“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.” — James 4:2-3 NLT

We discussed earlier how believers can pray sincerely and genuinely in righteousness, yet their prayers still go unanswered—because they are praying the wrong prayers.

We established that we need to pray with discernment in order to understand the perfect heart of God concerning our lives and how to pray accordingly.

Today, another reason believers’ prayers go unanswered is because of their motives.

Many believers pray for the right things, but with the wrong motive. What do I mean? The position of their heart is not right with God regarding the things they are praying for.

Some believers pray for God to bless them just so they can intimidate others. Some pray for marital settlement out of jealousy—because almost all their friends are married, and they feel like the only one left out.

The GS would always say, “If your marriage is not for kingdom purpose, you’re still joking.” And because God loves you, He won’t answer that prayer. Then you’ll say God doesn’t answer prayers, go ahead and choose for yourself, and eventually regret your decision.

When you make a list of your prayer points, you need to ask yourself sincerely: Why am I asking God for this? If your “why” is not aligned with God’s heart, then you are simply praying amiss.

The key takeaway is this: you can’t hide the intent of your heart from God. He is not a man you can pretend to while praying.

He knows you.

He sees you.

He knows the why.

Rather than wasting time and destiny praying amiss, get your motives right. Align your desires with the will of God. Pray for discernment, and pray with discernment.

God will not entrust prosperity to someone He knows will squander it. He will not give supernatural power to perform miracles to someone He knows will only boast about it.

Get your motives right with God.