Early in my career, I was part of an organization that sought to raise capital for a major project. The leaders struggled, making little progress—capital formation can be formidable even in the best of times. After nearly a year of arduous effort, the leaders, all of whom were respected leaders in the Christian community, announced that they were not giving up on this project and declared they were “pulling out the big guns.” By this, they meant they were going to pray.
The leaders demonstrated a common approach to problem solving. They assumed that they should first do everything they can do in the natural and then, if all else fails, turn to the Lord for help. Therefore, prayer is the action of last choice. This view is based on a theology that assumes God is not highly personal or engaged with mankind. But is this the correct way to use prayer to solve a problem?
The epistle of James presents a different view. If you agree that wisdom is the predicate for solving any problem and God is personal, benevolent, and engaged with his creation, then prayer should be the action of first choice not last choice. Note the words of James:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1:5 ESV)
James states that if you lack wisdom, pray. But there is a qualifier to receiving divine wisdom. James continues:
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:6–8 ESV)
Faith that God will answer is the qualifier. To doubt that God is engaged with his creation personally and benevolently is unbelief. God reveals wisdom to us when we pray in faith.
Later in his epistle, James returns to the topic of prayer with more insight about prayers that God will answer. During the discussion on wisdom in James 3:13–4:3, James states the following.
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (James 4:2–3 ESV)
James cites two prayer scenarios that God will not answer. First, not asking God. And second, asking God with the wrong motive. In either scenario, the petitioner is not granted his or her request.
Synthesizing the texts from James 1 and James 4, there are three conditions for answered prayer: first, we must pray; second, we must pray with faith; and third, we must pray with the right motive.
A clue to the right motive is found in James 3:13–18, in which James contrasts God’s wisdom and worldly wisdom. God’s wisdom is the only true wisdom and worldly wisdom is false wisdom. God’s wisdom is an expression of his will. Worldly wisdom is an expression of man’s will that is inconsistent with God’s will. Therefore, asking for wisdom means to pray for God’s wisdom not worldly wisdom. In other words, asking for divine wisdom is prayer for alignment with God’s will.
The challenge for fallen human beings is that, by nature, we don’t want to align with God’s will. We want God to align with our will. Herein is the seminal problem.
The pedestrian assumption of many, if not most, professing Christians is that God’s goodness is displayed by granting personal pleasure, comfort, and convenience
—in other words, happiness. This means that subordinating our will to God’s will is not natural even to professing Christians. For example, during the past two and a half centuries, the United States has been one of the most Christian nations on earth; nevertheless, its citizens measure God’s goodness primarily by happiness. In the founding documents of the country, the pursuit of happiness was one of the principles that justified the rebellion of the colonists against Great Britain. The pursuit of happiness intimated that man was free to live according to man’s will, but what about God’s will?
Even in one of the best scenarios, man's inclination was (and is) to pray in alignment with his own will, namely, personal happiness. But God wants to be God and human happiness, as much as we want it, is not his primary objective. His objective is transformation so that humans think and act like Christ. Therefore, he does not support man seeking to assert man’s will. God supports man's will only when it is aligned with his will. The prayers God will answer are prayers of faith, seeking alignment with God’s will.
Consider three examples of prayers that God will answer:
Prayers for jobs: When someone is unemployed and in need of money to pay bills, jobs become very important. If, however, the seminal motive for work is to make money, this is tantamount to mammon worship, which is idolatry. If, however, the seminal motive for work is alignment with the call of God, then prayer to find his or her assignment (calling) is a prayer aligned with the will of God.1
Prayers for resources: All of us have perceived needs, that is, resources we believe we need. God, however, funds real needs, that is, resources needed to enable us to align with his will. Clearly, our perceived needs can be different from our real needs. The key is to surrender our definition of needs and embrace God’s definition. Therefore, a proper prayer would be for grace to see and accept his provision as a clue for aligning with his will.2
Prayers for relief from pain: People, other than masochists, don’t enjoy pain. But God has chosen to use pain for our good. He uses painful situations as tools to perfect us and to facilitate alignment with his will. Prayer for relief from pain is not necessarily wrong but it is usually not profound. The mature way to pray about pain is to ask for the grace to be thankful for God’s work to produce maturity in us through pain.3
Praying in alignment with God may not seem normal from a human perspective, but it is the right way to pray. And, of course, all prayers need to be offered in faith, knowing God answers when we ask for alignment with his will.
Sometimes we need to pray for wisdom to see his answers correctly. The Old Testament story of Job is an example. At first, Job did not see or understand God’s redemptive purpose in his suffering. In Job’s prayer recorded at the end of the book, he finally acknowledged God’s redemptive work through his pain. Note his words:
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. (Job 42:5 ESV)
To hear of God is one level of revelation and maturity, but to see God through pain and suffering is a higher level.
Prayer in opposition to God’s will is unfruitful. Rather, we should pray in alignment with his will. This challenges us to die to our will and embrace God's will in faith and with the right motive.
May you learn to pray in alignment with the will of God, that is, prayers that God will answer.
And may you enjoy the richness of this season as you remember and celebrate the first advent of Christ and the blessings that flow from his coming!
Merry Christmas!
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1. Ephesians 2:10.
2. Matthew 6:33.
3. James 1:2ff. 
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