Prayer - August 18

August 18

James 4:1-3 "1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

You don't have because you don't ask is one of the sadder statements in the Bible because it is here that we discover that perhaps we are missing out on things that God desires for us. We don't have because we don't ask let's us know that God desires to do great things in our life if we will only turn to Him and seek those things.

James also lets us know that there are times when what we ask for is selfish and is something that comes from wrong motives. It is here that we must give ourselves a heart checkup - looking at the things we ask for with God's eyes - being sure that our motives are right and pure.

As a church we want to pursue all that God has for us. asking for all the great things - eternal things that will make a difference in the our lives as well as in the lives of others. Let us ask of God - for changed lives and greater obedience towards him as we pray today.