"You do ask [God for them] and yet fail to receive. because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives..." (James 4:3, AMP) Today, let's look at the concluding part of this message - the prayer that God accepts. The first part of this message treated the issue of purpose. Now let us discuss motive, and how it affects our prayers..
If you missed the first part of this message which dealt on purpose, please kindly see it here: (The prayer that God accepts - Part 1)
Motive is primarily one's reason for doing something. the reason why we do what we do. The reason we embark on any venture. The truth is our motive for doing a thing is as important as what we are doing. It doesn't matter how good a venture is, if the motive behind it is wrong, it will completely affect the entire venture.
Speaking about motive, the Bible mentions two motives which are very bad for our prayers. It says if our motive is evil or selfish, then our prayers will not be answered because it will amount to asking amiss or wrongly.
An evil motive is when our prayer is made for the purpose of causing harm to others or ourselves. In today's fire-for-fire christianity, people have seen prayers as an avenue to get back at their enemies or wreck havoc against people. People will even use people's picture and pray over them in prayer houses with an aim to manipulate the person to marry them. People will go on fasting and prayer to kill their neighbours. All these constitute evil motives, and the Bible says that God will not accept this kind of prayer.
The next one is selfish motive. A selfish motive is one lacking consideration for other people; concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure. Hence, if your prayer is just centered on pleasing yourself without minding who is offended in the process, you are asking amiss. Let's assume you are praying for God to make you the new General Manager of your company, what will happen to the current General Manager if God answers your prayer? Have you considered him? Will he now lose his job or become demoted when he has done nothing wrong? Selfishness is not only a wrong motive, it is a sin.
When next you pray, ensure that you have the right motive. An evil motive and a selfish motive will hinder your prayers. God bless you, friend