"You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." James 4:2-3 (NKJV)

During the first couple of years I walked with the Lord, my prayers went something like this:

"God, help me get that job."

"Jesus, please heal my throat."

"Lord, send enough money to pay these bills."

"Father, take away my fear."

It took me a while to realize that those spur-of-the-moment prayers were not accomplishing much. I guess I thought the idea was to do the best I could on my own, and then if I needed a lifeline from God, I grabbed it. The only problem was I needed a lifeline every other minute.

I loved the Scripture verse that says, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7, NKJV). I took God at His Word and was asking, seeking and knocking on a pray-as-you-go basis. I also took to heart the verse that says, "... you do not have because you do not ask" (James 4:2b).

Great! I can easily remedy that, I thought, and proceeded to ask God for everything. But I still wasn't happy, and I didn't see the kind of answered prayer I desired.

One day as I was reading James 4:2, my eyes were opened to the next verse, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures" (James 4:3).

Could it be that the "God give-me-this, do-that, wave-your-magic-wand-here, get-me-out-of-this-mess" kind of praying was not what God desired for my prayer life? In utter frustration I said, "Lord, teach me how I'm supposed to pray."

He did exactly that!

I came to understand that prayer is not just asking for things — although that certainly is part of it. Far more importantly, prayer is talking with God. It's getting close to and spending time with the One you love. It's seeking Him first, getting to know Him better, being with Him and waiting in His presence.

Prayer is acknowledging Him as the source of power upon whom you can depend. It's taking the time to say, Speak to my heart, Lord, and tell me what I need to hear. It's partnering with Him. It's aligning our spirits with His to see that His perfect will is done. It's establishing ourselves and our lives as being connected to God.

We can't receive God's best for our lives, and we can't push back the things that were never God's will for us, except through prayer. We can't leave our lives to chance. We have to pray about everything all the time, not just when things go wrong.

We have to pray over anything that concerns us, no matter how big ... "For with God nothing will be impossible" (Luke 1:37, NKJV) ... or how small ... "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matthew 10:30, NKJV).

The Bible tells us the basic qualification for prayer: "he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6b NKJV).

The more you pray, the more you will find to pray about, and the more you'll be led to pray for others.

Don't allow discouragement over unanswered prayer to cause you to doubt that God heard you. If you have received Jesus and are praying in His name, then God hears you and something is happening whether you see it manifested in your life now or not. In fact, every time you pray, you're advancing God's purposes for you. Without prayer, the full purpose God has for you can't happen.

Dear Lord, Help me today to draw closer to You, in my words, my thoughts and my deeds. Help me share more of my life with You, and through that, help me discover Your perfect will. In His holy Name I pray, Amen.

***

Related Resources:

Stormie Omartian is one of the contributors for the new devotional, Joy for the Journey: Morning and Evening. This beautiful devotional book will make a lovely gift for a special friend or loved one.

Joy for the Journey also features devotions from Lysa TerKeurst, Sheila Walsh and Beth Moore, among other bestselling women authors.

Enter to WIN a copy of Joy for the Journey: Morning and Evening by Thomas Nelson. In celebration of this new book, featuring contributing author Stormie Omartain, Thomas Nelson is giving away 10 copies! Enter to win by leaving a comment below, letting us know why you'd like a copy for yourself OR who you would give the book to, if you won. {We'll randomly select 10 winners and email notifications to each one, on Monday, April 21st.}

Reflect and Respond:

Looking back in your walk with Christ, how has your prayer life matured? In what ways does it still need to grow?

Have you ever had a prayer answered? Does this memory help you when facing discouragement over unanswered prayers?

Power Verse:

Jeremiah 33:3, "'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'" (NKJV)

© 2014 by Stormie Omartian. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 31 Ministries thanks Thomas Nelson Publishers for their sponsorship of today's devotion.

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