You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
-James 4:3 (ESV)
William Carey, (1767-1834) the father of the modern missions movement, once said that “Prayer - secret, fervent, believing prayer – lies at the root of all personal godliness.” But what is prayer? The most basic definition of prayer comes from the HIBD, which states:
I prefer the following definition for a fuller more biblical understanding of what prayer is:
“Prayer—is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant. It is a “beseeching the Lord” (Ex. 32:11); “pouring out the soul before the Lord” (1 Sam. 1:15); “praying and crying to heaven” (2 Chr. 32:20); “seeking unto God and making supplication” (Job 8:5); “drawing near to God” (Ps. 73:28); “bowing the knees” (Eph. 3:14).”[2]
In the above passage, we have to ask what does it mean to ask “rightly” as opposed to “wrongly?” It would appear it boils down to a matter of transformed passions. What use is it to speak to God and ask Him for things that grieve Him or will not be for your benefit. In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts after Him. Right and real prayer will mean to desire the things God desires, to love the things God loves, to will the things God wills. Gradually, we are taught to see our lives and others from God’s point of view. Prayer must be the main business of our lives. In Mark 1:35, we see Jesus getting up in the morning before the day, going out to a lonely place and praying. King David’s desire for God broke the self-indulgent chains of sleep. And when the apostles are tempted to invest their time and energy into other important and necessary tasks, they determined to give themselves over continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4). Even Martin Luther the reformer once said, “I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.” John Wesley stated that “God does nothing but in answer to prayer,” and he went on to back it up by his conviction of devoting two hours daily to the sacred exercise. So let’s make it our discipline, our intention to spend daily time with God in the most wonderful privileges of existence, speaking to our Lord and Savior. If you have not already, carve out at least 10 minutes a day to speak to God in prayer and build that time up. If you don’t have at least that much time to devote to prayer, you need to reconsider the priorities of your calendar. Pray for our church to be ever increasing in faithfulness to the Great Commandments and the Great Commission.
