Selfish prayers 15/10/2022

You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. [James 4:2‭-‬3 NIV]

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.

These verses are all about how to pray to God. More specifically, they provide guidance on how not to pray to God. It is common to regard prayer in the same way as a child would send a wish-list to Santa Claus. The child is making up his requests selfishly. They look at pictures of toys and decide that they want this toy or that toy. Prayer can be a very selfish exercise instead of a spiritual exercise.

As I look closely at the verses above, I discover that James is talking about two ways that these early Christians were abusing prayer. Firstly, they were showing a reluctance to pray. Secondly, they were praying selfishly. And we are equally guilty of both of these today.

We are reluctant to pray. Even when things go wrong, we do not immediately take it to the Lord in prayer. We moan and complain. We get bitter and angry and resentful. All the time God is waiting to hear our prayers. He even wants to hear our complaints - strange as that may seem. As we studied the category of Psalms known as laments, this was a lesson we learned. It may seem strange that these Psalms appear on the pages of the Word of God but God wants us to be authentic. He knows the state of our heart and he wants us to express the deep desires of our heart to him.

Here is an extract from a previous Day Share blog

God sees through our pretence and hypocrisy and there is nothing to be gained by window-dressing when we come to speak to God. We cannot pretend that we don't have feelings such as anger or bitterness. God expects us to be honest with Him and share our deepest thoughts even though they are not what we should be thinking. This is not to condone such thoughts - we are not encouraging us to think that these are what God wants from us. But, He knows our weaknesses.

There is also perhaps a difference between taking our genuine grievances to God in prayer or lament and what we often do - complain to each other about circumstances in our life when we are indirectly blaming God - because we claim to believe that he is sovereign (in full control of the world and the universe). If we have encountered people who do not treat us the way we expect, God has allowed this to happen. He has a reason for everything - even though we may not be aware of the reason at the time. [Laments to God (Psalms) 21/05/2020]

We pray selfishly. Many people who are not Christians make this mistake that they think prayer is presenting God with a series of requests - even demands and expecting God to answer these prayers. Sadly, we who are Christians often make this same mistake. We have 'desires' as James says and we turn to God with our wish list in the hope that he will give us what we want. It is like purchasing a lottery ticket. This is much more than our daily bread. It is coupled with a feeling of entitlement to a comfortable house with all modern gadgets, a good car with a reputable brand name, a holiday abroad where the sun shines every day and, of course, a good job to pay for all these items on our 'bucket list.' We never think that God must be offended at the way we treat Him, the creator of this universe. We are not interested in what God wants from us and what His will involves in our lives. It is all about us - in fact, we feel grieved when God does not respond with a generous handout to ensure our happiness. We often see our prayers from this perspective. As we have studied this powerful letter from the younger brother of Jesus of Nazareth, we should have learned that God's plan for us might involve sacrifice for us. God might allow us a time of trouble and testing so that we will develop perseverance and strengthen our faith. God wants to produce righteousness in our lives but He will allow hard times to develop our Christian character.

We need to stop treating God as the genie in Aladdin. We need to begin to grasp the reality of the great plan which our God has for our lives. Most of our stress, bitterness, disputes and conflict arise because we have still to learn these lessons. God has a plan for our lives. It is always best - even though it may not seem that way to us.

To bring this blog to a close, here are some verses of an old hymn which reminds us what prayer is really about

Prayer is the simplest form of speech

That infant lips can try;

Prayer the sublimest strains that reach

The Majesty on high.

Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice

Returning from his ways,

While angels in their songs rejoice

And cry, "Behold, he prays!"

Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,

The Christian's native air,

His watchword at the gates of death;

He enters heaven with prayer.

O Thou, by whom we come to God,

The Life, the Truth, the Way;

The path of prayer Thyself hast trod:

Lord, teach us how to pray!

[James Montgomery (1771 - 1854)]

Look at two prayers which Jesus prayed to give us an idea of what prayer is really about. Firstly, in John's Gospel Chapter 17. Then look at the words which Jesus spoke in his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane just prior to the crucifixion - " Yet not what I will, but what you will." [Mark 14:36 NIV]

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash