“You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.”
Yet you do not have because you do not ask
The addressees of the book of James did not pray about their needs, so they did not get answers to the prayers that they did not ask! They deemed themselves sufficient in themselves, so they did not pray about their needs.
“Ask” conveys the idea of imploring (1:5-6). God wants us to ask things from Him because asking is an act of dependence. Christians are powerless in their spiritual lives because they simply do not ask God for things because of unbelief. Yet, prayer has as much power today as in any period of church history.
The root of all carnality is the same – internal lusts contrary to God’s plan. The reason we do not pray is that we approach life from an autonomous viewpoint.
PRINCIPLE:
The remedy for a lust orientation to life lies in prayer.
APPLICATION:
The sure bet solution to rivalry is prayer. Ask God for something beyond your normal ability. It is better to deal with God than to manipulate men.
Jn 16:24 “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
Carnal Christians meet all their needs by operation bootstraps, “I have enough education, enough brains. Why should I depend on God?” God wants us to ask.
Mt 7:7-11, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
