James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
I first really heard this Word many years ago when I was suffering from a skin disease. I would break out in clear blisters. There was no known cause when I first developed symptoms and sought treatment at age eighteen. But I was put on a medication (the same medication given for leprosy) which did relieve the symptoms. More than fifteen years later, scientists discovered that the disease was caused by the inability of my body to absorb gluten. Upon learning this, I immediately went on a gluten-free diet (no wheat, barley, rye or oats) so I could stop taking the medication. This was very difficult for me because I loved bread and pizza more than any other foods. I made both with potato and rice flours, but it wasn’t the same. Even though I was on the diet, it took a year and a half before I could get off the medicine.
Several years later, I became acquainted with the faith
teachers (see What Is Faith?
) and decided I would ask for and believe that I had received healing from this disease, at which time I began eating gluten again. Some time afterwards, the blisters began reappearing. I suffered terribly but kept eating gluten since I thought I had believed that I had received when I prayed.
Finally, I realized that I wasn’t proving anything except that I could suffer; so I decided to go back on the medication. I made an appointment to see a dermatologist; but before I could keep the appointment, my skin cleared up completely. I had nothing to show him, so I canceled the appointment. I concluded that I wasn’t to go that route.
A while after that, I broke out in blisters again. I sought wisdom from God as to what I should do. I was standing in my dining room when I heard that still small voice speaking James 4:3 to me, You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts.
It was crystal clear to me. And in my heart I responded, You are right, Lord. I want to be healed so I can eat bread and pizza.
I recalled Paul’s words:
1Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
I understood that my problem was not in the eating of gluten, but rather in allowing the desire to eat it control me; I had developed a lust
for bread and pizza. I didn’t know then what I know now; but I knew what I had to do—learn temperance and moderation in this area. I began by denying myself gluten altogether except when I was served it by others, knowing that I was to eat what was set before me (1Corinthians 10:27). Gradually I began to eat bread and pizza in moderation. My skin began to clear as soon as I heard from the Spirit inside, and it has remained clear to this day. I eat whatever I want whenever I want it; but I should add that I now let my wants
be determined by the still small voice inside.
As is almost always the case, I did have some discomfort a few times, giving me the opportunity to receive the disease back into my body; but God’s grace was sufficient for me to reject those opportunities.
I recount this experience not to tell you how to get healed; for, in truth, illness (as all other evil
) has no reality—and therefore does not need to be healed. What we all need is not healing, but rather revelation.
Nor do I wish to give you (as orthodox Christianity has given you) yet another explanation for why you don’t receive when you ask, when Jesus made it clear that there is only one reason—you don’t as yet believe (see Believe Then Receive
).
What I am addressing is our tendency to view prayer as a one-way communication; I tell God what I want, and He gives it to me. No, He has already given to us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think
(Ephesians 3:20). He has already prepared for us that which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man
(1Corinthians 2:9). In short, all that He has is already ours (all that I have is thine
—Luke 15:31).
It is in prayer (two-way communication between God and man), when we are listening to the still small voice inside (the voice of our Father), that we learn from our Father why we cannot BELIEVE—the only prerequisite for receiving that which is already ours.
During these times of prayer, as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit will often bring to our remembrance (John 14:26) words from the Scriptures, words which are profitable
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
(2Timothy 3:16). This was the case for me in the incident cited above. As soon as I recalled the Scripture about asking amiss,
I knew that this was hindering me from believing and thereby receiving what I was asking for. I was like the woman caught in adultery, condemning myself for what I was allowing (my lust for bread, my not realizing that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God
(Luke 4:4)). And the Spirit had to say to me as He did to the adulteress, Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more
(John 8:11). See Judging Arthritis.
What I must make abundantly clear here is that God was not telling me that I had to fulfill some requirement (in this case, practice moderation) before He would heal me. No! No! No!
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the GIFT of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
The word saved
is the Greek word sozo: (4982. sozo safe
); to save, i.e. deliver or protect (literally or figuratively):—HEAL, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole.)
We never do
anything to receive from our Father that which is already given to us. We need ONLY BELIEVE, as Jesus said. Because I believed that I could receive if I stopped lusting
after bread, it was done unto me according to my faith
—and I did indeed receive. But that was my condition for receiving, not God’s.
It is only now that I finally understand the meaning of James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
If I read that Scripture by the letter
(as I did), it appears to be saying that God won’t give me anything that I want for selfish reasons—that my receiving is conditional upon what I do
or don’t do.
Now I see by the Spirit
that I couldn’t possibly lust
for anything if I knew that God is my all sufficiency. If I don’t know that, I will always have doubts as to whether or not God is able or willing to give me what I want and need. I will continually be asking Him to enable or empower my humanity to get what it thinks will satisfy while, in truth, it is only God who brings me that satisfaction—in ways I haven’t yet dreamed of. And that is what asking amiss
means and is what kept me from believing.
In each of us there are thieves and robbers
(lusts
produced by the human ego which thinks itself to be separated from God and therefore responsible for its own well-being) which must be driven
from this temple of the living God
(2Corinthians 6:16)—or we will continue to ask amiss
and thereby fail to receive what we are asking for.
So I would encourage you to enter into prayer with a heart open to hear what the Spirit saith unto the church
(Revelation 2:7) (or temple) that you are. It may be painful to hear and even more painful to have whatever is interfering with your believing cast out.
It may even rend you sore
so that you become as one dead
(Mark 9:26)—because you must indeed die
to whatever you have been hanging onto, lo, these many years. We all struggle against giving up our particular beliefs, opinions, prejudices and doctrines which keep us from the abundant life Jesus came to give us.
But when we stop wrestling and do as Jacob did (loose them and let them go
—Genesis 32:24ff), we will receive, as Jacob did, the blessing
that we are asking for.