Welcome to the Further Gospel Podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn, and I want to welcome our listeners on Apple and Spotify and those of you enjoying this on our YouTube video podcast format. On today's episode, we're going to continue our three-week tune-up, I'm calling it, on prayer, with five questions to assess your prayer motives. Now, before we jump into that, this episode, like every episode, is easy to understand for all ages. Usually adults, teenagers, students are all our primary audience. But if you listen to this with your kids, that's great. But if you're looking for a resource to teach your kids about prayer, my wife and I have written a book titled In Jesus' Name I Pray. TJ the Squirrel Learns the True Heart of Prayer. It's for ages four to eight. And the reason we wrote the book is because just like you in our own home, we have kids who maybe say at the end of their prayers, In Jesus' name I pray. And sometimes the Lord has answered their prayers and other times not. And many times over, we can get this sort of prosperity gospel light version, I'll call it. It's not like crazy, outlandish, heretical prosperity gospel thinking. It's actually what creeps into our minds in our homes here in America with our children, especially the American church, where our children learn little catchphrases and they begin to think, well, I said in Jesus' name I pray. I prayed the right way, and God didn't do what I asked. Well, one of the best ways to teach your kids is to teach them early and help lay a foundation for biblical prayer. So this book will help you do that in a very friendly way, even though it's a takedown of a prosperity gospel mentality. TJ the Squirrel, really approachable, really sweet little guy. He just needs some help. This will be a great tool in your home. And then since we're talking about children's books, I just wanted to remind you again that my wife and I wrote another book titled The King Who Found His Self-Control. If you're looking for a grace-driven, more gospel-centered approach to teaching your kids about self-control, and not just the brow beating, you know, don't do that, stop it, sort of behavior modification and training what I would call very early stage moralists and legalists, that book will help you. Both of these are available now on our For the Gospel bookstore. If you didn't know already, we offer now all of my books and my wife's books as well on the For the Gospel store. The cool part about that is when you buy books from us, that money goes back into the ministry. So a win-win for For the Gospel and for you. And I pray that those resources would help you and your family. Okay, let's jump in. Five questions to assess your prayer motives. We all pray for many things. It's perfectly normal, but it's also important for you and I to assess our motives in prayer and ask the question, why do I pray? Or maybe you want to add on, why do I pray for that? The most important thing, if you remember from last time, is that prayer in our prayer life, we align our hearts with the will of God. Prayer is not about getting God to do our will, it's about aligning our will with His. I recently made a list of prayer requests that I hear regularly, and these are all good things, so yes and amen. But let me just list some of these and let's start thinking about how we pray. You can add some in your own mind. I've heard uh, you know, Lord, please heal my cold or please heal so-and-so's flu, heal cancer, yes and amen. We hear people often pray for that. We have people at our church that we pray for that the Lord would heal their cancer. Uh prayers for surgeries, upcoming surgeries, uh, recovery from surgeries, prayer for safety, yes and amen. I we're gonna go on a road trip here pretty soon. And I pray that the Lord would keep us safe on the road. I'd really like to go enjoy a little time with the family. I'd like to come home and pick up life right where we left it. Uh, people pray for job promotions. That's great. You want to provide more for your family or set up your life and be a diligent steward. You want to get a raise, maybe get into a school. Uh, people ask for help with their business. Lord, please help my business. I'm working hard. I'm trying to do all the right things, and it just doesn't seem like doors are opening. Uh, here's another one. Lord, fix my spouse. Okay. Now getting into the heart of things, maybe Lord, start with me is a good prayer to add to that. But people would like for their husband or their wife to sort of step up. Uh, Lord, help my kids win in the classroom, win at life, win in school as a college student, not just a little kid in elementary school. Help them win with their kids if you've got grandkids. If you're a college student, Lord, give me good roommates. Uh, make everything go smoothly this semester, and on and on the lists go. I'm sure you could add a lot more. Now, none of these things are wrong. In fact, I pray for many of those things. But if you had a scale and you could weigh the motives of those prayers, would a focus on the gospel and your spiritual growth, my spiritual growth, and the spiritual growth of our family or our friends, our church, would those things factor in? And you think, hmm, I I guess I would have always assumed that. But here's where I want to encourage carefulness. Don't just assume your motives, really think through them. It's okay, and it's actually really healthy as a believer to ask yourself, why am I praying for that? What's the goal? What do I hope will come? I believe strongly, I'm sure you would agree when we read the Bible. Scripture