I see now why human nature and objectivity are mortal enemies when it comes to self-examination.
Anyway, I have bounced back from yesterday’s embarrassing revelation and will be better today. I’ll be better because the next …flaw, shall we say, is selfishness/wrong motives and I definitely don’t have a problem with that. I don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging, but I have been told how unselfish I am, so it isn’t just my opinion. So, here we go…
The scripture to start this topic is James 4:3 (CJB) “Or you pray and don't receive, because you pray with the wrong motive, that of wanting to indulge your own desires.” Or as the KJV says it,
“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
My own desires? I don’t really think so. Then God brought to mind some of the things I had asked of Him but I still didn’t see where I had asked with wrong motives – until He reminded me of those ‘bless him with a brick’ prayers of years past. We had two sons who had a tendency to ignore the good advice we gave them, especially after they turned 18. So, I admit, I sort of prayed that God would show them how right we were by allowing the calamities we warned them against to happen. Then those boys would learn to listen! Of course, we also prayed for their salvation, but that didn’t seem to be in any hurry to come around any quicker than the ‘blessing bricks’ I prayed to befall them…for their own good, of course…and it goes without saying that since I am their mother, I know what the best way to handle them is.
I really wanted my sons to straighten up, but I was forced to think about my motives as I was studying these reasons why we don’t see prayers answered anywhere near the “whatsoever you ask” level. Seriously, all parents want the things that are best for their children. I, for one also wanted them to be “good kids” so the people at church wouldn’t think I was a less than great mother. That in itself isn’t a real bad thing, but it wasn’t God’s glory I was worried about – it was my own reputation amongst my peers, and that equals wrong motive. God answers prayer in order to glorify Himself, and rightly so. It is so easy to slip into something like wrong motives even for good things and easy for those same motives to hide from a superficial self-examination.
How did things work out with our sons? The oldest one stole a car and drove to Texas where he was caught and put in prison for 13 years. He has been out now for several years and is still reaping the consequences of bad choices he’s made many years after the fact, but he is drawing nearer to God all the time. The other one died suddenly in 2004 when he was 30 years old. We found out a week or so later that he had finally turned his life over to Christ four days before he died.
1 John 3:22
“then, whatever we ask for, we receive from him; because we are obeying his commands and doing the things that please him.”
I really hate to have to admit that my concern about whether the people at church saw me as a fantastic mom was something that did not please our Heavenly Father. It didn’t occur to me that I should be thinking of how God could be glorified. And my requests to bless with MY instructions on how to do it, gave Him no glory. Instead my thoughts, with all good intent, were not in His will. When I think of all the times that I have unthinkingly prayed “amiss”, I hang my head in shame.
1 John 5:14-15
14 This is the confidence we have in his presence: if we ask anything that accords with his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - then we know that we have what we have asked from him.
It is becoming abundantly clear why so many prayers go unanswered.
Anyway, I have bounced back from yesterday’s embarrassing revelation and will be better today. I’ll be better because the next …flaw, shall we say, is selfishness/wrong motives and I definitely don’t have a problem with that. I don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging, but I have been told how unselfish I am, so it isn’t just my opinion. So, here we go…
The scripture to start this topic is James 4:3 (CJB) “Or you pray and don't receive, because you pray with the wrong motive, that of wanting to indulge your own desires.” Or as the KJV says it,
“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
My own desires? I don’t really think so. Then God brought to mind some of the things I had asked of Him but I still didn’t see where I had asked with wrong motives – until He reminded me of those ‘bless him with a brick’ prayers of years past. We had two sons who had a tendency to ignore the good advice we gave them, especially after they turned 18. So, I admit, I sort of prayed that God would show them how right we were by allowing the calamities we warned them against to happen. Then those boys would learn to listen! Of course, we also prayed for their salvation, but that didn’t seem to be in any hurry to come around any quicker than the ‘blessing bricks’ I prayed to befall them…for their own good, of course…and it goes without saying that since I am their mother, I know what the best way to handle them is.
I really wanted my sons to straighten up, but I was forced to think about my motives as I was studying these reasons why we don’t see prayers answered anywhere near the “whatsoever you ask” level. Seriously, all parents want the things that are best for their children. I, for one also wanted them to be “good kids” so the people at church wouldn’t think I was a less than great mother. That in itself isn’t a real bad thing, but it wasn’t God’s glory I was worried about – it was my own reputation amongst my peers, and that equals wrong motive. God answers prayer in order to glorify Himself, and rightly so. It is so easy to slip into something like wrong motives even for good things and easy for those same motives to hide from a superficial self-examination.
How did things work out with our sons? The oldest one stole a car and drove to Texas where he was caught and put in prison for 13 years. He has been out now for several years and is still reaping the consequences of bad choices he’s made many years after the fact, but he is drawing nearer to God all the time. The other one died suddenly in 2004 when he was 30 years old. We found out a week or so later that he had finally turned his life over to Christ four days before he died.
1 John 3:22
“then, whatever we ask for, we receive from him; because we are obeying his commands and doing the things that please him.”
I really hate to have to admit that my concern about whether the people at church saw me as a fantastic mom was something that did not please our Heavenly Father. It didn’t occur to me that I should be thinking of how God could be glorified. And my requests to bless with MY instructions on how to do it, gave Him no glory. Instead my thoughts, with all good intent, were not in His will. When I think of all the times that I have unthinkingly prayed “amiss”, I hang my head in shame.
1 John 5:14-15
14 This is the confidence we have in his presence: if we ask anything that accords with his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - then we know that we have what we have asked from him.
It is becoming abundantly clear why so many prayers go unanswered.