Seeking the kingdom of God: When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives

The apostle James explains to us that if we live according to the flesh we cannot receive the true goods of life: the spiritual gifts. The spiritual gifts are qualities and supernatural talents awarded by God; the theologian Thomas Aquinas defines them as "perfections": “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”, Matthew 5:48; “Be merciful just as your Father is merciful”, Luke 6:36; “Be holy because I am holy”, 1 Peter 1:16. Following this reasoning, the Kingdom of Heaven is the culture of excellence.
Spiritual gifts do not act like virtues, gifts cannot be acquired by study or practice such as justice, prudence and moral virtue in general. To receive the gifts we must ask for them from the heart, and here we have a problem, we ask for the gifts according to the flesh or we ask for the gifts according to the spirit.
The apostle warns us that if we ask for gifts motivated by concupiscence, we cannot receive anything from God:
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.", James 4:1-3.

We cannot ask for spiritual gifts for selfish reasons, the spiritual gifts are to be shared, when we ask for a gift not only for ourselves but also for others, it is when God's blessing acts in our favor. When King Solomon asks for wisdom (1 Kings 3:5-15), he does so to judge and govern his people with righteousness and good discernment. This is the best example that the Bible gives us of how to ask God for spiritual gifts: "Come near to God and he will come near to you.", James 4:8.
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