Bible Questions Answered:
What is asking amiss, that James talks about?
Mithun/ Idore, India
Bible Answer:
Bible Text:
James 4:3 KJV
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
James 4:3 CEV Contemporary English Version
Yet even when you do pray, your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons.
James 4:3 NASB
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
James 4:3 GNT Good News Translation
And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures.
God does not answer sinful, selfish prayers.
Prerequisites for answered prayer:
Confess “your,” sin.
Psalm 4:3 KJV
But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for Himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto Him.
Psalm 34:17-19 KJV
17 The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
Psalm 66:18 KJV
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
Proverbs 15:29 KJV
The LORD is far from the wicked: but He heareth the prayer of the righteous.
Isaiah 59:2 KJV
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.
Daniel 9:4,8; 20 NLT
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands.
8 O Lord, we and our kings, princes, and ancestors are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.
20 I went on praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, His holy mountain.
I John 3:18-22 KJV
18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
Forgive your enemies.
Matthew 5:23,24 KJV
23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Matthew 6:12 KJV
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Matthew 18:21,22 KJV
21 Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
Mark 11:25,26 KJV
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
Colossians 3:13 KJV
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
We must ask “according to His will (His word).
Psalm 119:11, 105, 130 KJV
11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
Psalm 143:10 KJV
Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy Spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
Proverbs 29:18 KJV
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Matthew 12:50 KJV
For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother.
I Thessalonians 2:13 KJV
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
I John 5:14 KJV
14 And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us:
15 And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.
We must ask in faith.
Romans 10:17 KJV
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Hebrews 11:1,6 KJV
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
James 1:5-8 KJV
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
6 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.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
I John 5:4 KJV
For whatsoever is born of God over cometh the world: and this is the victory that over cometh the world, even our faith
We must pray with all earnestness and, perseverance.
I Chronicles 16:11 KJV
Seek the LORD and His strength, seek His face continually.
II Chronicles 7:14 KJV If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Psalm 119:2 KJV
Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart.
Jeremiah 29:13 KJV
And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.
Matthew 7:7,8 KJV
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Luke 18:1 KJV
And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Ephesians 6:18 KJV
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
I Thessalonians 5:17 KJV
Pray without ceasing.
We must pray in the name of Jesus.
John 14:13,14 KJV
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it.
John 20:31 KJV
But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.
Ephesians 5:20 KJV
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Micah 7:7 KJV
"...I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me."
