Western Christianity emphasizes personal prayer as a way to draw closer to God, especially personal prayer--prayers about your day, prayers for strength and forgiveness, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers about your doubts and thoughts and heart--prayers about yourself, in other words. Maybe even selfish prayers?
Please don't misunderstand me: prayers about ourselves are an important part of our prayer life and overall spiritual life. They provide us a way to draw closer to God and to have a healthy spiritual life in which we raise up our lives to Jesus.
Personal prayers, however, are not the only kinds of prayers we should be praying. We should also be praying for others, for governments and countries, for the issues of the world such as environmental destruction and degradation and social injustice. How can we bring change and the love of God to the world if we are only praying about ourselves?
My prayers life was pretty nonexistent when I tried to pray only for myself. It was boring to pray, and I had no passion for it. When I began praying for others, however, and praying about things I was truly passionate about (such as endangered species), my prayers life almost literally exploded.
Prayer for both self and others are necessary for a healthy prayer life.
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