Derek Prince | Have the Right Motive

 5. Have the Right Motive

The next condition for answered prayer is to pray with the right motive. Religious people, like the Pharisees, tend to focus on externals. They are concerned about the way people dress, the entertainment they enjoy, the things they eat. It is hard for religious people, who work from the outside in, to realize that God starts with what is inside and works outward.

When God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as the future king of Israel, Jesse brought forward seven sons, all of whom were fine, handsome, strong, upstanding young men. Each time Samuel saw one of these sons he thought, This must be the one. But each time the Lord corrected him and said, That’s not the one. Then the Lord gave him this explanation: “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7, nasb).

God searches the thoughts and intents of our hearts, and discerns our motives. He is not concerned merely with what we ask for when we pray; He is also concerned as to why we want it. This is explained more fully in this verse: “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:2–3, nasb).

One simple reason why we do not have things God wants us to have is because we do not ask. But if we do ask and still do not receive, it could be because we are praying with wrong motives. Particularly, the motive that James said is wrong is that we may spend it on our pleasures. In other words, if our prayers are self-centered, our motives are wrong. We are simply aiming to get something for our own creature comfort and personal satisfaction.

So we ask, What is the right motive for praying? Jesus stated it clearly: “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13, nasb).

Jesus gave a comprehensive promise: Whatever we ask in His name, He will do. But the basis on which He will do it is this: “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” The right motive for praying is that the answer may bring glory to God. This is actually the right motive for all we do. The life of righteousness that is based on faith gives glory to God. We can look at this from the opposite side. What is the essence of sin? It is not necessarily robbing a bank or committing adultery or doing something terrible in the eyes of religious people. The essence of sin is choosing not to live for God’s glory, denying Him the glory that is rightfully due to Him.

Paul described in his letter to the Romans how the whole human race has turned away from God and descended into a life of ignorance and wickedness—in his word, futility. He noted the steps that led to this awful descent into the abyss of darkness: “Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21, niv).

What are the first two steps down? The first is the failure to glorify God. The second is the failure to be thankful. Anyone who takes those two first steps downward is set on a slippery path that leads to a condition that ultimately is too horrible to think about. We have to be careful in praying that we do not make those errors.

God wants each of us set free from the negative pull of sin and restored to the right motive and the right purpose of living.

When we come to Him and pray with that motive—that God may be glorified in answering prayer that is offered in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ—then He says something truly wonderful. He says that all of His promises are made available to us: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1:20, niv).

Is that not staggering? Every promise that fits my situation and meets my needs is for me, now, if I claim it in the name of Jesus and if I claim it to the glory of God. No matter how many promises God has made—and I have heard it estimated that there are eight thousand promises of God in Scripture—they are all “Yes” in Christ.

The response of faith is that to God’s “Yes,” we say, “Amen, to the glory of God.” It is our “Amen” that clinches God’s “Yes” and makes the promise ours.