Ask Specifically

Charles Stanley, a contemporary pastor and author, believes
you miss out on many answers to prayer if you don’t pray
specifically.

I’ve met people who actually take offense at the idea of
asking God for specific things. These people consider someone
a nuisance who asks God to answer a specific prayer. They
believe He is too busy caring for either the sick or “important”
people to have time to attend to the “unimportant” needs of
average people. Mistakenly, they think they’re being too
selfish if they ask for something for themselves, such as a price
to be lowered on a property in order that they might be able to
afford it, or for a loved one to receive a physical healing, or to
be hired for a job they really want. Before making a judgment
on asking specifically, I suggest that you look up every verse
in the Bible that contains the words ask, believe, o r pray.
Don’t base something as important as your prayer life on what
others say—including me!
For example, when I dug into the Bible and discovered
exactly what God says about prayer, I realized how much
excitement and adventure and power I was missing.

One of the eye-opening verses that changed my perspective
of requesting prayer is found in James 4:2–3: “You do not
have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not
receive, because you ask with wrong motives.” This verse
doesn’t scold you by saying that you should not ask God.
Instead, it suggests that you don’t have what you want
because you don’t ask God! Asking God specifically for