I was a late-comer to this thread. And I would not pray this prayer, because I’d keep adding caveats.
“From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, Jesus.”
You might as well pray to be delivered from being the human God created. It isn’t wrong to desire to be esteemed. It is only wrong if you desire the esteem of wicked men, and gain it by doing wrong. However, a deacon or elder who performs his role faithfully under God SHOULD be esteemed and honored. A man who cares for his family faithfully, loves them and provides for them and protects them SHOULD be esteemed and honored.
” 17Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching...24The sins of some men are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. 25So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.” - 1 Tim 5
Paul boasted of his service to the Lord, and Peter wasn’t exactly a wall flower. We should want to be found faithful servants.
“14I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16I urge you, then, be imitators of me. 17That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.” - 1 Cor 4
God desires our praise and enjoys it, and we were made in the image of God. We SHOULD take pleasure in praise, if it is praise for the correct thing. God loves us and desires our love, and we likewise SHOULD desire to be loved - not to the point of forgetting God or doing evil to get it, but wanting to be loved is not wrong.
All the things listed in the prayer can become traps, but most seem appropriate if in the right place with respect to God.
“10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” - 1 Cor 3
On that day, I want to hear “Well done, my good and faithful servant!” I want my work to survive and to receive the reward from God.
I understand the prayer is about not letting our natural and appropriate desires to turn us away from God. The pastor of our small Baptist church recently told us how as a young Christian, he once spent 2 hours lying face down in prayer, and as he got up...yep, he thought ‘God should be impressed!’ Of course, he then realized how wrong that was.
There is a fine line, hard to draw. I suspect this prayer bends the bar overmuch in one direction so that, when released, it will spring to a better position. It is kind of like when I ride horses sometimes. I tend to lean forward when trotting - too far forward, putting the horse off balance. But to correct it and break my old habits, I have to make a conscious decision to lean ‘back’...lean back far enough that I am actually just straight.
So I’m not criticizing the prayer. I just couldn’t pray it without being lawyer-like in my exceptions. Maybe I should pray, “Lord, make me less analytical!”
I agree that we should expect to see our hard work for the Lord be rewarded, as he promised us, but my prayer was really for the Lord to deliver me from the need to be esteemed, honored, praised, etc. I saw it as a way to put my motivation for serving the Lord in the right place. All for HIS glory and to still obey him regardless of whether others noticed or not. I know He does and nothing is ever lost that is devoted to him. Besides, he is the one who even gives us the desire to love and serve him in the first place. Without him we can do nothing.
The second part was even more precious to me because it was asking for deliverance from fear. The fear of being seen as a "fool for Christ" is probably what stops a lot of us from being and doing all that he has for us.
I don't regret joining in this group prayer. The results are all God's.
But more globally, I'd suggest we have an issue with the difference among Man as created, Man as Fallen, and Man as died and risen in/with Christ.
I would argue with you thus: That we hope for God to do very very great things in us, though we know that this somehow means the very real death of the old man and the coming to be of a new man who has, not the old moribund spirit, but the Spirit of Christ.
Anyway, I'm just glad you're here , you legalistic reprobate, you! ;-)