(A)You ask and do not receive, (B)because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

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You ask [God for something] and do not receive it, because you ask [a]with wrong motives [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda], so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your [hedonistic] desires.

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Footnotes

  1. James 4:3 Lit wrongly.

When you ask, you do not receive,(A) because you ask with wrong motives,(B) that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

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Get Serious

1-2 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

2-3 You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

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