James 4:1-3

Reading in James 4:1-3. "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, 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." As I read this and try to understand, it is James the brother of Jesus writing to Christians. It sounds to me like he is saying there is contention and strife in the body. And where does this come from, this strife and contention? Come they not from your members? I think of Matthew 12:34 says ... "for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."  Our heart is key to so much of what goes on in us. The strife and contention was coming from internally, from their hearts, from their members. I think of the times when I prayed and God answered almost immediately and one time in particular it was immediate. More often than not, it seems God does not answer immediately. I find in myself that sometimes I pray, and then do what I want anyway and don't wait for an answer from God. I find I am a very impatient person. I want what I want now. I prefer the microwave, where I notice Barbara will heat up stuff on the stove itself. Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss. Now I can identify with that, wrong motives. God does not always answer right away, or perhaps he said no and I just wasn't listening. Everything I ask for is not necessarily good for me. or perhaps God just doesn't think it is in my best interest.   God always has our best interest in mind. It is like a child, they may want that candy or cookie 10 minutes before mealtime and the parent knows it will spoil their appetite for the good stuff they need. So the good parent says no. God does have our best in mind at all times. I remember the first time I ran into a name it and claim it Christian. He had a good car, it was a fairly new Camaro, but there was a really nice souped up Camaro on the lot. I think he had the current camaro for less than a year. We were talking as we were working and he was telling me about this souped up camaro. Then he says, "I am claiming it." It just didn't feel right to me. He had a perfectly good vehicle already, but it was a desire he had for more. Ye lust, a strong desire for something that you probably don't need or would do you harm. Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss, with wrong motives. God is not a cosmic gopher, that does our bidding, gives us everything we want when we want it. And we shouldn't with our children and grandchildren. We spoil them. Imagine how bad christians would get if we did get every last thing we ask for. I believe God does answer prayer but he is like the good parent that always does what is best for us. As we mature, we probably don't ask as much for things to consume with our desires. We probably have a better idea of what is good for us. As an adult, we may discipline ourselves and not eat that cookie just before dinner. God does have our best interest at heart. God is interested more in the condition of our heart than he is in our comfort. I have seen this in my own heat many times, I pray but I don't wait for God to answer because I want what I want when I want it. It's like we sometimes feel we know better than God what we need. We don't, God always has our best in mind.  God bless, LVZ.