Not to us, oh Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.
– Psalm 115:1
What a verse to pray and ask God to make this our motive in every
thing we do. We are prone to think about how our actions will lead to others thinking certain things about us. We’re even prone to being controlled by others’ opinions of us. We’re prone to filter what we say or what we do through the lens of what will people think of us as a result of that. And so to totally die to ourselves in this way and say, not to us God.
Psalm 115:1 calls us to live so that people would give glory to God as they see our lives.
Lord, I don’t want to think about what other people will think about me. I just want to think about what other people will think about you as a result of my life, my words, my actions.
I just want to exalt your name. Not to me, oh Lord, not to me, but to your name give glory. I just want to live today for your glory. To live so that people will see me, Matthew 5:16, and give glory to you in heaven. That they’ll think better about you, that they’ll think more truly about you. That they will love you and honor you and want to glorify you as a result of my life. Oh, let’s just pray this.
God, we pray that you’d forgive us for all the ways we have been and are prone to be driven by what others might think about us or say about us. God, we pray that you would forgive us for selfish motives and desires, for selfish ambition in any way. Lord, even as we pray that, help us to see how often we are motivated with desires for our own sake, our own reputation.
Psalm 115:1 challenges us to die to ourselves and live for God’s glory alone.
God, please help us to die to ourselves in this way and to live for your glory alone. Oh God, we pray not to us, not to us, but to your name, give glory. Help us today to do everything we do with a view toward causing others to see your glory, your grace, your love, your mercy. Oh God, we pray that the result of our lives today would be people loving you more. Glorifying you more. Seeing you more clearly, experiencing your grace, experiencing your love. Experiencing your mercy, experiencing your justice. Seeing your character in our lives in ways that lead to giving you glory.
God, help us to lead people to you, to relationship with you through Jesus. Help us to share the gospel today for your glory, that they might know about your steadfast love and faithfulness. Oh God, please help us to live for your glory, not our own, with ambition, for your name to be exalted and not our own in everything we do.
God, we pray you to remove pride and selfish ambition from us completely, cleanse us of it that we might live wholly to your glory among the people we interact with today, in our homes, schools, workplaces, churches, communities.
Prayer for the Wolof People
Lord, we pray for this among the nations. God, we pray for your glory among all the nations to be exalted for Jesus, your name to be known and praised and enjoyed and worshiped among all the nations.
We pray for the Wolof people of Senegal, for over 6 million of them, this Muslim people group, God, please cause the good news of your grace and your glory to spread to the Wolof of Senegal. Hallowed be your name in Senegal. Lord, help us to live, to have ambition, to see your name proclaimed among all the nations. We pray all of this in light of your word in Psalm 115. For the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness cause your name to be glorified in us. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
