Our prayers often reflect the true state of our heart. On the surface many of our prayers seem to be selfless and honorable, but, where is our focus? We pray for our children to excel in school. But why? Do we we get a sense of pride by being able to place on our car a bumper sticker which states, "Proud parent of an honor roll student". Or perhaps, it's to place the sticker of the prestigious university they are attending. Maybe you don't want to showcase it on your car, but you simply want to make mention of it during many of your conversations. Another thing, why is it so important that they excel in school. Is it to one day get a great prestigious job and to make a lot of money? Which of these things will make a difference in the location of our child's eternal destination or how effectively they can serve God during their relatively short time on earth. Are we more focused on their being successful citizens of earth, or citizens of heaven and ambassadors on earth (Philippians 3:20)? Even the many prayers concerning health. What is our fear? Do we fear losing our citizenship on earth, or do we fear losing our ability to glorify God while on this earth? Do we really believe heaven is a better place to be? Unless we abide more and more on the things of God our minds and hearts will often reveal our overemphasis on the things of this world.

We read in James 4:1-4, "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." This statement should make us all pause and reflect. When James calls these believers adulterers, he is making them ask the question of who their hearts belong to, God or the world. What do they most deeply desire, the things of God or the fleeting pleasures of this world. We like to believe they are the same, but often they are not. We read in James 5:13-14, "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing Psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." Many feel this was for those times but not for now. But, a basic law for Scriptural interpretation is, if it was taught by Jesus, practiced in the book of Acts, and written in the epistles, then we should accept it for general church practice. The people are to faithfully pray, the pastors and elders are to faithfully pray over those asking for prayer, but God is in fact who does the answering and healing. Sometimes He answers yes, other times, no.

We must remember prayer is not for the purpose of getting God to follow our will. It is for us to align our will with God's will for our lives. Whether we want to admit it or not, all too often we are so entrenched in this world. Our desires, our concerns, our anxieties often more closely reflect our citizenship on earth rather than our citizenship in heaven. God sees only two groups, those who are in Christ and those who are not. The majority of the world is literally living for their next pleasure fixation with no eyes towards eternity. Our friends, family, co-workers are on a path which is almost too horrible to fathom. If the bulk of our prayer life is focused on this earthly level we are missing the point. As I mentioned earlier, our prayer life often reflects the true nature of our own heart. If our prayers seem to be out of focus, perhaps we need to spend a little more time surrounding ourselves with God and truly abiding in Him. Jesus said in John 8:31-32, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."