Articles
Two Prayer Problems
James encourages prayer. At the beginning of the book he affirms God’s willingness to give to those who ask Him (1:5), and at the end he reminds us again of prayer’s effectiveness (5:15). Early in chapter four, however, James points out two things that commonly go wrong.
First, “You do not have because you do not ask” (v. 2c). Some just aren’t interested in praying. Some may think they are too busy. Some are too self-reliant, trusting in their own plans and efforts (see 4:13-17). Too often prayer is reserved for emergencies instead of “daily bread.” Only God knows what volume of blessings remain in the storehouse because “you did not ask.”
Second, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (v. 3). Prayer was never intended to be a “give me” list, particularly give me in keeping with my selfish desires. Dan King rightly observed, “The epicenter of every righteous prayer must be the attitude of the Savior when he faced the cross: ‘Not my will, but thine, be done’ (Luke 22:42)” (Truth Commentaries: The Book of James).
James’s word spend is the same word Jesus used of the Prodigal Son’s squandering spending (Luke 15:14). While it does not always connote waste, the idea certainly fits James’s rebuke.
Prayer is a spiritual activity. It should arise from spiritually focused hearts whose aim is serving and glorifying God, not self. In the same sermon in which Jesus promised, “Ask, and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find . . .” (Matthew 7:7), He earlier preached, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (6:33). John wrote, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14).
