James 4:3

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions" (James 4:3).

One of the greatest mysteries of life surrounds the intentions of the heart. They are difficult to discern externally because they are a spiritual issue in purest form, and one that shapes the trajectory of our lives far more than we realize. Our intentions reveal a deeper discussion of spiritual identity and to whom we serve: God or self.

For if our identity is in Christ, the intentions of the heart will align with the Word of God as it pertains to righteousness. But if our identity is wrapped up in our love of self, our heart's intentions will seek personal pleasure with no regard for the consequences that follow.

James calls out a very simple message applicable to our prayers, therefore we must wrestle with whether we ask God with selfish motives. In some cases, selfish motives are understandable. For example, anyone who struggles with terminal illness can attest that asking God for either personal healing or the healing of a loved one is a selfish prayer request, but one that is pure and righteous.

Where we tend to get off-track is when we place expectations that God must act in a specific way in order to be considered good, righteous or trustworthy as it relates to our request.

Similarly, when a request becomes a negotiation or mandate, we also fall victim to placing unrealistic expectations. We cannot fathom how God would be glorified when sickness results in death, especially premature death. Questions of, "How could a good God allow this to happen?" plant seeds of doubt in God's sovereignty and undermine the miraculous work He does outside of our comprehension.

In those moments, we must remember that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1), and we can trust God because He is holy and worthy of praise even in the midst of our doubt.

James convicts us directly that our passions prevent our prayers from being answered. When we step outside the will of God as revealed in His Word in order to satisfy our flesh, we seek selfish glorify over Christ. That is a hard pill to swallow.

Many times, we are blinded by our selfishness and do not realize how we are stifling the Holy Spirit from working through conviction in our hearts. We only see the object of our desire without the universal perspective God possesses, or we minimize our sin by keeping it locked up in the secret dwellings of our hearts and minds (or so we think).

Jesus addressed this type of warped logic though when He declared, "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). In this example, Jesus radically calls out how deceived we become when we view sin as external.

We completely miss the point that the internal manifestation of our fleshly passions (our heart's intent) condemns us, even if limited merely to our thoughts. And as James brings the issue full circle, our prayers are hindered because our hearts are not pure but consumed with self-gratifying pleasures that do not honor Christ.

Not all pleasure is sinful though, and we must be clear that the defining line between righteous and sinful pleasure is found in the pages of Scripture.

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:12-13).

If we genuinely want to expose how pure or impure our prayer requests are to God, we need not look any further than His Word for answers, because the key to unlocking the wisdom of James 4:3 is found in how literally we apply every self-introspecting word of Psalm 139.

For if we are truly aligned with God's will and our eternal identity in Christ through grace by faith (Eph. 2:8), then we will not be afraid to boldly pray, "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" (Psalm 139:23-24). But if we are blinded by our passions, we will continue to struggle understanding why our prayers are hindered, and fall further into a pit of frustration, doubt and despair from which we may never choose to recover.