James 4:3

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."You ask and do not receive" -"Some of us might say, 'Now wait. minute.. asked God for something and didn't get it.. did everything he told me to and. didn't feel anything. It didn't work…..there is. very fine line between wanting God to get the glory for. victory and just wanting the victory" (Draper pp. 114-115). One temptation is to turn to selfishness when it appears to us that our prayers are not being answered. The person with little faith will then be tempted to turn to the wisdom of this world. "because you ask with wrong motives" -As in every other area of our lives, the wrong motive void all our efforts (1 Corinthians 13:1). At this point everyone of us should ask ourselves, "Why do we pray?" "What are we trying to accomplish by praying?" "What motivates us to pray?" Woods notes, "If we are disposed to be shocked by the suggestion that men may be lustful, covetous, murderers (at heart) and constant wranglers and, at the same time, be given to prayer, we need only to recall that it is not unusual for men to invoke the blessings of God upon them, though engaged in the most high-handed wickedness" (p. 204) (Matthew 23:1). Prayer isn't. magical way to get what we want and neither is it. short-cut, whereby we can avoid effort and work. In addition, those praying to God must have faith (James 1:5 ff); be interested in the will of God, more than their own will (1 John 5:14), and people who believe in His will to the point that they are practicing it (Proverbs 28:9)."so that" -Here is the reason why some of these Christians were praying."you may spend it on your pleasures" -"your object being to waste on your pleasures what you acquire" (Wey). "Although they were more subtle than to pray outright for evil things, they may have asked for such things as money so as to spend it unworthily" (Kent p. 144). "Spend"-"to waste, squander, consume" (Thayer p. 125); "spend freely, with the connotation of wastefulness" (Arndt p. 171). "Whether, therefore, God grants. petition for health, wealth, the ability to serve, depends on the motive which prompts such. petition. It is possible for one to pray for ability to serve others when the chief reason for the desire is not the welfare of man, but lust for power, fame, notoriety, etc" (Woods p. 206).

Point To Note:

James is not teaching that it is wrong to pray for things which affect yourself, such as good health, children, or material prosperity. But what is your true motive behind such prayers? Draper notes, "our lack of satisfaction goes back to one thing: we will either please ourselves or we will please God. We have one ultimate choice: we are going to live for ourselves, trying to satisfy every desire, greed and passion in our lives, or will we live for God?" (p. 115).