“1. FROM whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2. Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4. Ye adulterers and adultresses, know ye not that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 5. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 6. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
How is your prayer life today? A great weakness most believers have is dealing with their pride on a day to day. Sometimes it may seem like prayers go unanswered or even get an answer of no. Looking at James chapter 1, it is evident that our prayer life can easily consist of our lustful desires. Verse 2 tells us “yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” We don’t see the great things God wants to give us because all we ever do is pray for things that will bring glory to ourselves rather than God. Hunting is a great example; God has blessed with an amazing creation concerning wild animals. The Sixth Day is so special to us because this is when God created the beast of the field(whitetails, elk, moose, rabbits, squirrels, etc.), but next he created man, and then gave man rule over all these wonderful animals. Why do you strive so hard to kill a big buck? For some, it for meat and a little excitement in the woods, but for many its become more of a god to them. There is nothing sinful in praying for a big buck or a filled tag, but why are you praying for it? Too many times, before the big buck even hits the ground, the hunter is already dreaming about all of his buddies he will show the deer to. We live in a hunting society today where its no longer about the blessing of God, but the pride of man. If you get lifted within your heart about your success, just know, God doesn’t want you to be successful. James tells us He wants us to be humble, not prideful! Where are you at in your hunting season this year? Have you already been boasting about the deer you’ve killed? Maybe God doesn’t want you to kill a deer this year because he knows what it will do to you! Is your prayer to consume it upon your own lusts? Trying to be better than everyone else in your pursuit of whitetails is evidence of a worldly desire, rather than a godly desire. Be careful what you pray for, if you have a true desire to serve God, your prayer life should be what will glorify God and not yourself. Its amazing the power in the Word of God, if you feel like you don’t know how to pray sometimes, spend more time reading your Bible. God will show you how to pray and how not to be so full of yourself in your prayer life! God want to give you some great things, but you have to get out of the way and let God be God!
Memory Verse Week 12/10/18
James 4:2-3
“Ye lust, and have not: ye kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
Amiss means wrong: God does not want our prayer life to glorify ourselves, God wont always give us what we pray for because we are asking for it for the wrong reasons.
