James chapter 4 reminds us as to why sometimes we don’t receive things from God.

In verse 3 he tells us that we can be denied our request because we ask with wrong motives but one of the main reasons why we don’t get what we ask for is that we simply don’t ask. In other words we don’t pray. Verse 2 says, "You do not have, because you do not ask God."

We go through life with all kinds of needs and rather than ask the Lord for help, we just complain and live lives below where we could be. I want you to understand that I am not talking about wants; God is not a genie that we treat like a magic lamp, but God does desire to help us when we have legitimate needs.

We also should be concerned about the needs of others that we should be praying for and we are letting them down when we fail to do so.

The truth of the matter is, many times we receive exactly what we ask for — nothing at all.