One thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found out how to serve.

Albert Schweitzer

What is it that you pray for? Is it for health for you and your family? Is it for the success of your children in school and your spouse in business? Is it more for more money? Is it for rain?

The list of things that we pray for is as vast as the human imagination, and most of the things that we pray for are more than acceptable. But the next question might reveal something that you hadn’t thought much about: why do you pray?

Now, I don’t mean why do you think that prayer will do you any good; rather, I mean what is the motive behind your prayers? If you’re like me, the real purpose of your prayers is happiness. We are generally happier people when we and our loved ones are healthy and successful, and we are usually happier when we get more of the things we need like money and rain.

So why is it that we are not always happy when healthy, wealthy and well rained on? I think the reason, once again, goes back to motives. If we are praying for things we want without regard to what God wants, we can never attain the genuine type of happiness that God designed us for.

On the other hand, when we pray to God for things that will make us better servants, we will not only achieve better results from our prayers, but we will have happier lives. When we pray to God for good health, we should be motivated by whether or not we will use that health in His service. The same goes for success and money - and even rain. If our attitude is that we want only the measure of these things that will make us the most effective servants, then we will not only be more likely to have our prayers answered favorably, but we will also be more content.

And this is true because we are looking at things differently. We are looking at God as our Master, not as a servant waiting for us to make our desires known. Once we see that God will always provide us the things we need to better serve Him, we will then be more likely to use those things in the service of others.

And, it seems, we are always at our happiest when we are serving both God and our fellow man.

You don’t have, because you ask with wrong motives.” James

“The greatest among you will be your servant” Jesus

“Happy are the people whose God is the Lord” David