How much more would the Christian have, he but asked God?
I think of the prophet who went to the king in the Old Testament. The prophet gave the king arrows and told him to smite the ground with them. The king did so a few times, then stopped. The prophet then told the king that he should have kept going, for God was going to smite the king's enemies only as often as the king had smite the ground.
I wonder, then, what we Christians would have if we but kept asking, kept smiteing the ground, as it were.
"You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."
We either do not believe in God's graciousness, or we only ask for what our flesh wants and is not aligned with His will.
How much more would the Christian have, he but asked God?
I think of the prophet who went to the king in the Old Testament. The prophet gave the king arrows and told him to smite the ground with them. The king did so a few times, then stopped. The prophet then told the king that he should have kept going, for God was going to smite the king's enemies only as often as the king had smite the ground.
I wonder, then, what we Christians would have if we but kept asking, kept smiteing the ground, as it were.
I think of James 4:2-3:
"You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."
We either do not believe in God's graciousness, or we only ask for what our flesh wants and is not aligned with His will.
Great point. God cares about our heart's motivations.