, but I really am.
A Hidden Area of Selfishness
One of those areas is self-pity. If someone does hurt my feelings, doesn’t apologize, and is just being a jerk, it’s really easy for me to fall into that trap of self-pity. I subtly raise myself up above them, as if I’m better than them. I’ve fallen into a victim mindset.
God is using my prayer, “Show me where I’m being selfish, Lord,” to show me that yes, I’ve been hurt. But wallowing in self-pity is actually a way of elevating myself to a position above them. And I’m not. I’m not above them; I’m a sinner, just like them. They need forgiveness from me just like I need forgiveness from God.
So God is working in all these hidden areas to uncover these sins in my life, and I feel good about that. Yet it feels kind of painful when the sins are uncovered.
I was just reading a book today that says we don’t want our sins uncovered just to have them exposed. If we do this, we may either deny them and make excuses for them or use them to get even angrier, more frustrated and down on ourselves than we were before.
Asking God for Help
The point of exposing these sins is to invite God in to help us overcome them. That’s what I’m learning today. Every time he shows me an area of selfishness underneath a sin I’m committing, I’m asking God to help me conquer it.
I’m saying to him, “In my own strength and natural tendency, I’ll keep going back to this place again and again. But because I want to follow you, Jesus, please help me see this in a new light. I want to become more like you – loving God and loving others.” Those are the two greatest commandments Jesus gave us (Matt. 22:36-40).
I need help in this every day, and I know that you do too. We are all in this boat together. The boat of spiritual growth, once we’ve decided to follow Christ. We need to become more and more like him, every single day.
Today I challenge you to pray this prayer yourself. Follow these steps:
- Ask God, “Show me where I’m being selfish, Lord.” Ask him this as many times as you need during the day.
- When he shows you where you’re being selfish, then ask him to help you in that area.
- Ask him to bring scriptures into your heart and mind that can help you fight back.
There are many verses you can use to counter those secret sins you’re hiding inside, which God wants to expose so you can become more like Christ. You can check out my book for some of those verses to help you fight back in the problem areas.
Want to hear the closing prayer I prayed for you? Join me at the 7:20 mark on the video HERE.
A Simple Prayer for Spiritual Growth - Use this prayer to uncover hidden sins in every area of your life. #prayer #spiritualgrowth #personaldevelopment Click To Tweet
Prayer Requests
Do you have a prayer request for me? I’d be honored to pray for you, and I hold your prayer requests in complete confidence. Send me your request HERE.
Special insider opportunity!
Did you know? I spend over $200.00 per month on all the expenses relating to my ministry. If you are willing to donate to help offset these expenses, I’ll reward you with an exclusive monthly video teaching and printable. Please donate HERE if you received value from my content today. I’ll add you to the monthly list to receive the exclusive rewards for your donation of any amount. Thank you!
Also, if you make a purchase from any of the links on this post, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!
A Simple Prayer for Spiritual Growth
This post may be shared on these linkups.
If you enjoyed this post, I appreciate your shares on social media!
If you make a purchase through the provided links, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you in advance for supporting my writing ministry!
I send my weekly newsletter Tea on Tuesdays at 3:00 p.m. Central time every Tuesday. I write an exclusive devotion for you each week that I share with you first.
To receive the newsletter, please subscribe below. I can’t wait to share personally with you each week!