Call to Prayer

Date: 02.07.2021

Title: What’s your motive?

By: Dorcas Enim Enyan

You lust, and have not; ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures.

James 4:2-3 NIV

For everything in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life- come not from the Father but from the world. This scripture in 1 John 2:16 reveals to us the desires of this world and also states how it’s contradictory to what the Father in Heaven desires.  Our world today has exposed us to so many things such as wealth, fame, money, etc which the Bible classifies as the desires of the world. Christ has bought us at a price from the world to be set apart for His Glory, and to be the light in this dark world. Though we live in this world, the Bible teaches us that we are not of this world. This is the truth of every believer in Christ.

The finished work of Christ on the cross was that, we may live according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. Identifying this compels us to yield more to what the Spirit desires.

In comparison with our scriptural verse, our Lord Jesus in the book of Matthew 7:7 said we should ask, and it will be given to us; seek and we will find; knock and the door will be opened to us. 

Jesus guaranteed us a sure manifestation of anything we ask Him. However, in our scriptural verse for today, the Bible furthermore enlightened us on why we don’t receive anything we pray for. This is due to our selfish pleasure and wrong motives. We can also see in this scripture that God is not always pleased when our requests are backed with evil intentions or motives.

One may ask, how do l know if my request is for my pleasure?

Mostly, the things we tend to ask God for are not necessarily what we need but yet we still request them to prove for example an enemy, family members, friends wrong, or to show off.

Praying therefore in the Spirit helps us to avoid such, and also helps us to access the will of God as we set our hearts on things above where Christ is seated (Romans 8:26, Colossians 3:2-3). God is delighted and moved when we make requests according to His will, which is evidence of His divine pattern in Heaven (Matthew 6:10).

As King Solomon did in the book of 1 Kings 3, when God appeared to him in a dream and asked him to request for anything, he requested for nothing of the world or its desires but for a discerning heart to govern the people of God and in response to his request, he received more abundantly (1 Kings 3:9-10). The Bible records how pleased God was with Solomon’s request.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “motive” is defined as something (such as a need or desire) that causes a person to act. God acts on our behalf when we call on Him based on the desires of our hearts.

What are you seeking God for?

What is the motive behind your prayers?

Is your request pleasing to God?

Our Father is willing to give exceedingly and abundantly unto us anything we ask of Him. HALLELUJAH!

Prayer Point

Let’s thank God for His word today. Let’s pray that God would grant the entire body of Christ the grace to pray according to His perfect will and fill our hearts with godly desires in Jesus’ name.