Stray Thoughts: Praying Like a Disciple

I'm sure that, if you've been a Christian for any decent length of time,  you've heard a sermon or at least a devotional on these words of Jesus.

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. Mark 8:34–35

So, Jesus calls for self-denial. That's saying, 'No', to our desires. He also calls for cross-bearing. That's being ready to die. (Remember that those condemned to crucifixion carried their crosses to the place of execution.) And then, just to make matters abundantly clear, Jesus calls for His disciples to lose their lives.

Now, let's take all of that and apply it to your prayers. What do you pray for when life takes a turn for the worse? For example, what do you pray for when you find yourself receiving medical news that really isn't at all good? Do you pray something like this? 'Don't let this news be true. Heal me so that I can avoid this plight.' Or to be more blunt, do you find yourself regularly praying that life would remain fairly safe and comfortable?

I'm not saying that you should pray for terrible things to happen to you or even that it's necessarily wrong to ask God to keep you safe. It's all about the attitude. Which or these is the priority as reflected in your prayers: the advance of the Gospel even if it costs you or staying as comfortable as possible? Do your prayers reflect the life of a disciple as Jesus defines that? Maybe, as a first step, it would be good to pray for the ability to want to pray like that.