ACC ~ James 4 v3

ASK IN THE RIGHT SPIRIT. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: The Savior said: “Ask and you will receive. Everyone who asks will receive.”How can it be then that some people pray but do not get what they ask for? To this it must be answered that if someone comes to prayer in the right way, omitting none of the prerequisites for intercession, he will receive everything he asks for. But if someone appears to be going beyond the permissible bounds laid down for intercession, he will appear to be asking for something in the wrong way and therefore will not obtain it. COMMENTARY ON JAMES.

ABUSIVE INTENTIONS. AUGUSTINE: If someone intends to misuse what he receives, he will not receive it. Instead, God will pity him. TRACTATES 73.1.

GOD GRASPS OUR WORTHINESS TO RECEIVE. ANDREAS: It appears that some ask but do not receive. God ignores those who attack him and those who ask wrongly, according to their own desires. But someone will say that even those who ask for divine wisdom and virtue do not receive them. In reply it must be said that such people may be worthy to receive these good things, but they must do so in the right way. Perhaps they want such things merely for the pleasure of having them, and if so, they will not get them. CATENA.

ASKING FOR WHAT PLEASES GOD. PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS: The hierarch,being a man of God, asks only for what is compatible with the divine promises, for what pleases God and for what God will freely give. He thereby demonstrates to God the lover of good that his own conduct is always modeled on the Good and shows those who are present what kinds of gifts the saints will receive. ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL HIERARCHY 7.3.7.

FALSE PETITIONS. BEDE: Those who continue in their sins ask wrongly. They entreat the Lord ill-advisedly to forgive them sins which they are not prepared to forgive in others. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.14.

Jas