HOW TO ASK AND RECEIVE

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 4:2,3 (NKJV)

What you do with whatever God gives to you matters. He is interested in how you use whatever He makes available for you.
God knows your mind, the intent of your heart. If you will not use His blessing given to you wisely, He may not move you beyond your present level. In other words, your desire for abundance might not be granted!

People use different methods and means in getting what they want. However, If you as a believer want to use the worldly method to get your needs met, it would not work.
The principles of the world, worldly people, cannot work for the children of covenant—believers in Christ.
Efforts to use worldly methods to get your needs met would prove abortive.

• Some lust, even as a believer, they have strong and intense desire for what they do not have.
• Some do not mind to murder—either to murder physically or do it with their mouth, that they may get what they want. But, they cannot get it.
• Some covet, showing a strong desire, because they want to posses what belongs to someone else but they cannot get it. They covet what belongs to their friends—even their friends' spouses (Exodus 20:17; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7).
• Such persons fight and war, battle for what belongs to someone else! They are jealous of what another person has, and If they could not get it, they would not mind to fight and wage war to get it (James 4:2).

Such people could not get what they want because their manner of approach was wrong—it was not in line with God’s pattern.
A believer should not pursue things like the people of the world (Matthew 6:31-33).
The pattern of the kingdom is to ask from God, but they could not get what they want because they ask not for it. And some who did ask could not receive because they wanted to spend it on their lusts. In other words, they asked amiss and their motives were wrong (James 4:3).
They wanted only what will give them pleasures—God was not in their thoughts, plans and goals (Luke 12:16-21).
The man in the parable of Jesus Christ wanted to store the blessing he got, to greedily enjoy it alone (Luke 12:19).
Many people’s prayers could not be answered by God, because what they intend to do with the blessings they are asking will not glorify God, thus, He does not answer their prayers.

God blesses with purpose. If the intention of getting what you are asking for is to gratify the flesh and satisfy your lustful desires, God may not grant the request.
One of the things that gives your prayer credibility before God is when you have a request that encompasses His programme on earth.
If what you are asking for will not benefit God and His kingdom, that is, will not benefit mankind; to be candid, such a request may not be considered by Him.

Friendship with the world
If you crave friendship with the world—you abhor God’s pattern of doing things and you like to gratify the flesh—you may not have the best of God.
Friendship with the world is enmity with God, says the Scripture (James 4:4).
In other words, whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God: “ADULTERERS AND ADULTERESSES! DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT FRIENDSHIP WITH THE WORLD IS ENMITY WITH GOD? WHOEVER THEREFORE WANTS TO BE A FRIEND OF THE WORLD MAKES HIMSELF AN ENEMY OF GOD” (James 4:4 NKJV).

God desires fellowship! God does not want to meet your needs only, but He wants your person also. He desires your fellowship (Genesis 3:8-10; Psalm 16:11).
Note:
• God created man for fellowship. Humans are created for His pleasure, and we exist by His will (Revelation 4:11).
• God paid the highest and costliest price to get man reconciled to Himself:
18 NOW ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD, WHO HAS RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF THROUGH JESUS CHRIST . . . 21 FOR HE MADE HIM WHO KNEW NO SIN TO BE SIN FOR US, THAT WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM" (2 Corinthians 5:18,21 NKJV).
READ: 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
• He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for the sin of mankind (John 3:16; Romans 8:32)
• God is not angry with human race, rather He wants or desires mankind for fellowship—communion.

Sin breaks your fellowship with God. It creates a gap between you and God and makes your prayers obnoxious to Him (Proverbs 15:8,29).
As a believer, to receive answers to your prayers, that is, receive your requests and have your needs met:
• You have to live right or holy (Hebrews 12:14).
• Do not use the pattern of the people of the world—lust, murder, covetousness, fight and war—to get whatever you want (James 4:2).
• Make your requests known to God through prayer:
6 BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING, BUT IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION, WITH THANKSGIVING, LET YOUR REQUESTS BE MADE KNOWN TO GOD 7 AND THE PEACE OF GOD, WHICH SURPASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING, WILL GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS THROUGH CHRIST JESUS" (Philippians 4:6,7 NKJV).
• Ask from God with good motives (1 Samuel 2:3; Proverbs 16:2).

What are the good motives?:
• When you ask God to meet your needs with the motive of being a part to the building of His kingdom on earth (Haggai 1:7-11; Luke 8:1-3).
• When you desire and want to give out of what God has blessed you with, to support the work of God (Proverbs 11:24), unlike the greedy and callous rich man in the parable of Jesus (Luke 12:16-21).
• When you want to support God’s ministers in their God-given visions (Philippians 4:14-16).
• When you have the thought of giving to the needy (Galatians 2:10).
• When you want to give what you have, your money or whatever, to support mission work (3 John 6-8).
• You want to witness for Christ, reconciling souls that are perishing to God (Acts 1:8).
• You want to use your gifts, talents and vocational gifts, to build your local church (Ephesians 4:16).
• You want to live right, in peace and holiness, for without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).
• You want to love other people with the love of Christ (Romans 13:8,10).

If you walk with Him as you ought, your needs shall be met.
You also will come out of whatever predicament you may have found yourself.

1 WHEN THE LORD BROUGHT BACK HIS EXILES TO JERUSALEM, IT WAS LIKE A DREAM!
4 RESTORE OUR FORTUNES, LORD, AS STREAMS RENEW THE DESERT.”
Psalm 126:1,4 (NLT)

Your fortunes is restored and the season of unanswered prayers comes to an end in your life in Jesus’ name.
Peace!