I'm watching a sermon by Pastor Dale and had to take a moment to blog this. This sermon is about what to do when our prayers seem unanswered. We've all had times when we felt we weren't being heard.
This is also the #1 time when faith can begin to slip and we question the existence of God. In reality, we may just not "understand" prayer properly!
Reason #2 Pastor Dale gives is: "When we pray for the right things but for the wrong reasons."
Pastor Dale refers to James 4:3 (NIV):
He explains that when we pray, God doesn't just care about the CONTENT of our prayers, but the REASONS for our prayers. He looks not only at the content, but your heart."When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."
Many times we pray for personal gain, for materialism, for self-promotion or even out of anger and spite. In those circumstances, your prayers are unanswered NOT because God does not exist, but because you are not following his Word.
Take a moment now to think about a prayer you feel is unanswered. Now, honestly, evaluate your "motive." Personally, I find that almost every prayer I've had unanswered was because my heart was not aligned with the Word of God.
Heed this now as you go on praying - just because what you pray for is right, does not make the prayer right.
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