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Desires of the Heart

    The Bible tells us that if we believe, whatever we ask for in prayer we will receive (Matthew 21:22). Why then, do we not always get it? Sometimes the answers to our prayers come in God's timing and we don't think they're being answered. But other times, it is because of the condition of our heart.

    Let us consider a prayer for more wealth. What is our heart in this prayer? Is it so that we can live a comfortable lifestyle and do all the things we've wanted to do financially? In other words, is it to satisfy our own fleshly desires? Or is it so that we can use our money to do the Lord's will and benefit His Kingdom? If the heart of your prayer is for the first reason, chances are God won't answer it. He will not grant a prayer that will bring us further away from Him. As in this example, the additionally money could lead you away from trusting God and onto trusting yourself and your ability to provide for yourself. It eliminates God from the equation and gratifies the desires of the flesh, rather than the Spirit.

    This is just one example, but how many of our prayers are coming from a pure heart bent towards God's Kingdom, and how many from our own selfish desires? We are told in God's word that He will not answer the prayers with wrong motives and He will not gratify the desires of the flesh. He only leads us down a path of righteousness. He wants our whole hearts and will do all He can to get that, wooing us in by His great love.

    If your prayers are not being answered, ask yourself the roots of your desire. Did you ask for selfish reasons? If you have, repent and ask for Jesus to cleanse your heart. This is a prayer he never refuses! Stop living to please the world and start living to please your God. He loves you more than you can imagine and in Him alone lies the best life possible.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (ESV)

James 4:1-6 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy? But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. (NLT)

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