
A Praying Tax Collector
By T. S. Candee on January 24, 2025 in The Power of Prayer
The tax collector, guilt-ridden with a deep sense of his wrong doings and his sinfulness, falls down with humiliation before God with cries for mercy. A sense of sin and of utter unworthiness have fixed the humility deep down in his soul. This is the picture of humility as opposed to pride in praying.
Here we see, by sharp contrast, the utter worthlessness of self-praise in praying. We see the beauty and the divine praise that comes to humility of heart, self-depreciation and self-condemnation when a soul comes before God in prayer.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Excerpts from The Power of Prayer, written by E.M Bounds