gives us a picture of prayer that is less American dream and earthly and much more heavenly-minded and eternal. Again, it's not that God doesn't care about your earthly success or the good gifts you enjoy. It's just that you and I may pray for a lot of good things, but if we want a vibrant prayer life that comes from a focus on prayer that's rooted in the right things, we need to anchor our prayer life in the greatest things. That's going to be the eternal, the things that center on the glory of God. And one of the best ways to assess your motives and just think through what you're asking for and why is to consider a certain statement in the book of James. James chapter four, verses one through five. If you use this podcast, as I know many of you do, to study along in devotions or what have you, go ahead and hit pause. You can grab your Bible and turn to James 4, 1 through 5. If you're listening to this on the go, I'll read it. And if you're watching this, you can see it on the screen. James chapter 4, verses 1 through 5. Listen to this. What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is it not the source? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? He's talking about your body. You lust and you don't have, so you commit murder. You're envious, you can't obtain, means you can't have it. You can't get it, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and you don't receive, though, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses. Whew, James coming on strong, like he does. Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility, is enmity? Some of your translations will say, You're basically an enemy, you're against, you're at war with God. Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Verse five, or do you think that the scripture speaks to no purpose when it says he jealously desires the spirit which he has made to dwell in us? Regarding verse three and the indictment, that they ask and they do not receive because they quote ask with wrong motives so that they can spend it on their pleasures. I think there's a helpful warning here for all of us. James's audience was throwing up some prayers to God, like he was more of a vending machine. They were selecting the items they wanted from him. But notice it's not that they were praying for something earthly. It's not that they were just praying for it. That's wrong. It's the motives they were praying with. So we would say it this way. It's not what they were praying for, it's the motives they were praying with. Motives matter to God, so they should matter to us. And some think blindly that God is in the business of just giving them whatever they want. And I would say ignorantly, Christians don't often think, yeah, you just need to give me what I want or else. I know that you don't think that way. I know that's not the way I think either. And yet we get frustrated when he doesn't do what we want. But he's God, he knows best. Further, some people try to paint spiritual motives over materialistic and fleshly prayers. James's words are really helpful here because we're reminded that such an attitude is nothing more than worldliness masquerading as righteousness. That's friendship with the world. You want all the pleasures of this world, and then Jesus becomes just a footnote. Now, we all cycle into this pattern from time to time, so it's good to talk openly about these things. It's good to get honest, and that's why we do episodes like this. Verse 5 goes deeper into why God cares about all of this. He says, Or do you not think that the scripture speaks to no purpose? He jealously desires the spirit which he has made to dwell in us. Now, there's some different views here, but I believe the best translation based on the original Greek text expresses that the fallen spirit of a man leans towards envy and selfishness. And scripture points to this truth. I think back to Genesis 4.7 when God warns Cain, sin is crouching at your door, it wants to dominate you. I think of Jeremiah 17, 9 that the heart above all else is deceitful. And God jealously desires that our spirit would align with his. Scripture is not silent on what God wants from us. And so we can't be friends with the world, if you will. We can't have these motives. Now, you can't just say, well, I'm going to stop it. I'm just going to be better and do better. No, we've got to go back to the gospel, to the heart of why we're here, the grace of God, what his purpose is for us, what our identity is in Christ. All those things are where you go to see a change in your prayer life because the heart has to change first. But we've got to get honest about our sin. The truth is, many of our prayers will sound noble on the outside, but they're not pure on the inside. And at the same time, I want to caution you and I. We are so quick to judge the decisions and outcomes of others without pausing to assess our own heart. We're so good at looking and saying, oh, yeah, why are they praying for that? They shouldn't pray for that. Oh, is that really, oh, I wonder why they did that. You know, I know exactly what they're going, that temptation. And we start actually painting scenarios over people and their decisions. And I want to share some scenarios I've heard before that will help you think through why do you pray what you pray for? What about what others are doing and what they're experiencing? These remind us to all be careful of judging the motives of others and focus more on our own. Think of the families in our church or our community who have adopted children or are in the process of it. Their prayer includes the Lord's direction