Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. James 4:3
Chapter 8 of the book of Acts tells of a Samaritan man named Simon, who was a sorcerer, who professed to be saved under the preaching of Philip the Evangelist. As a sorcerer, Simon had been highly respected and had a great following, because of the amazing things that he could do. But he became amazed himself when he saw the great miracles that were performed by Philip and by the apostles Peter and John when they arrived on the scene. What amazed him the most was the way in which new Christians received the Holy Spirit when the apostles laid their hands on them. Oh, how he would love to be able to do that! So he approached the apostles and offered them money if they would give him that same power. Peter promptly put Simon in his place and Simon was denied his petition. It surely would have been a wonderful thing to see people receiving the Holy Spirit… that was not the issue; the problem was Simon’s motive for wanting that power. He could add it to his bag of tricks, and he would be an even bigger hit with the people. Simon was asking amiss. Do we?
We have plenty of encouragement in the Scriptures for us to ask of God along with assurance that God will grant our requests. For example: ‘Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them’ (Mark 11:22-24). The key to such prayers is faith, as we read in James 1:6-7 ‘But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord’. If we ask without faith, or if we ask for things that will simply feed the desires of the flesh, we can expect God to deny our requests. So what do we ask for?
God always hears and grants forgiveness for those who sincerely repent of their sins: ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon’ (Isaiah 55:7). It is also never amiss to pray for God’s blessings on His people, to pray for the salvation of lost souls, to pray for the Gospel to flourish, and to pray for deliverance from the wiles of the devil. None of these are asking amiss, although we need to be submissive to the Lord’s timing as far as receiving an answer to such prayers.
Why do we pray for the things that we do? Why do we have those various items on our prayer list? The answer to those questions may explain why we have not received. – Jim MacIntosh