When you ask, you do
not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you
get on your pleasures.
When Jesus was on this earth, and he was praying to God, his
prayer always centered on the will of God, and not the will of himself. When he
was in the garden prior to his arrest and crucifixion, he prayed that God would
take this path of pain and death away from him…BUT he acknowledged that if the
path was still God’s plan, then so be it. He would walk that path, and take
whatever it dished out to him, because it was the will of his Father. When
Jesus spoke to God, he prayed for things that furthered the kingdom of God…he
prayed for things that aligned with the will of his Father. When we pray, do we
pray for things that further the kingdom of God? When we pray, are we focused
on praying for things that align with the Word of God? Many people get
frustrated with prayer because they don’t see the “results” that they desire.
They don’t get the worldly gain that they were hoping for or they lose
something that they were hoping to keep. If we dissected our daily prayers and
examined their alignment with God’s Word, we would probably find some
disconnect. We would probably find some prayers that centered on furthering our
selfish gains and didn’t pay much mind to the will of God. Aligning our prayers
with God’s Word is an ongoing battle in our lives. We are routinely tempted by
our own selfish nature to seek what we want. We think we know what is best for
our lives. We are certain of what we need and when we need it. And when this
happens, when we get confident in our own ways, our prayers miss the mark…we
fail to align with God’s will and we seek things with improper motives. I have
lost count of the number of times I have prayed for something, intent on it
being right, only to see God respond in a different way, revealing my
completely foolishness. God is gracious and patient with us in responding to
our prayers. He does not hold our ignorance and foolishness against us, and
gently guides us in a better direction…a direction that suites out needs
perfectly and a direction that aligns with His will. The more time we spend
actually reading God’s Word, the more we start to understand the will of the
Father…the more we start to see how our prayers should be shaped by the Word of
God. May we personally open the Bible each day, personally learn God’s Word,
and then openly allow it to impact our prayers to Him. And we might just find a
greater alignment between us and God…and a deepening of the relationship that
we have with Him. To God alone be the glory!
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