Reading: James 4:1-3
Prayer is an important part of the Christian’s walk. Through prayer we talk to God and commune with Him. When we talk to God, we can praise Him, thank Him, ask Him for our needs, seek His will, ask Him to intervene in the lives of others, etc. These prayers are answered by our Father in three different ways either yes, no or wait. I think the hardest of all these answers is “wait.” This may be mainly because of my being impatient. However, many have expressed to me that this is a hard answer for them as well. I believe this is because with the answer of “yes” or “no” we have a definite response, but with the answer of “wait” there is more to be done in our lives and many times it causes a change in our own heart. This change in our heart is through the Lord requiring us to evaluate the motives behind our request for His favor.This was brought forth once again in my own Christian walk recently and it always amazes me how the Lord works in my heart to clean out the wrong motives for my requests. It is a humbling process and reminds us that as we ask the Father for His favor we must remember who we are and to Whom we belong. We must remember no matter how accomplished we may be in our lives, it is our Maker Who has given us the strength intellectually as well as physically to accomplish such things. Even with these accomplishments under our belts, to have His favor in our lives is the greatest asset we can own. Asking for His favor is to be of a humble essence. It is in this state of humble beginning that we start to take on the likeness and motives of Christ. The state of humbleness softens our hearts so that the Lord can mold us into what He wants us to be. Humbleness applies the water to the clay making it pliable for the Father to mold and shape us.
What are your motives when you ask for God’s favor? Our text in James tells us that we have not because we do not ask God. However, is a simple prayer of asking God enough to have all we ask for? James continues to explain “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3) Words do not motivate the Father for giving us what we ask, but our asking with correct motives are what pleases Him. When we ask for the Father’s favor, we should be doing so not for our own pleasures, but for the pleasure of the Father. We should ask for His Will as we have learned it through experiencing His Word and experiencing His presence. It goes beyond a prayer of words to a change in our lives. We must experience God in every way to be able to ask with the right motives. We alone in own human frailty (even with the intelligence the Father has given our human minds) cannot know the will of God without experiencing Him. Prayers begin not as you bow your head but as you live. Prayers begin as you encounter life and motives are created based on what you learn during those encounters. Open up your heart and let your motives be changed by experiencing God. Approach His throne humbly and expect to encounter Him at every moment of your life. This is when your motives are changed. This is when you will be allowing His will to mold your heart into desiring His will in the times that His answer is “wait.”
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I know not what I need to ask in prayer because my motives are tainted with this world. Show me how to be humble. Open my eyes to the daily moments in my life that I must expect to encounter You. In these encounters I experience You. Convict me when I am not letting the encounters with You make marks on my heart. It is then and only then that my motives for asking will be changed and You will be pleased. In Christ I humbly pray, Amen.
