Ask God
For a lot of people, prayer is asking things of God. It is like going shopping. We have our list of all we want to have or to do and so we pray that God would fill our shopping cart. Of course, God wants us to ask for all we need, for He even says: “You have not, because you ask not.” (James 4.2) Supplication has to do with asking and receiving from the Source and all the good things come from above. So we ask, and ask, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, His Son for all we desire and need. We learn all about how to ask in faith, how to confess the Word, trying to find just the right formula to fill our shopping cart, but frustration occurs when we don’t receive.
In the next verse, (v.3), James goes on to say: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly…” Maybe something is wrong with our shopping list. It is so easy to assume that what we want is what God wants. I remember one time a lady in our church came to me and asked, “Pastor, pray with me that God will give me a car.” I said, “But, Mary, you don’t even have a driving license and you are in your 70’s.” Without hesitating she said, “Yes, pastor, but what I need is a car with a chauffeur.” She so wanted to get to church, but was finding that the public transport system was getting difficult for her. God didn’t answer her prayer as she thought, but did provide people to give her rides to church.
I believe it is best to ask God for direction and insight into His will, before we ask Him what we want or even before we go off and make decisions for our life. So often we make the decisions, using our best judgment and then ask God to bless our plans. Feeling peace about something is not the best indicator that it is God’s will. His Word is a “lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Ps.119.105). God speaks through His Word. Ask yourself, “Is this in alignment to the Word of God?” When you are clear on this, hear His Spirit in your spirit, (which will bring you peace), then seek counsel from godly mentors and finally look to the circumstances to see them line up. This will give you a clear understanding of whether it is the will of God or not. When we don’t have this certainty, the results will be few from our much asking.
After the battle of Jericho and Ai, the neighboring town of Gibeon sent emissaries to Joshua to establish a covenant of peace. They were terrified with the prospect of being annihilated and so dressed these men in worn out clothes, pretending to have come from a distant land. Believing that they were not of the land God had given to Israel, Joshua went ahead and sealed the covenant. Only later they realized that the Gibeonites had deceived them and were the next people to be conquered. The reason he fell into this trap is because he did not ask the counsel of God.
Joshua paid dearly for not asking God before he entered into an alliance with the Gibeonites. Abraham also paid dearly for not asking God about having a son by Hagar, his wife’s servant. Such sorrow for future generations could have been avoided if they would have only asked God first. Paul said to Timothy that before anything else he should ask God, (I Timothy 2.1). Obeying this Scripture will keep you from many frustrations and the snares of the enemy.
Scriptures to meditate on:
Mat. 7.7-10; Joshua 9.12; James 4.2-3; I John 5.14