Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. James 4:2 (NKJV)
Do we really need to pray? Matthew 6:8 says, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him,” so it would seem that prayer is unnecessary.
However, that’s not true. Just because God knows what you are going to say doesn’t mean that you don’t need to say it! James makes it clear in our verse today. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
The problem with prayer is that there are so many misconceptions about it. Some believe the answers come from repetition. Yet Jesus said, “Do not heap up phrases (multiply words, repeating the same ones over and over) as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking” (Matthew 6:7, AMP).
With others, it’s like they shoot a bunch of prayers at God hoping one will stick. That is a very disappointing way to pray because you never know if your prayers will be answered. Actually, if you pray without knowing God’s will, your prayers will not be effective.
To demonstrate, let me give you an example. Let’s say that a man is looking for the woman of his dreams. He notices his friend’s wife and thinks she would be perfect, so he prays for her to be his wife.
Is that prayer going to be effective? No…the tenth commandment says not to covet another’s wife, so that man is not going to get any help from God in getting his friend’s wife for himself. He needs to study the Word to know what he can pray for.
The same is true for you. Knowing what you can pray for and then praying for it is absolutely vital. Don’t be a person who has not because you ask not.