James 4:3. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (pleasures).
Well, cloudy days are here again! Glory Hallelujah! Yes friends, another cloudy day has made its appearance on this lazy-day Saturday. The question is, how long will this cloudy period last? The one we just came out of lasted two weeks. Let’s hope that in this new year of 2024, we see the sun much more often than every two weeks. (smile) And even though the constant cloudy days tend to darken our spirits, we cannot afford to let them get us down.
No, we have to stand up strong and keep on doing what we need to do with the help of the Holy Spirit of Jesus, who is the way the truth and the life of our faith! (John 14:6) Without Him, we can’t do much of anything. (John 15:5) That’s why it’s oh so necessary to have Him as the most important person in our lives. And having said that, it’s time to offer up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer and acknowledge Jesus as the Guiding Light in our lives.
As one sincere voice: ‘Lord, I want to be with You now. Please slow my thoughts and quiet my soul. Let my muscles relax, my breath deepen. You are here with me – Your peace and LOVE are present. I marvel to think You can’t be contained, that Your LOVE both surrounds and fills me. Thank You for this tenderness, Lord. I praise You for Your unceasing nearness. Increase my awareness of You today, that I may know You all the more. Amen!’
And if you were indeed sincere, I’m sure that all those things you asked for happened and will happen as the day goes along. That’s the beauty of living for Jesus; whatever we ask, and sincerely believe for it to happen, once it falls into His will for our lives, He will grant it. Although He doesn’t say just when. (smile) Remember His faithful promise: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’ (Matt. 7:7-8)
And the scholars explain those verses thus: ‘The three imperatives ask, seek, and knock are in the present tense of the original language, suggesting both perseverance and continued prayer. Fervent and continual prayer is to be made on behalf of those for whom we are concerned. God promises to answer all genuine prayer (vs. 8). Everything we need for spiritual success has been promised to us. God leaves us no excuse for failure.’
Oh friends, we certainly cannot dispute that last sentence, because God has already planted in us all the seeds we need for success; meaning the fruit of the Spirit. That’s LOVE, joy peace, longsuffering (patience), goodness (generosity), gentleness (kindness), faithfulness, meekness (courtesy and consideration for others), temperance (self-control). (Gal. 5:22-23)
Our job now is to use the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit to grow those seeds into full blown fruits that God can use for His earthly work. So that we’ll shine like the light of the world, and have so much salty flavour that others will want to be like us, and have what we have. But, unfortunately, like fruit on a tree, that doesn’t happen overnight, it’s a lifetime process and we often mess it up by doing ungodly things, being disobedient and rebellious.
As James says: ‘From whence come wars (conflicts) and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts (desires for pleasure) that war in your members? Ye lust, and ye have not; ye kill (murder), and desire to have (covet), and cannot obtain: ye fight and war (battle), 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 (pleasures). Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the (with) world is enmity with God? whosever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy (makes himself the enemy) of God.’ (James 4:1-4)
Oh my people, there’s so much truth in those verses that it’s not funny. It’s a proven fact that we often don’t get what we want, because we ask for the wrong things. Too many of us are still following the ways of the world, lusting for power, earthly wealth and pleasure and thus turn away from God to seek them. So, instead of striving with God to gain godly things, we strive and fight with each other to gain those worldly things. And though we all know that you can’t be God’s friend and also a friend to the world, many of us are still trying to ride the fence, trying to have our souls in both camps at the same time. But that will never be a successful ploy. It’s either one or the other.
And James gives us the better option. ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh (near) to God, and he will draw nigh (near) to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts ye double-minded. Be afflicted (lament), and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness (gloom). Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?’ (James 4:7-12)
Yes my fellow saints, those are some of the things we need to do to turn our lives and our world around! We must clean up our lives, both outwardly by our deeds, and inwardly by our thoughts and decisions. Without doing those things, we will forever be fighting and striving in vain, because God will not allow us to succeed if we are in the enemy’s camp. Therefore, on this first Saturday in this new year, please let us seriously consider changing our evil ways and ungodly habits, humbling and submitting ourselves to God so that He can give us the awesome grace and mercy that we so desperately need to make our lives and our world a better place. Much LOVE!
…imagine the awful legacy we’ll leave our children…if we don’t make peace with God…
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