Our prayers often reveal attitudes that are not Christlike.

Prayers are revealing. The Pharisee and the tax collector prayed two different prayers; both revealed the heart of the one speaking them. Likewise, our prayers reveal our hearts, whether or not those prayers are spoken out loud.

Praying with a right attitude doesn’t just happen. It occurs bit by bit as we become increasingly like Jesus.

It’s not always easy for me to pray with a right attitude. Many of my prayers seem to revolve around what I want or need, as though the world revolved around me.

I tend to prefer a comfortable life—a smooth road. When the path gets rocky, I cry out for God to make it smoother—even though I know that it is the difficulties in life that build character.

Yet my initial impulse is to ask God to make it all go away. James tells us, however, that we are to “Count it all joy” (James 1:2). Instead of whining to God to make it all better, I should be asking for his grace to endure while he has his perfect way with me. I am learning to pray that Romans 8:28 will be worked out in my life.

Because I am shy, I am often hesitant to pray out loud. To be honest, I’m afraid I’ll stammer or say something stupid or even theologically incorrect. In times past, I have even critiqued the prayers of others. Now I’m afraid others will do the same to me.

I have repented of such foolishness. Instead I am trying to rely on the Holy Spirit for the words I speak instead of attempting to impress others with my choice of words. True prayers come from the heart, not the mind.

As others are praying, I am making a concentrated effort to join in agreement with them instead of simply listening to what they say and how they say it.

I have also found that the more Scripture I memorize the more Scripture comes out as I am praying. Someone once told me that we can know we are praying according to God’s will when we are praying his Word.

Because so many of my past prayers have been selfish in nature, I am trying to pray God’s Word for the situation, knowing that it may not bring the result I would like but that it will bring God’s result. I am trying to trust that God’s answer is his best for me even if I can’t see it at the time.

I must confess that I have gone to God in prayer to “thank” him for a certain accomplishment when my inner motive was to chalk up some points for myself. I wanted to make sure he was aware of what I had done—as if he didn’t know already, including my true motive for coming to him.

There have been other times, however, that I have been so blown away by what he did through me that my prayer was nothing but humble gratitude. Because I was so overwhelmed, my actual words were few yet he knew my heart was pure.

Sometimes my prayers reveal my wrong perceptions of God. For example, if I truly believe that God is good all the time, my prayers would reflect that. However, if I catch myself praying in a way that reveals bitterness that God didn’t prevent a certain circumstance from happening, then I can clearly see that I’m not completely convinced that God really is good all the time.

As I continue this journey of faith, I want my prayers to reveal my Christlikeness. A right attitude when praying is the first step to ensuring that I am praying according to God’s will. As I pray, I am increasingly aware of what those prayers are revealing—and taking some time to deal with what I discover.

Tammy Darling lives in Three Springs, Pa.