Why You Don’t Receive From God | Jas. 4:2-3
December 8, 2023
Food For Thought For December 8, 2023
Why You Don’t Receive From God | Jas. 4:2-3
Read This Passage: James 4:1-62 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 4:2-3 NKJV
As you have heard me say time and time again, prayer is incredibly important. Your prayer life is an indicator to the health of your fellowship with the Lord. Believe it or not, there are many professed believers who often comment that they don’t pray to the Lord. A couple of the reasons they say the don’t pray to God is because they believe God moves too slow, or, God doesn’t give them what they ask for— this last point being the most common reason for not praying.
Have you ever considered that the reason you have not received is because of what you’re asking for and for your reason of asking? We have been promised God will give to us whatever we ask for, but there is a caveat to this promise. First: We must ask having faith. Second: What we ask for will be given if it glorifies the Lord (John 15:7-8). Some of us fail to understand this when it comes to prayer and we truly think that God should just give us anything because we prayed. James makes it clear: if you pray out of lust and covetousness, you won’t receive. If you ask amiss or to fulfill your pleasures (wants), don’t expect to receive from God.
I want to be very clear on this subject, the Lord will bless us with the desire that we use the gifts He give to be a blessing to those that are around us. However, the Lord will never give anything to serve to sin and wickedness. So, if you feel that God is not answering your prayers or does not give you what you ask for, I urge you to consider what it is you are asking for and to what needs you are asking out of— this point is truly of great importance for you when it comes to asking and receiving from God.