James 1:7
New Living Translation
7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
Read full chapter
James 4:3
New Living Translation
3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
Read full chapter
Isaiah 58:3-4
New Living Translation
3 ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’
“I will tell you why!” I respond.
“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you fast,
you keep oppressing your workers.
4 What good is fasting
when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of fasting
will never get you anywhere with me.
Proverbs 21:27
New Living Translation
27 The sacrifice of an evil person is detestable,
especially when it is offered with wrong motives.
Isaiah 1:15
New Living Translation
15 When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look.
Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen,
for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims.
Proverbs 15:8
New Living Translation
8 The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked,
but he delights in the prayers of the upright.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.