Matthew 7
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened.
9 "Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

James 4:3
3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.



When I was a youngster at home, my father had a favorite response to request for thing from my sisters and me, "manana" (Spanish for tomorrow). It meant "not yet". It was often frustrating, because it wasn't a no or a yes. It was hard to argue with this answer because it could be no or could be yes. For the most part we took it as a no. By tomorrow we would forget what we had asked for and my dad would be off the hook. The lesson I learned was that my dad used this answer for things he considered trivial. If I was going to ask for something, it had better be important or I would be ignored.

My struggle with prayer seems to come from this experience. If I am going to ask for something, it ought not to be trivial. It must be important.
But how do I decide what is trivial and what is important. As I read the verse from James it took a load off of my mind. It was so much what I was asking for, but what my motivations were. If my neighbors are difficult to get along with, do I pray for vengeance or for strength to love them? Am I praying for something I covet or something I need?

I also struggle to remember that prayer is not just a chance to ask for things. I need to remember that it is also chance to thank God for literally everything he has given us. It is also a chance to confess the ways we have separated ourselves from God. Prayer is also an opportunity to be quiet and listen to God. This is perhaps the area I have the greatest difficult with, being still and quiet. After about 20 seconds my mind starts to wander. I know that this is something we have to practice to get better at this. I recently received and email with this quote which I have found helpful:

"Have confidence in that divine Love which holds you close. You have nothing to fear, and if you don't know which way to go, stay where you are. Just be still and quiet and you will find how remarkably conditions will work out for you. So much tangle is made by this eagerness to get on with something. You only get into a muddle and then have to retrace your steps. Be still and trust in God."
White Eagle
" The Quiet Mind"
One of the things that the James passage also reminds me is that all of the Sermon on the Mount really speaks to our motives and should guide us in our prayers. Jesus even gives us a model to use.

Lord,
I thank you for time today to sit and quietly listen. I want to be busy and I want to be heard, but I need to be still and hear. Help to be unbusy and quiet. Help me to wait and listen with an open heart.