James and the Sermon on the Mount: Asking God

When it comes to asking God for good things, no one is more blunt than James on how to ask. James gives some very blunt advice on how to ask God for good things and he certainly has the teachings of Jesus in mind on this subject. Let’s look at Jesus’ teaching on asking God. 

In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus gives a cohesive teaching on asking God and how important it is to know about God’s generosity.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 

Jesus tells us to ask, seek, and knock, certainly a way to describe our prayers and our urgent requests before God but it also describes God’s response to our requests. God will answer. If we are truly asking and seeking out God, He will open that door. Jesus compares God’s generosity to being way more generous than earthly fathers. Since earthly fathers give us what we need as children, certainly the all-knowing and all-loving God will supply every need and more of the good things we need. These good things may take many forms and they may not be what we requested but they will be good for us because God knows what we need.  

Now that we have one of Jesus’ teachings on God’s generosity, we now turn to James who gives us some more insight into what this looks like in our lives. We first turn to the first few verses in James, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting (James 1:5-6a). James is writing to those who are poor and persecuted, not in their homeland. They need wisdom to stand true in their faith and keep following Jesus. James says that God is the one who grants this wisdom and he doesn’t just grant like a genie, he gives generously. He wants to give us what we most desire according to his will and certainly wisdom is atop that list. But James also says we should ask confidently, not doubtful that we will receive. James says that if we doubt God’s generosity, we won’t see it. We must have full faith in the God who loves us and know that He can answer our prayers. 

With this topic of prayer, another issue comes up. Prayers that are unanswered. Sometimes it seems God does not hear us but we know God hears us but we may not agree with His answer. In some cases, as James describes in chapter 4, we do not receive the desired answers because of our selfishness. “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 (James 4:2-3). What James is describing here is why we do not get what we pray for. This is not an exhaustive list of reasons but it may help expose some selfishness within our own prayers. James says that sometimes we don’t even ask but when we do, sometimes we ask with the wrong motive. We ask because it’s what we want, not what God wants and so God answers our prayer with a “no”. James says that we need to be confident but also aware of what we pray and why we are praying. 

God is a loving and generous God that gives good things. We pray to that God. But we must pray with sincerity and openness to His will.