James 4:3
Verse 3 of 17. The 4th of 5 chapters in James, in The General Letters.
1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
4Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:3 in the World English Bible
You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.Read James 4:3 in the WEB
Matthew Henry on James 4:3
"Your lusts spoil your prayers, and make them an abomination to God, whenever you put them up to him, v. 3. You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts." As if it had been said, "Though perhaps you may sometimes pray for success against your enemies, yet it is not your aim to improve the advantages you gain, so as to promote true piety and religion either in yourselves or others…
Pray James 4:3 with someone reading it aloud.
Start praying with Pray.comKing James Version. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.