for the right child to be matched, for their own peace and wisdom in the process, for favor with the agency, the birth mother. Even I've heard people pray for the Lord to help them provide for the right car to fit the car seats because they they have so many kids and their family's growing. And you might hear somebody pray, you know, Lord, please provide the right vehicle and think, oh, what a what a materialistic prayer. Meanwhile, they're adopting their seventh kid, or they're about to have another baby, or maybe they foster and you don't know. You're just so quick to think, oh yeah, what they're just praying for a bigger vehicle or a larger this or that. Be so careful. There can be many components to prayer, many heart postures from people who genuinely are asking for something because they want an outcome that links to the glory of God. And very often, legalistic moralism, people that just think so judgmentally are at the center of that attitude. They're just judging everything when they need to look in the mirror. If that's you, if that's ever me, Lord, help us to repent and lay off. People have a lot of good reasons for praying for what they pray for. I know of a family who uh sold their home to move closer to a church once. They had prayed about being better connected to their community. They prayed about the stewardship of time, they prayed about wisdom with assets. They make the move. They sold their home, they made a large profit, they were financially blessed, and so they gave a generous portion to the church. And it was a tremendous blessing to the mission of God. All along, the anchor of local gospel work kept them steady. Praise God. That's what their prayers centered on. They were really thinking, and that's great. Good for them. I know of another family who stayed in the home that they lived in for years. They prayed about how to be more effective in gospel work and that they would be good stewards of what God had given them. And instead of selling it, they actually lived a little further from the church. They decided the drive wasn't that bad. And they could renovate their home, knock out a wall, host more families, and create a gospel-rich, discipleship-driven community during the weekdays and still commute to church, worship on Sunday, and serve. They expanded their reach of the local body of Christ, and it was a blessing to the mission of God. You're starting to maybe get the picture here. For them, the prayers were: Lord, give us wisdom, Lord, help us to be good stewards, Lord, help us to use what you've given for your glory. Meanwhile, someone might say, Oh, they live too far from church. Oh, everybody should live this close. Oh, wow, they're out there. It must just be to live in a nice house or live in a big house. And we we presume so quickly and create really a culture of judgmentalism. Meanwhile, people are just trying to live all out for the glory of God with what he's given them. We just want to be busy about the Father's business. Everybody's prayers are going to be different. Their situation's gonna be different, but what? The passion and the goal to live out the mission of God all the same. Another one, favorite missionary brother friend of mine, Brooks Buzer. He's preached at our church before. He's been on for the gospel. He's the president of Radius International. He and his wife were kind of San Diego types near La Jolla, love to surf, like blonde hair, blue eye type, and they're just living it up, corporate America. They're praying about how the Lord would use their lives for the gospel. They end up leaving San Diego Dream Life and they move and eventually end up in Papua New Guinea, reaching the Yembi Yembi tribe, unreached language group. A church gets established, and they've been a blessing to the mission of God. Some 14, 15 years later now, they train other people to do it. The Yembi Yembi Church is still there. They've planted other churches, raised up leaders. What was right for them in their context may have been different for someone else. But what's the same? Everybody praying and thinking, Lord, what might I do with what you've given? Whether that be my life, my assets, my efforts, my gifts, my resources, my relationships, my location, whatever that is. And what that does is it brings us into a place of humility and slowness to judge and make quick knee-jerk reactions to the way people pray and what they're praying for. Very often, we just need to assess our own motives in prayer and be really gracious with others. That's probably a best scenario for us, versus jumping in on everybody's prayers. And even in this episode, I want to encourage you. I'm not here to beat on you and tell you if you're praying for this or if this or it's just all earthly and temporal. I'm just here to encourage you, whatever you're praying for and thinking through, just go to the Lord. Be really honest. If you have a proclivity to materialism, just double check. If you've got a proclivity to uh make really quick lack of prudent decisions, just double check. If you've got more of a leaning to uh maybe a child run home, and we all go through that sometimes where our kids are just the center of everything, and we just pray about everything to do with them and we just want them happy. And maybe we just need to look under their hood a little bit and say, I probably need to lead them better. I probably need to be the authority and the loving parent to them and the disciple maker. I probably shouldn't just always be worried that everything is so good for my kids. I probably should may be more concerned that God is using me to both love