1 John 5:14-15 English Standard Version

14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

Knowing His will is the trick. We can have anything if it is His will and we ask for it.

Have you ever wondered why we have to ask if it is His will? If it is His will, aren’t we going to get it anyway?

Father God is our Father. How else are we going to demonstrate we are in this relationship with Him if we don’t talk to Him?

We obey by faith, we obey commands, we do what is right. We can do all that without Him. In any relationship communication is a key element or else we are living this life without involving Him.

James 4:1-5 English Standard Version

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 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. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

God yearns for us in this relationship. He yearns jealously. He allowed His Son to die a horrible death in order to have this relationship with us and to ignore Him is disrespectful.

James uses the term “You adulterous people.” That is harsh but it does express just how much God loves us. It is like we cheat on God when we seek things for ourselves in our relationship with the world.

We don’t like to be taken for granted. Why do we take God for granted?

V 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

We allow pride to get in the way.