Pondering Point

This seems pretty simple, does it not: "If you lack wisdom, ask God". It doesn’t appear that James is being secretive or evasive. He later says we have not because we ask not (or ask with wrong motives – 4:1-4). Is this your perspective on prayer – your view in seeking God? How often have we merely failed to ask? If we apply this to our desire to find guidance or direction from the Lord, it’s no wonder we find ourselves without answers. “Oh, I’ve asked,” you say. Maybe.

Jesus taught us in Luke 18 to pray like the persistent widow – time and again. Let that trait be a defining characteristic of your prayer life – and then see if you still lack direction and guidance.

“For Christians, prayer should be like breathing. You do not
have to think to breathe because the atmosphere exerts
pressure on your lungs and essentially forces you to breathe.
That is why it is more difficult to hold your breath than it is to
breathe. Similarly, when we are born into the family of God,
we enter into a spiritual atmosphere where God's presence
and grace exert pressure, or influence, on our lives. Prayer is
the normal response to that pressure. As believers, we have
all entered the divine atmosphere to breathe the air of prayer.”

Prayer Thoughts
Chapter 4

The center of faith and trust is God. Faith and trust perfected, is prayer perfected. Faith and trust is not a belief that God can bless, that He will bless, but that He does bless, here and now. Trust always operates in the present tense. What prayer needs at all times, is abiding and abundant faith and trust.

[Got His book? Read pages 38-41]
~ Keep Me and Keep All, Smith

Also check out Pastor Bob’s answer to Prayer Question #46 on page 289: “What do you do when it looks like none of your prayers are heard?”