This morning I am struggling to even come up with words to write. My alarm this morning was a call from someone that I love who is hurting. Everything about my morning routine was interrupted and a part of me was bothered by that. The planner in me was ready to check the boxes on my list rather than deal with the hard call. I continued to listen and even prayed while I was listening. I prayed that God would give me the right words to say and the right actions to take. I even prayed for peace of mind for the person and for myself. Yet, even after I hung up the call I still felt some frustrations.

I came into my closet, my war room, and opened my bible to read. Thursday’s are my day to seek God’s wisdom on being humble. I turned to the index of my bible, the next chapter on my list of readings was James 4. When I turned to James 4 the very first tittle there was “conflict from selfish prayer.” The chapter begins talking about quarrels and fights but the end of verse two and all of three says, “you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong-you want only what will give you pleasure.”

I was convicted. Although I truly want what is best for this person I was also wanting what would bring me comfort. Which was to do the things that help me stay on track through out today. I wasn’t looking at what I thought was a disruption as an opportunity. Instead of seeking and asking God for the right words to glorify and manifest Him to this person, I was seeking him for a solution so that I didn’t have to deal with the problem. I believe that God is powerful enough to change their situation but my motive was wrong.

What is the motive behind your prayer?