This Issue’s Thought Provoker
YE HAVE NOT BECAUSE YE ASK NOT…
Floyd Allen, Editor-in-Chief,
GOD’S GOOD NEWS GAZETTE
Wellllll now ….. This may be one of the more controversial scriptural concepts you will find in THE BIBLE, and undoubtedly if you haven’t already taken time to give it a good think it is probably time you did! The main scripture associated with this is found in James 4, though that it isn’t the only one. So, let’s take a gander and see what is really being said here!
As you may remember, this was the Focal Points of the Philosophy of “Name It and Claim It” during the 1980s. It was based on James 4:2c – yet ye have not, because ye ask not. The Pastors promoting this, who were mostly Televangelists, were telling folks “If you ain’t driving a Mercedes Benz and living in a Mansion it’s your fault ‘cause you ain’t asking for it and you ain’t got Faith that you will get it!” (Not quite a direct quote, rather a little “Floyd-ized” instead!)
Now, this seems to have a lot of validity, except for the fact that they were taking this scripture so much out of context that it is downright frightening! To show you what I mean, I have included a couple translations of James 4:2-3:
KJV – 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
CEV – 2 You want something you don’t have, and you will do anything to get it. You will even kill! But you still cannot get what you want, and you won’t get it by fighting and arguing. You should pray for it. 3 Yet even when you do pray, your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons.
James 4:2-3
There are two things I find exceedingly intriguing in regard to all of this: A) – How could the proponents of “Name It and Claim It” so blatantly take “Ye Have Not Because Ye Ask Not” out of context? and B) Why the smash weren’t people looking this up in James and reading it for themselves to see that it was out of context?
“So”, you may be thinking, “is Prosperity Faith scriptural or not?” To answer that, I want to share a few more scriptures for your scrutiny and consideration:
Matthew 7:7 ESV “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
John 15:7 ESV – If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Matthew 21:22 ESV – And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.
Philippians 4:6 ESV – Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Matthew 18:19 ESV – Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
1 John 5:14 ESV – And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
So … Did that clear it up for you? I am so glad that I know what my take is on Prosperity Faith, and trust that you now do, too. Oh, what is my take you ask? All I can say is, this is a Thought Provoker and not a dissertation of FACT!!! The GOOD NEWS is, however, if you Pray on this and seek an answer, God, via the Holy Spirit, will reveal it to you!