Ask First
Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 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. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures (James 4:1-3).
If you want something, you need to ask God for it.
Do you have strife in your life? It’s because you have desires warring within you.
To solve this, James lists a two step process: 1) Ask God, 2) Consider whether you are “ask[ing] amiss.”
Most Christians do the opposite: 1) Consider whether you are asking amiss, 2) Make sure you only ask God for the few things that you know you aren’t asking amiss.
But Scripture says that you need to ask God first. If you have a desire, ask Him. He already knows all your desires, so it’s nothing new to Him.
If the desire is a sin, confess it.
If the desire isn’t a sin, continue to ask God for it and also ask Him to reveal to you if you are ever asking amiss.
God loves giving and He wants you to ask Him for stuff. He wants to give you stuff.
And, as you ask in obedient faith, God will shape your desires so that you want the best stuff.
What do you think?
Joseph