"Just Ask"

How do you obtain wisdom?

 James 1:5 (KJV)
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

             James makes it simply. The way in which we obtain wisdom is to ask God. He declares that God gives wisdom to all liberally. After James writes what God does which is liberally gives to all, he then states what God doesn’t do which is upbraideth. According to Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, Upbraideth means reproach, chide, taunt, rail at or upbraid.

This means God does NOT say:
I only give wisdom to a few people only a limited number. (Restricted or not liberally)
You are not smart enough to receive my wisdom. (Rail)
You have made too many mistakes so you cannot have wisdom. (Reproaching)
You are constantly doing wrong I would not dream of giving you wisdom. (Taunt)

           This verse tells you God gives liberally and upbraideth not. This is an extremely important verse. This is God’s will for everyone. If you have ever asked the question, “What is God’s will?”  If God tells you to ask for something, it must be His will. God would not instruct you to ask for something if He did not want you to have it or it was not His will. He tells us to ask and remember that He gives it to everyone that asks.

 If God already knows what I need, do I have to ask?

        In Matthew, Jesus gives instructions on how to pray. He talks about the hypocrite and his showy demonstration of prayer and then tells us how to pray. After verse eight, Jesus gives us a sample prayer which we call “The Lord’s Prayer”. What is really important in these verses is that He said that “your Father knows what you need before you ask him”. This does not say that you don’t have to ask Him because He knows what you need. So JUST ASK no excuses.  Because He knows what you need, God tells you to ask for it. Ask!!!

 Matthew 6:5-8
5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.*

 *please read the message on prayer it goes into more detail

         This verse reminds me of my son. My son did not speak till he was three years old. I knew that he understood me and that he was able to communicate but he would not speak. My daughter was 16 months older and was speaking before my son was born. However, my son had learned to communicate with non verbal clues and made his wishes known through pointing and grunting sounds. My daughter and I would immediately attend to his needs. However, one day I had enough and I told him I was not going to feed him until he asked.

        I knew what my son wanted but I wanted him to ask. My daughter and I got ready to eat. My son did his normal non-verbal gestures but I refused to acknowledge him. I also would not allow my daughter to assist him. He knew that I wanted him to ask for food. Just as we were starting to eat, my son said, “I’m hungry”. So I said, “Well, what do you want?” He said, “I want food”. I said, “Say please”. He said, “I want food please.” I then gave him food and he ate.

         Of course, I knew what he needed but I wanted him to ask. God knows what you need but He also wants you to ask. I asked my son later why he waited so long. He said that he did not have a reason to ask. He had everything that he wanted. Please don’t wait to ask God when he tells you to ask. Ask Him before you are in desperate need of His assistance. He knows that you need wisdom and he provides it when it is needed but when He tells you to ask…Ask.  He will willingly give you wisdom if you ask.

        God does not discriminate, however in order to receive wisdom we cannot be double minded. Even though we know that we must ask, there is also something else God expects of us. He expects us to have faith and believe Him. So if you just ask you will not receive wisdom. To obtain wisdom you must ask and have faith to believe that God will give you wisdom. This makes it a two part process.

 James 1:6-8 (KJV)
6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed
7For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

 James 1:6-8 (Amplified Bible)
6Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.
7For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,
8[For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].

        James is saying that God does not come up with excuses and does not withhold wisdom but you must ask. Besides the fact that we must ask for wisdom, we must also believe or have faith that it will be done.

 So, we CANNOT say:

I wish God would give me wisdom but I am not sure that He can. (Doubt God)
God might have given me wisdom but I am not sure I am smart enough to receive it. (Doubt ourselves)
I will never be really wise because I don’t really think I can be. (Doubt ourselves)
I am not sure I want to ask I have to think about it. (Hesitant)
I know God gives wisdom but I am afraid to ask because who knows what might happen (Dubious)
I am not sure that I want wisdom what will it do for me. (Irresolute)
Wisdom is really only given to those in ministry or to those with college degrees. (Dubious)

             We must believe God and have faith that He will do what He promises. He will give wisdom to those who ask and believe. The last part of verse 8 is “uncertain about everything (he thinks, feels, and decides). In the King James Version, it states “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

             I was recently talking to someone about this. There was a time in my Christian walk that I was double minded. I attempted to listen to everyone and do what they thought was right. I did not have faith in God, I knew what I should do but I would listen to others opinions instead. I did feel I was being tossed in the wind. I was inconsistent.

            I would pray to God and ask for guidance and then do what others thought I should do in order to make them happy. One day when I was praying for God’s guidance, God answered my spirit. He told me “why do you keep asking the same question when I have already given you the answer. You always check my answer with others and then try to do what they want and not what I want you to do.”

            He was right. The answer He gave me others disagreed with, so… I would do what others wanted me to do. From that day forward I have often done what God wanted me to do, other people still disagree with some of my decisions but I stand firm in the faith of what God wants me to do.

So, how can you have faith that God will give you wisdom?

         Here are some verses of promise. Maybe listening to others is not your problem but maybe you are just not sure if God will give you wisdom because you don’t feel you deserve it. Here are some verses to remind you how much God loves to give you gifts, especially gifts that He tells you to ask for. An earthly father is a flawed individual but even he would not give his son a stone if he asked for bread. How much more would God give you good gifts if you ask for them?

Matt 7:7-11
7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
9"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

          Jesus tells his disciples that …“if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.” Jesus finished by saying “if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. This is a wonderful reassurance that God answers prayer but we must believe.  

          These verses can bring us encouragement and increase our faith; however, I must admit there have been times in my life that I have misinterpreted their meaning. Although we must have faith and no doubt that God can do anything, we must always remember that we need to pray for God’s perfect will.

Matthew 21:21-22
18Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.
19Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.
20When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked.
21Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can       you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.
22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

          James and John ask Jesus to sit at His right and left side when He is in His glory.The reason I chose this verse is to remind us we don’t receive everything we ask for when we pray because it has to be the will of God. James and John were told that the places of honor they desire to have “belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

 Mark 10:35-40
35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask."
36"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.
37They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your     glory."
38"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"
39"We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with,
40but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared."

          John makes it clearer. He states that if we remain in Him and His words remain in us we can ask whatever we will and it will be given us. Jesus always remained in the will of the Father. So if we remain connected to Jesus, who always does the will of the Father, we can ask whatever we wish. The part we seem to overlook is that fact that we should always want the will of God. God’s will is perfect. We need, want, and desire God’s will because we are connect to Jesus Christ.

 John 15:1-8
1"I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.
2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

          In summary, we are to ask for wisdom. We do not assume because God knows what we need we don’t need to ask. The second part of receiving wisdom is to have faith that God will give us wisdom. We read verses on God’s faithfulness to give us what we ask for because He loves us. We must ask for God’s will which we are assured it is His will if He tells us to ask. We concluded with the fact that if we remain in Christ and His words remained in us, we could ask for whatever and it will be given us. This is our way of knowing the will of God. Here are the final words that we must all pray for each other.

 Eph 1:17-18
17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

Colossians 1:9-11
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy