Two Types of Prayer

These thoughts have been rattling around in my head for a number of weeks, but it wasn't until today, during 6th grade English class, no less, that God was finally able to break through with what it was He's been trying to get across to me.
     From some statements that have been made, it would seem that there are people who think I have prayed this request to consume it on my own lusts. In all fairness, that wouldn't be a far stretch for people who know me since I am a huge Broncos fan. Also, in fairness, this is something I was concerned about at the beginning of this journey because, at the time, Tebow did play for the Broncos. The implications did get under my skin, I admit. For a few weeks, there was some vindictiveness in my prayers. 'God, You have to answer this to prove to those people I'm not being selfish. Prove them wrong, God.' God did recently point out that spirit to me and I have since confessed it and abandoned that type of praying, which is probably why God was finally able to show me what He did today.
     Somehow, it seems we've gotten the idea that to pray for things we want automatically means we are praying to consume it upon our own lusts. I recently did a devotion with my soccer girls about this idea and that was their conclusion. I then asked them what the purpose of asking God for something was. I was able to share with them the idea that anything we pray, yes, should be in accordance with God's will, but it should be so that He has opportunity to work in and through us and the end result is He be glorified by our answer.
     So how do I now have utmost confidence that I am not praying to consume it on my own lusts? There is something I have often prayed for in my life. Something I would afford a few months dedication to and then give up, only to take it up again several months later. This request was made totally out of my selfish desire to have it. Nowhere in the prayer did I seek for a way God could be glorified in it. I claimed to be praying in His will, but I didn't really ask Him if it was, or if I did, I assumed I knew the answer and gave God no time to really answer. I desperately wanted this thing for myself and what I could get out of it. As I look back at it now, I suspect I quit praying over it when God tried to show me, that for that time, it wasn't right. To pray to consume it upon our own lusts means to pray for something so are flesh is glorified, not God. This is what I was doing. I wanted it for me and not for God and that's why God didn't answer it.
     This prayer, however, has been totally different. I want God to perform this so that He is glorified. I want Him to answer so my faith has an opportunity to grow and now so that my students' does as well. I ask Him to fulfill this so that my kids will see the God of their Bible come to life in a physical, tangible way. I want this to be a memorial for our school. It is my desire that God uses this as a platform in their lives to climb to even greater heights. I pray this because, ultimately, God told me to ask Him for it. Do you see the difference between the two prayers?
     I know there are selfish elements to my Tebow prayer, how could there not be? The difference is, I want God to be able to work through this request, where I didn't the other one. I want God to be magnified this time, last time, I didn't care what He wanted. This is a prayer God delights in because every day I strive to turn it over to Him and let Him work it out in a manner of His choosing; I never did that with the other one.
     As far as I can tell, it is not wrong to ask God for selfish things. After all, Jesus did ask His Father for another way to pay for man's sin if possible...He didn't want to face the crucifixion or be separated from God. What we, like Jesus, need to remember about those prayers is what will glorify God in the end and then conform our prayers to fit that goal.