subject: Hope for what you want for the New Decade [print this page] Author: Joseph Jagde Author: Joseph Jagde
From the New King James version of the Bible James Chapter 4 verses 1 through 6 read as follows: 1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 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. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble. These verses go into the situations which call upon the necessity of prayer, which is the state of not having something. Then it adds upon this the conditions of not being able to get to what you want either or the issue of not being able to obtain. It goes directly to the point, that the lack, the inability to obtain which of course might include obstacles, It is a mystery but the case may be that the clouds are just not going to lift unless you ask. So no matter what, if you are struggling with situation of lack, immediate need, or finding your way, go to the checkpoint of asking. Asking could more so mean the aspect of inquiry rather than telling the Lord exactly what to do. In the case of Mary at the wedding in the gospels, she pointed to the lack of wine. This was a matter of inquiry how specifically this problem would be addressed was to be determined. But whatever the issue is, the request can be composed with a pointing out of what is believed to be lacking, or what you do not have. Anyone can have lots of things, riches, abundance after abundance but no matter what, gaps will appear, there will be points and places and situations of lack, it might not be outright material things but it could be anything such as a lack of insight, a lack of good conversation, a lack of the right weather, something that is beyond your immediate control but because it represents a lack, it is premised as something that should be put into the bin of asking. The lack could be something that one might be able to do something about or often it is something they cannot do anything about, which may be the cause of extreme behavior such as wars, where the lack, is somehow addressed through ideas of war, yet the remedy is always to ask, nothing big or nothing small, can match what asking does. You could try to restructure the whole planet, and you still cant get past go in the game of monopoly because the way the real world works in the realms of the spirit and going also into the natural, is you must ask. When these verses are talking about the adulterer and adulteress, it is first showing that is it talking to both men and women. Positively, this shows equality between men and women in the power of prayer and having the recourse to ask. Both men and women can come equally into this powerful relationship with the Lord and both have the equality of being able to betray this relationship. The adultery spoken of, is not adultery in the human sense, is adulterating or betraying this close relationship of prayer, which of course includes asking for others, sometimes in a big way. In the positive sense, the call to prayer and the closeness involved in ongoing and a call to a close relationship of prayer, so that type of relationship is available potentially. As the verse says, He gives more grace meaning the potential for more is always there. But these verses do speak of betrayal and the jealousy of the Spirit for those who had gone astray. The question with regards to these verses, how do we know about the sometimes fine line between asking properly and asking amiss. What would potentially go into betraying or straying from the primary relationship of prayer would be the areas involved. In human terms, would someone give say a girlfriend or boyfriend, a ticket on a love boat to meet other people? In most cases probably not although everything is also subject to the test. They would maybe give them many and varied gifts but probably not this gift. These ideas go into what could be asking amiss but you could outright ask the aid of the Holy Spirit as to what to ask for in giving situations. The Spirit is not going to give you something that will cause you to stray. And it is debatable what that might be so you still need to pray about those gray areas of uncertainty. Romans 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. There can also be an expanded view of the what the Spirit is jealousy guarding for you, it could be a relationship with someone else, it could be having you sing in the choir, it could be the travel plans to go somewhere and minister to others, it could even be something superficial like your hair color, but the view of what this might be is not inherently limited. There is hope for what you want for the new decade, but carefully brings this hopes into the context of the close relationship of prayer and in heeding the ongoing call to that close relationship of prayer.About the Author:
