James 4:3

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures.

"God answers prayer, but not all prayer, especially not in giving the ungodly the ingredients for selfish gratification."[9] The Bible reveals exactly whose prayers are answered. He hears the cry of the righteous (Psalms 34:15); he hears those who call upon him in truth (Psalms 145:18); and he hears the penitent (Luke 18:14): those who ask "in his name" (John 14:13), those who ask "believing" (Mark 11:24), and those who ask according to God's will (1 John 5:14). As Gibson observed, here again "is an evident allusion to the sermon on the mount (Matthew 7:7)."[10] See also Matthew 21:22.

[9] Ibid.

[10] E. C. S. Gibson, Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 21, James (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 55.