Prayer Snares

You do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. James 4:3

The manipulative. Direct your prayers to God, not others! For example,don't turn the blessing at meal times into a venting of your frustrations, or try to bounce your prayer off God and hit an unsaved loved one across the dinner table. God gets enough bad PR without that!Jesus said whenever we pray "don't turn [it] into a theatrical production" ( Matthew 6:5 ).

The judgmental. In one church a childless couple was praying for a baby but some members of the prayer group decided that the husband wasn't Godly enough to be a father, so they spent their time asking God to change him. Listen: "We do not ask because we deserve help, but because you are so merciful" ( Daniel 9:18 ). If God only gave children toperfect parents, the human race would be extinct!

The mass-produced. May be you think there's a better chance of getting answers to your prayers if you involve a lot of people. And sometimes you will. But with God, what matters is the faith with which you pray,not the size of the team. Jesus said, "If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven" ( Matthew 18:19 ). When you face a situation too big to handle alone, reach for someone who really knows God and begin to praying agreement with them. By the way, do you have any prayer partners?