Asking for Wisdom and the Need for Right Motives

This blog entry continues from the previous entry: How the Mind Works in Relation to Fear and Lust.

James 1:5 says that a Christian can ask God for wisdom.

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

James 1:5 nkjv

I have personally wasted a lot of time and effort asking God for wisdom without any positive results. I believe that the reason for this lack of success with this kind of prayer is linked with James 4:3.

¹ Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

² 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.

³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

James 4:1-3 nkjv

Wrong motive is the reason why asking God for wisdom, as recommended in James 1:5, does not work for us.

As I discussed in my previous blog entry, Christians become convinced that they need all sorts of things.  They then proceed at once to ask God for the wisdom of how they can attain the success and prosperity that they believe they need. But they get no response from God because these things are sought after with wrong motives. This leads to Christians feeling powerless and rejected by God. God cannot be controlled with formulas, fads and gimmicks. Non-Christians use positive thinking and affirmations to attract what they want from the Universe – but it only leads to frustration.

Even wisdom itself can become a goal that people earnestly seek after. I learned years ago that wisdom and favour are the keys to achievement in life – this is something that is taught in the charismatic church as well. The Christian Word of Faith movement asserted that Christians can have any promise that they find in the Bible. Kenneth E. Hagin wrote in some of his books about the way that he prayed according to Daniel 1:17-20 that he could have wisdom and favour. Hagin reported that he became the brightest student in his class (he prayed this when he was at school) and developed a photographic memory. I felt that I could do with some of that, so I tried to pray the same way – it didn’t work! My efforts came to nought because I was seeking wisdom so that I could gain power, possessions, and a sense of security, significance, self-worth and the approval of others. If I had used inquiry – I would have come to know that I did not need this type of wisdom. This does not mean that we cannot or should not have wisdom – just that we ought to question our motives to seeking it – especially when such desires cause us stress.

Whether you are Christian or not, even if you don’t believe in God, you can ask basic questions to your subconscious mind and receive an answer. Some aspects of releasing operate on this basic principle. For instance, when releasing a want you can ask whether it comes from a want for approval, control or security. Inquiry relies entirely on this concept of allowing the heart to respond to simple questions posed by the conscious mind. Many people are either unaware of this concept or they just simply misuse it by asking irrelevant questions. This is the type of wisdom that we should seek and we would find it available to us if we seek it.  For this reason, I wholeheartedly endorse releasing and inquiry because these methods provide a framework that enable a person to seek wisdom with the right motive of finding peace in the moment.

Yes, I do believe that God loves us all and wants to bless us – but our motive for seeking wisdom must be so that we can become self-realised and find genuine and lasting peace. It is only from a place of peace and a sense of security, that a person can truly know what is right for them, what they really need and how they can attain those things. Byron Katie says that we cannot help but become prosperous when we are mentally clear, because a clear mind can make the right decisions. What I find is that when I see a fantasy for what it really is – the desire for it just falls away. Not every desire is a fantasy, of course, but only grace, releasing and inquiry can reveal the truth to us.