James 4:3



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

It sounds a bit like a contradiction from Jesus words which tell us to ask for anything and it will be given (Matthew 7:7). It is not a contradiction, but a deeper explanation. It all comes down to the motive. God does answer prayer, but not all prayer, not when it is a prayer for selfish gain, selfish gratification. Then God will not answer. If one asks without submitting to the will of God, or to do good to your brother or sister, or with thankfulness, you will not receive. If your prayer is for yourself and your own lusts (a better home, a bigger paycheck and you can add what your lusts may be), then you are not desiring to show God’s kingdom, but your own. It isn’t that you should not pray for yourself, but what we pray for is the desired closeness of God, to be more like Him, to show His love to those around us, and that our life might glorify Him. Those self prayers are good! Those motives are good! The idea here is that if one prays with the right motives, the craving for material and worldly things would not exist, for all that you need would be supplied by the loving God who desires to give. The prayers with wrong motives which would bring about jealousy, anger, and other evils would not be sought after, for you would be asking from a right heart, with a right desire, and you would obtain!
Devotion by Pastor Julia

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