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 4:2b-3
Throughout Scripture, we learn that God is all-knowing. As God and the creator of the universe, Who is over everything, His understanding and knowledge are limitless. This includes His knowledge of us. As we have seen in our Bible study time together, God knows what we need. He also knows our hearts. Proverbs 16:2 says it this way, “People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives.” Our all-knowing God knows the motives of our hearts. He knows the motives of everything we do, including our motives when we pray. As a result, sometimes when we pray, He says “No,” because we are asking with selfish motives and He knows it.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, explained the importance of praying with the right motives in James 4. In this passage of Scripture, he made a bold statement to his readers: “You don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it” (verse 2). According to James, sometimes we do not have the things we need or desire because we have not taken the time to ask God for them. What a reminder to each one of us to go before God, presenting our needs to Him. After all, He is a good God who generously provides for His children. As we consider our needs and desires, we have to first ask, “Are we praying about them?” It could be that we do not have what we need or what we have desired because we have not turned to God and prayed for these needs and desires. Now, of course, when we pray, God sometimes says “No” or “Wait”, so we cannot assume God will give us whatever we ask Him for. We can hold on to the truth, however, that God invites us to present our needs to Him and that He will respond accordingly. James continued his teaching, saying, “Even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure” (verse 3). In other words, sometimes our motives are selfish. When we pray, sometimes we make requests that are completely self-centered rather than considering God, His kingdom, and the needs around us. In those instances, God might answer our prayers with “No,” likely because answering that prayer would only cause the selfishness within us to grow.
The teachings from Proverbs 16:2 and James 4 that we studied today serve as a warning for us to examine our hearts and motives. Are we asking selfishly, only thinking about ourselves and our needs? Are we considering the needs of others and the Kingdom of God? The posture of our hearts matters when we pray. May God reveal any selfishness in our hearts, and may we turn away from it as a result.
Invite God to search your heart and your motivations behind your prayer requests to Him right now. Ask Him to search your heart and to reveal any wrong motives, including selfishness. Be ready to respond to what He reveals. If He reveals any wrong or selfish motives, confess them to God. Commit to letting go of any selfishness, and ask Him to help you as you seek to do this.
“God, as I consider my motives as I turn to You in prayer, search me…”
James 4:1-17
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 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. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. 6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
11 Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. 12 God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?
13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.
17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
©2026 Sagebrush Church
