Pray with the right motives

Are you praying for your loved one?  Yes?   Excellent.   But the Lord convicted me of something recently.  You see, my prayer for my loved one was often focused more on myself.  “I want our relationship restored.”  “I want her to have the joy of salvation.”  “I want  . . . . ”

You get the picture.   It is so important to continue to pray for marriage restoration, but we need to pray with God’s heart, not just our own desires for a restored marriage.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that wanting a restored marriage is a bad thing, but our heart should first be the Lord’s, which is focused on Him and his will to help and save our prodigals.

Jesus used a model prayer to teach us how to pray (Luke 11:13).  This this prayer Christ teaches us to pray first for God’s will and way, then to forgive others.  Later in this chapter Christ reminds us that heavenly Father is good, and so we are to expect He will give us good things.

So let’s continue to pray for our loved ones, but ask that the Lord would give us His heart and will when we pray.   Then we can leave all the good things he has planned for us to Him.