What do we ask God for? He has instructed us to ask. Do we receive what we ask? Didn’t the Lord promise to give us whatever we ask?
Do you think that He would give us things that are not according to His will? Will he give us things that will lead us away from Himself? Will He give us things that are contrary to His Word? Will God give us things that are inconsistent with His character and His sinlessness?
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. James 4:3
Consider a man who is despondent, oppressed, and suicidal over his inability to control his craving for alcohol. He is desperate to get a handle on it. He wants help. He reaches out. The only real solution for this man is to become a Christian.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (I Corinthians 6:9-11). Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (II Corinthians 5:17). Becoming a Christian (being born again) means that a new believer is no longer a drunk or a fornicator. He is now a new creature in Christ.
Will God deliver the drunkard from the chains of sin? Will this man truly become a Christian? What if the real scenario is that his drunkenness has affected his relationship with his live-in girlfriend and that he desperately wants to patch things up? Does he desire to overcome his drunkenness (a good thing), so he can resume living as a fornicator (a general term for any sexual sin).
Repentance is not about picking and choosing your sin or bargaining with God.
The Lord Jesus said concerning the Galileans whose blood Pilate shed and concerning those who perished when the tower of Siloam fell; Except ye repent (change your mind*), ye shall all likewise perish.
A repentant man faces the holy, sinless, living God and realizing how utterly abhorrent his sin, he changes his mind about Jesus Christ, the spotless lamb of God, our only hope of salvation.
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (desires). James 4:3
...let the word of Christ dwell (take up its life) in you richly…
* What happens when an individual changes his or her mind about something? Isn’t a change of mind manifested by a change in direction?