By: Gen. Jim — 6/17/19
There are hundreds of books, sermons and talks about “prayer.” They go from the extreme to the mundane to the incredulous to the sanctimonious. Some pray out of anguish, others out of anger. Some prayers range from the inertia mind-set to the hyper mindset.
I have no solid answer as to “why” some of our prayers don’t get answered. There are verses that say whatsoever we pray for, God will answer. Opposite this is what James wrote: “… you do not have, because you do not ask. You ask, and do not receive, BECAUSE you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your passions” (James 4:2,3 Modern English Version).
Well, now, that is pretty clear. We pray AMISS? That word in the Greek means: (kakos) “badly, evil, greiviously, miserably, sickly, and sorely.” So, my praying friends, how are you praying? The other Greek word (roat) simply means, “worthless” (intrinsically such). It also means “depraved, ill-will, and wicked.” There is our answer as to WHY??
The rest of James 4:3 tells us that “You may spend it on YOUR passions,” or as the NKJV has it, “pleasures.” But are our pleasures His? The truth of the matter is that whenever our goals/plans/pleasures etc. align with His, we can be sure that our prayers are not only heard but answered. This of course places us in the position of walking in the Spirit, and not in the flesh.
If and when God calls us to perform, He will give us the means – be it small or big. We can study many great men/women in the Bible to see this. I recommend reading Joshua 1:1-9. I’ve done many lessons/teachings on the life of Joshua – going into the demon-infested land to set up camp.
In this great story we see God’s promises, His power and His performances. The admonition was “Be strong and courageous” … because the obstacles/challenges were going to be GREAT! But this only deals with warfare. But what our (seemingly dull) life? We too have needs. Don’t expect God to be there to give you and me all we pray for UNLESS those “things” are part of His will for us. So many prayers are literally wasted on worthless prayers, a sure precursor for unanswered prayers.
We can’t set our goals and expect Him to supply all we need. If we do succeed in doing something that we consider “great,” have we built upon sand and not upon the Rock? You know the end result of that don’t you? (See Matthew 7:24-27).