Daily Bible Reading – 10.22.2021
James 4:1-3, What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James asked, instead of quarreling and “killing” each other with covetous fighting, have you ever considered asking God? They were not acting like God existed in the way they were treating one another and in failing to pray for their own needs.
James said it simply and clearly, “You do not have because you do not ask.” Let those words sink in. How much time and energy have we spent fretting, being frustrated, and becoming angry but never took the time to pray about the situation?
Scripture tells us God’s desire to hear from us:
Psalm 55:22, Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.
1 Peter 5:7, Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
And James went on to say, if they did ask, they did so with wrong motives. They merely wanted more for their own pleasure rather than to meet their need or to share with others in need. It sounds like they were a mess! Surely, we are not like them, right?
Instead of getting anxious and angry about what we do not have in life, what if we gave thanks for what we do have, and asked God for what we need? Would we not receive what Paul promised?
Philippians 4:6-7, Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Questions to Consider:
What is going on in your life today that you should ask for help through prayer? How can others pray for you? What is your thanksgiving?
Weekly Memory Verse:
James 1:19-20, My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.