them and bless them, but also guide and direct them. Whatever that is for you. I've got my own, me and my wife and our home. You'll have yours. The most important thing you remember is the scenarios I've given you, all perfectly acceptable and all perfectly personal. You need to assess your heart. Why do you pray for what you're praying for? Are you obeying what you see in scripture to the best of your ability? And are you being gospel-centered is a priority on the glory of God, undergirding all of your decisions and your prayers. When we think that way, oh, it changes the game. So as you consider why you're praying for whatever it is you're praying for, let me just give you five questions here to close to assess your own motives when praying to God. Number one, why am I praying this? Just jot down two to three reasons and connect them to a motive. That'll be personal. Don't even want to give you examples because I just would love for the Holy Spirit to lead you and you to think through that. What are the things you're praying for? Okay, why are you praying for that? And then just write down two or three reasons and connect them to a motive. I want this because I blank, I really desire this for so and so because I really blank, fill that in, assess it. Number two, where is this kind of request found in scripture? Identify a passage or two. Understand the context, of course, don't just pull things out of context, but maybe there is uh not much difference between the prayer that you're praying for a baby and the prayer that Hannah prayed in first Samuel. Uh, meanwhile, there would be a difference between what you're praying for and Elijah praying down fire from heaven. I don't know what your situation is, but you can look at scripture and say, okay, I see examples. Why I bring those up is many women will be praying or families, fathers too, desiring fathers to be a parent, and they would love a baby and they pray. And they can look and see examples in scripture where, you know, Rachel wanted a baby if she was barren or Hannah, and there's a desire for that, and that's good and right. You see, that this is part of what we are allowed to desire. You should never feel bad. People I've heard before in very abusive counseling situations say, Well, you should just be content. Once you're content, the Lord will give you what you want. I mean, you got to be crazy to counsel somebody that way. It's a good thing and a right thing to pray for many of the things we pray for versus Elijah's praying down fire to consume the altar and basically take out the prophets of Baal. So you can pray against false teachers and false prophets, but not likely that you're gonna pray fire from heaven down to burn them all up. We'd rather them repent anyway than be killed by fire from heaven right now. Number three, who will benefit from this request being answered? It's gonna take some thought. Who gets the benefit? What is the benefit? Does it help the kingdom? Does it boost your ego? Does it satisfy selfish desires, or does it please the Lord? And look, let me encourage you. If you say, I'd love this to be answered, it would not only benefit the kingdom, but it would make me feel so much joy. I want this, I admit that. I'd love to see this happen. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's good and healthy to just get that out in the open and assess your motives. Number four, what will be my attitude if I don't get what I'm asking for? I heard this old quote once, everybody will be your friend until you don't give them what they want. And here's the deal. If you struggle with accepting God's no, like, well, you're bad, you must be sinning, or God just isn't into you, he doesn't love you, he's not for you. Look, even being angry at God, because he doesn't give you what you want, it's a good thing to remember. Everybody will be your friend till you don't give them what you want. Here's the question Will you still worship God, love him, and rejoice over him when he doesn't give you what you want? And number five, how does either outcome bring glory to God? Let's say you're looking at two outcomes of a decision, you're praying. What if God does it? What if he doesn't? Hey, would you be happy as long as either outcome brings glory to God? Why? It's about getting what you want. No, it's about what God wants. His glory is what matters most. So let's be open-handed with our prayers. Lord, whatever it is that you want, it's what I want. I trust you. Here's my request, but I trust you. Friends, I hope this episode brings balance into your life and a gospel focus into your prayer life. I also hope it gives you some pause to be cautious when judging the motives of others and to be diligent with searching your own motives. I want to do the same. And I pray the Lord will help us to have a close, strong, biblical prayer life with a good understanding of what's happening underneath in our hearts. Thanks for listening, for watching, and for supporting. If you haven't already, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel and you can go to forthegospel.org to learn more about our ministry, to get free resources, to order any of the books that I've talked about, like these two children's books and some of the other books for adults, like the recent one called Knowing the Spirit that I wrote on the work of the spirit. And if you want to partner with our ministry and become a gospel patron, you can do that on our giving page as well. And look at all the things that we offer people for free because of amazing partners like you. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.