What is our heart’s desire? Did you know that when we pray, God looks at our heart’s desire? When Solomon prayed, God took special note of his desire to get wisdom above everything else (2 Chronicles 1:11).
Since this was his heart’s desire and not so many lesser things he could have asked for, God gave him more than he asked for. Not only did God give him wisdom but also wealth, riches and honour.
Surely Solomon would have remembered the last advice his father King David had given him: “And you, my son, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts” (1 Chronicles 28:9 NIV) [emphasis added].
The point is that God is never fooled by our pious words. He looks deeper and sees what the real motive behind the requests we make is. So let us think about prayer differently.
Why not see prayer as a time when we invite God to search our hearts like the Psalmist prayed (Psalm 139:23, 24). Let us keep in mind that nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight and everything is uncovered and laid before his eyes to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
Allowing God to search our hearts means that we become honest with God.Allow the light of God’s to shine on the areas in our heart which we have not given permission for anyone to enter.
Two things need to be noted here. One, it can be a painful process as the Holy Spirit points out wrong motives, attitudes and grudges we hold dear. Two, Godpatiently takes a long time in weeding out the sinful attitudes in our hearts.
That means we should not think of prayer only in terms of time we actually spend in prayer. All day and night be in expectation for God to speak silently in our heart making known and exposing the real motives in our heart. It is really an on-going process.
Now comes the positive promises. When wrong motives (see James 4:3) are removed; then our desires become tuned to God’s will. Then the promises of God will come true in our lives. It is when we delight in God that he gives us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4) and that is when our prayers in the name of Jesus are answered (John 15:7; 16:24)!