Dear Daily Message Readers,
READ: James 4:1-12
James 4:3 (NIV) "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."
Have you ever thought about how much of what we ask God for in our prayers is very self-centered?
For instance, there is a popular illustration that tells the story of heavy snowstorm that closed the schools in one town. When the children returned to school a few days later, one teacher asked her students whether they had used the time away from school constructively. One little girl said, "I sure did, teacher. I just prayed for more snow" (Christianglobe.com).
There's a lesson in this for us: Too often we come to God to ask for things that He has forbidden. To wake up each day and ask God to bless us when we intend to do things we know are contrary to His Word and will (e.g., visiting places Christian should not go) is to ask, as the apostle James wrote, with "wrong motives" (James 4:3). Such prayers will never be answered. In fact, it is utterly useless to ask God to bless any area of our life when we willingly indulge in worldly habits.
So how do our prayers get answered? To begin, if we want our prayers to be answered, we must be willing to let God have His way--no matter what. The pattern for our prayers should be that of our precious Lord Jesus, who prayed, "Yet not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42).
Are you willing to lift your prayers like that? Faith Lesson: When we pray in accordance to Gods will for our lives, we are assured that we will be heard and answered.
In Christ,
Darin Smith
READ: James 4:1-12
James 4:3 (NIV) "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."
Have you ever thought about how much of what we ask God for in our prayers is very self-centered?
For instance, there is a popular illustration that tells the story of heavy snowstorm that closed the schools in one town. When the children returned to school a few days later, one teacher asked her students whether they had used the time away from school constructively. One little girl said, "I sure did, teacher. I just prayed for more snow" (Christianglobe.com).
There's a lesson in this for us: Too often we come to God to ask for things that He has forbidden. To wake up each day and ask God to bless us when we intend to do things we know are contrary to His Word and will (e.g., visiting places Christian should not go) is to ask, as the apostle James wrote, with "wrong motives" (James 4:3). Such prayers will never be answered. In fact, it is utterly useless to ask God to bless any area of our life when we willingly indulge in worldly habits.
So how do our prayers get answered? To begin, if we want our prayers to be answered, we must be willing to let God have His way--no matter what. The pattern for our prayers should be that of our precious Lord Jesus, who prayed, "Yet not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42).
Are you willing to lift your prayers like that? Faith Lesson: When we pray in accordance to Gods will for our lives, we are assured that we will be heard and answered.
In Christ,
Darin Smith