We ask and receive not because we ask wrongly. How do we ask wrongly?
James 4:3: You ask, and receive not, because you ask wrongly
How We Ask Wrongly and Receive Not
Before you ask God for anything, ask yourself these questions first and answer yourself sincerely. This is what matters if you receive or not.
Ask yourself;
1. Do I believe that I will receive what am asking?
In other words, classifying your level of faith to yourself.
There are 3 levels of faith;
- Faithless (no faith)
- Doubters (weak faith)
- Great faith
The faithless and doubters, no matter how much they fast and pray, they never receive what they ask from the Lord.
James 1:6-8: But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Without faith, you are flattering God with your tongue
Psalms 5:9: For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulcher; they flatter with their tongue.
Without great faith you are not pleasing God neither in you’re asking nor in your life
Heb 11:6: But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him
Jesus tells us to believe that whatsoever we ask when we pray, we shall receive.
Mk 11:22-24: And Jesus answering said unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be you removed, and be you cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he says. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.
To believe that whatsoever thing we ask we shall receive we must have great faith.
You will hear a person ask God for a car, but his/her mind is saying, ‘I don’t believe I can get this car now’. This is doubting and you receive not.
A person prays for healing but in his/her mind s/he is saying, ‘I don’t believe God can heal me’. You are doubting and you receive not.
Other people pray and instead of asking God and leaving it to Him, they start dictating God.
I was in a fasting center one time and in the center were church leaders. One morning I heard one of the church leaders pray asking God for money for their church but the person added this lines in his prayer saying, ‘God take all the money lying idle in banks and bring it to us’. This is asking wrongly.
Has God arm being shortened?
Numbers 11:18-23: And say you unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and you shall eat meat: for you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days. But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that you have despised the LORD who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why have we came forth out of Egypt? And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to provide enough for them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?
Numbers 11:23: And the LORD said unto Moses, ‘Is the LORD’s hand been short? You shall see now whether my word shall come to pass unto you or not’.
When you pray and ask God to give you, do not tell God what to do to give you what you are asking Him. His arm is not shortened.
Other people ask God with plan B.
A person asks God for a car, but s/he is planning in His mind how to get a loan buy it. It is asking wrongly.
A person will ask God for healing but s/he is planning of how medication can heal her/him. It is asking wrongly.
You ask God for food, clothing or house, but you are planning of how you will work hard, borrow or get a loan to get them. It is asking wrongly. It is lack of faith that God will give you.
Having plan B is lack of faith. Because of doubting, God does not give you what you ask.
God will only give you what you ask when He is the only one you depend on. He will wait until you reach a dead end with you ways and wisdom, then wait for you to come to Him when you are depending on no one else except Him and you will ask and receive whatsoever you ask.
Reason people with terminal diseases and disabilities receive miraculous healing from the Lord. Because they know it is only God who can heal them and they depend 100% on Him.
After you have asked, you need hope to receive.
Heb 11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is a substance of hope. Without great faith, there is no hope. Then how are you going to wait in hope upon the Lord to receive what you have asked Him if you lack faith?
It is only people with great faith in Jesus Christ who receive what they ask because they hope, not doubters and faithless.
And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith (Mt 21:22)
2. Is what I am asking in God’s will?
For us to receive what we ask God, it must be in His will for our life.
1 John 5:14-15 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
God cannot give you something not in His will for your life no matter how much you ask.
A person will ask God to be a doctor but God’s will is for him/her to be an engineer
A person will ask God to be a sportsperson, while God’s will is for the person to be a gospel musician
A person will ask God to be His servant but God’s will is for the person to be a businessman/woman
A person will ask God for a motorbike but God’s will is to give him/her a car
A person will ask God for a job while God’s will is for the person to be His servant employed by only Him like me
Before you ask God anything, know His will for your life. God will not compromise His will to fit into your will but He will stop your will for you to do His will.
Reason it is wisdom to pray saying, ‘Let your will be done’
The greatest tragedy on earth is a person living without knowing God’s wills for his/her life and living a life that does not follow God’s plan.
Ask God why He created you? What He created you to do? Live in His will not your will.
The purpose of God creating you is not to have a husband/wife, kids, houses, car, etc; these things are blessings which come from the Lord.
My will was to get world education and a good job but God had a different will for my life. I had to stop my will and desires and live in His will which I am living today. His will was/is for me to be His servant.
Remember, God says,
Isaiah 55:8-9: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Psalms 94:11: The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity
Romans 1:22 professing to be wise, they became fools
3. Why are you asking?
Why are you asking the Lord for what you are asking?
Some people ask God for something because others have. It is asking wrongly.
Others ask for prestige, for status, etc. It is asking wrongly
Others ask God because they think they must have. This is dictating God and asking wrongly.
You should ask the Lord only because you need what you are asking Him.
4. How do you want to use what you are asking the Lord?
Before God gives you, how you use what you ask Him is so much important to Him.
God will not give you a car to boast and show off
God will not give you a house to turn it to a brothel
God will not give you money and riches to start looking down upon those who lack
God will not give you riches if the riches will make you sin and draw you away from Him
Before you pray, ask yourself how you want to use what you are asking the Lord?
Some people will ask God for a car, money, etc telling the Lord they need it but in the back of their minds they are asking for the car to boast, show off, for status, etc. This is asking wrongly.
Some people ask for education but in the back of their mind they are thinking of how it will raise their status and fame. It is asking wrongly.
When you are asking God, you already know how you want to use what you are asking Him and as you lie with your mouth how you are going to use it, your mind is telling Him the truth. God will hear your words but He will look in your mind (heart) and find it corrupt and you receive not.
Our thoughts speak louder in heaven that our mouths
People who ask to use what God gives them to minister and help others, God does not deny them.
People who ask God to bless them with worldly riches to support His gospel, God does not deny them.
See people who God blesses with worldly riches
If you ask for your own selfish ways, God will not give you. To receive from the Lord, yourself must die. Stop thinking about yourself but on how to serve humanity.
If you step out to serve Jesus Christ by serving humanity and stop thinking about yourself, your family, your children, your, your, your, my, my, my, etc, God will take care of everything about you. He will take care of your husband/wife, children, house, etc.
To love is to serve humanity. Jesus Christ will ask you, did you love?
Mt 25:42-45: For I was hungry, and you gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
You will pray and pray, fast and fast but you will never receive what you ask until you get your relationship with God right and your heart right.
No matter how much you tithe and the amount you tithe, while your relationship with God is not right and your heart is not right, you will never receive. You receive not because you tithe but because of the price paid on the cross; grace: – God’s Riches At Christ Expense
See Bride of Christ do not tithe to receive
Do not be fooled by seeing people rich worldly; with big houses, many cars in the streets, etc. Not all have received from God.
God does not deny us, He does not say ‘no’ to what we ask, but we deny ourselves because we asking wrongly.
Ask correctly and you will receive whatsoever you ask. You receive not because you ask wrongly.
