{"id":6857,"date":"2019-12-26T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=6857"},"modified":"2019-12-22T16:28:19","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T23:28:19","slug":"james4_1-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/james4_1-10\/","title":{"rendered":"When You Ask But Don\u2019t Receive"},"content":{"rendered":"

James 4:1-10\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is James 4:1-10.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

James 4:1-2 (ESV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0\u00a0James is saying that often times the reason why we slander, hurt and argue with the people around us is because there is something unhealthy going on inside of us.\u00a0When we lust after things that don\u2019t belong to us, when we envy what other people have, that unhealthy inside of us causes us to treat the people outside of us in unhealthy and hurtful ways.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Instead of looking to God for what we lack, we sit there, sulk and give others a hard time.<\/p>\n

James 4:3 (ESV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 3:\u00a0 \u201cBut you don\u2019t understand, JB. In the past I did ask God for things but I never get them.\u00a0 Why should I bother asking God then?\u201d\u00a0 As verse 3 says,\u00a0sometimes the reason we ask God and don\u2019t receive what we ask for is because our hearts are in the wrong place.<\/strong>\u00a0God is not a vending machine<\/strong>, where if we put in a little bit and punch the right buttons, we will get what we want from God.\u00a0\u00a0God is your Heavenly Father who loves you, hears you every time you cry out to Him, knows what is best for you and is committed to giving you what is best.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prayer is not us ordering God around.\u00a0 It\u2019s drawing close to God and surrendering to Him until what we want conforms to what God wants.\u00a0\u00a0So if you\u2019re praying and not getting what you want, what you need is not another god to pray to.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0What you need is to let your heart be transformed by the God who knows\u00a0<\/strong>what you need<\/strong>\u00a0better than you.<\/p>\n

James 4:4-6 (ESV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, \u201cHe yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us\u201d?
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, \u201cGod opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 4-6:\u00a0\u00a0What does it mean to be a \u201cfriend of the world\u201d (v4)?\u00a0<\/strong>It means to think and act just like someone who does not have Jesus in their life, to conform to the world\u2019s values and to live with something other than God at the centre of your life.\u00a0\u00a0When I live as a friend of the world, the Bible says I become \u201can enemy of God\u201d in that I block God from working in my life to the extent that He wants to (v4).<\/strong>\u00a0It reminds me of 1 John\u00a02:15\u00a0which says, \u201cDo not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Praise God that no matter how many times we act like adulterous people (v4), leaving God our first love for someone much inferior, no matter how many love affairs we\u2019ve had with the world, God never stops wanting to be close to us.\u00a0\u00a0He remains jealous for us (v5).\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0He even makes grace available for us to come back to Him if only we would humble ourselves (v6).<\/p>\n

James 4:7-10 (ESV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 7-10:\u00a0\u00a0So if you find yourself arguing a lot with others, if you find that the unhealthy inside of you is starting to affect your relationships with people around you, if you find that you have been secretly carrying on an adulterous affair with the world\u2019s way of thinking and living while getting more and more distant from God, what should you do?\u00a0\u00a0As verse 6 suggests, it\u2019s time to humble yourself, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.\u00a0\u00a0James gives\u00a0four suggestions on how you can humble yourself<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Submit yourself to God (v7a).<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Decide in your heart and say with your mouth, \u201cGod, I don\u2019t want to be a slave to my own miserable, unhealthy ways and to the world\u2019s miserable, unhealthy ways.\u00a0\u00a0I surrender to you.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. Resist the devil (v7b).<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Satan\u2019s agenda is to steal, kill and destroy your life.\u00a0\u00a0Ultimately it is the devil who is trying to isolate you from God.\u00a0\u00a0But if you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you still have authority and power over the enemy.\u00a0\u00a0Use the authority that Christ has given you to rebuke the devil.\u00a0\u00a0Say, \u201cEnemy, you\u2019ve bothered me long enough.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name get away from me\u201d and believe God\u2019s promise that when you resist the devil he will flee from you.<\/li>\n
  3. Draw near to God (v8a).<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0I love the promise that follows this command: \u201cand He will draw near to you.\u201d So spend time in God\u2019s presence.\u00a0\u00a0For when you run toward God, you\u2019ll find Him running toward You.<\/li>\n
  4. Repent of sin (v8b-9).<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0The images of washing your hands, purifying your heart, and weeping \u2013 all of these speak of repentance, that is,\u00a0to agree with God that you have sinned, to feel sincerely sorry for your sin, and to turn away from sin and toward Jesus for forgiveness and help.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Are you feeling distant from God?\u00a0\u00a0Are you needing to come back to Him?\u00a0\u00a0If so, don\u2019t delay.\u00a0\u00a0Humble yourself in the above ways today, and God will lift you up once again.<\/p>\n

    Heavenly Father, thank You that You desire to get close to me, and that even when I play around with the world\u2019s initially seductive but ultimately miserable way of thinking and living, You give me grace to return to You.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that when I humble myself before You, You will lift me up.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

    Today\u2019s passage is James 4:1-10.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

    James 4:1-2 (ESV)\u00a0
    \n1\u00a0\u00a0What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?\u00a0
    \n2\u00a0\u00a0You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
    \n\u00a0
    \nOn verses 1-2:\u00a0\u00a0James is saying that often times the reason why we slander, hurt and argue with the people around us is because there is something unhealthy going on inside of us.\u00a0When we lust after things that don\u2019t belong to us, when we envy what other people have, that unhealthy inside of us causes us to treat the people outside of us in unhealthy and hurtful ways.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of looking to God for what we lack, we sit there, sulk and give others a hard time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6857"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6860,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6857\/revisions\/6860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}