…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16
Part 1 of this week we saw that our relationships matter. In part 2, I said that our motives matter. Some might have taken that to mean that we shouldn’t pray for the desires of our hearts. Let me try to explain. The verse that I used was from James.
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
Wrong motives are those that feed our sensual pleasures. James goes on and likens it to adultery, loving the world instead of God. If I prayed to lose weight to be healthy to spend more time with my grandkids – good motive. If I prayed to lose weight so I had room for another Brat and some key lime pie – not so good. God wants to bless us and give us good things, we just have to check our motives.
Besides our relationships and our motives, one thing we often overlook is the way we live. I knew a guy in college that partied hard throughout the week and then in a drunken stupor would come to me late Saturday night (often 2am) wanting me to pray with him so that God would forgive him and help him. This pre-Sunday ritual went on for the two years we were at the school. How many of us act somewhat like that (not partying) living out a sinful existence and then coming to God when we need help or find ourselves in a crisis.
The verse above from James 5 doesn’t say an unrighteous person, a casual/cultural Christian, a sometimes-Sunday going part-time Christian; it says that the prayers of a righteous person is powerful and effective I can’t fully speak on what God is going to do or not do, but the way we live matters to God. Proverbs 15:29 says, The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
Let me be clear. What I’m not saying is, if you just try really hard and you’re better than some people that you know then God will do everything you ask Him. I’m also not saying that if you’ve really blown it big time that God is going to ignore your prayers. What I am saying is that Scripture says, at some level, the way we live matters to God when we pray. Let me know your thoughts.