James 4:2, 3 (NLT)
You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can’t possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don’t get it because your whole motive is wrong–you want only what will give you pleasure.
A Theme to Remember:
God’s only condition and limitation of prayer is found in the character of the one who prays. The measure of our faith and praying is the measure of His giving. Like as our Lord said to the blind man, “According to your faith be it unto you,” so it is the same in praying, “According to the measure of your asking, be it unto you.” God measures the answer according to the prayer. He is limited by the law of prayer in the measure of the answers He gives to prayer. As is the measure of prayer, so will be the answer. (Adapted from E.M. Bounds, The Necessity of Prayer)
Words to Remember:
After hypocrites, the greatest dupes the devil has are those who exhaust an anxious existence in the disappointments and vexations of business, and live miserably and meanly only to die magnificently and rich. They serve the devil without receiving his wages, and for the empty foolery of dying rich, pay down their health, happiness, and integrity.
–Charles Caleb Colton