What are you asking for and why are you asking?

The scriptures are full of invitations for us to be in the habit of asking our God for help. One example is found in Matthew 7:7, where it states, “Ask and it will be given to you.” And by the way there are many other scriptures that support this idea.

One of the key truths here is that when we ask, we need to ask that the answer be according to the Lord’s will. 1 John 5:14 reveals this truth when it says, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” God desires to give us only things that is for our good or the good of others. This kind of goes along with a song sung by Garth Brooks, “I thank God for unanswered prayer”.

Sometimes we do not receive simply because we fail to ask God. For some reason, He becomes the person of last resort. James 4:2 states this fact when the writer says, “You do not have because you do not ask God”.

Sometimes we do not receive because we ask with the wrong motives; the answer we want to receive is all about us and our happiness and nothing to do with a life of selflessness and how it will affect others. We look once again at the book of James, chapter 4 and verse 3, where this truth is spoken about. It reads like this, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures”.

Think about the things you are asking God for and then ask yourself this question, why am I asking the Lord to do this or that? Always put Jesus Christ and others first and you will notice how it changes the way you pray.