Ask Him to Remove the Discipline
"You do not have, because you do not ask." — James 4:2
The Step People Forget
There is a step that gets skipped constantly, and skipping it leaves people with cleared ground and no harvest.
After you repent, ask.
Repentance removes the legal right. But the request still has to be made. James says it in five words: "You do not have, because you do not ask."
This is exactly the ancient three-part pattern from the beginning of these lessons. Sacrifice — provided at the cross. Contrition — your repentance. And then the request. All three, in order.
A great many people do the hard work of the first two and then, out of a strange reticence, never actually ask for anything.
How to Ask
Be specific. Vague requests are hard to recognize as answered.
Not "Lord, bless me." Rather:
"Father, I ask You to remove the pain in my right hip." "Father, I ask You to remove the depression." "Father, I ask You to remove the craving." "Father, I ask You to restore my marriage."
Go through your issue grid item by item and ask for each one by name.
Commanding What Remains
There is a second element, and it is the one Jesus modeled constantly.
Where a spirit of discipline has been operating and its legal right has now been removed, it can be told to leave.
That is what happened with the woman who had been in a wheelchair for eleven years. She repented of the oath, God was asked to remove the pain, and any spirit of discipline present was commanded to leave immediately. The pain went instantly.
The wording is simple and requires no drama:
"In the name of Jesus Christ, you have no legal right in my life. That right has been removed. I command you to leave me now."
Say it plainly. Do not shout. Authority is not volume — and it does not come from you in the first place. It comes from the name you are speaking in.
Never do this before repenting. Submit, then resist. In that order, always.
Point to Ponder
Clearing the ground is not the same as asking for the harvest. Both are your job.
Verse to Remember
"You do not have, because you do not ask." — James 4:2
Today's Practice
Complete the process. Three parts, in order.
One — confirm the repentance. Have you worked through your lists? If not, finish that first; nothing below works on unprepared ground.
Two — ask, specifically. Take your issue grid. For every item, ask by name:
"Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask You to remove ________ from my life. I have dealt with what gave it a right to be here. I am asking You now to take it away — and to restore what it has taken from me."
Three — command what remains to go.
"In the name of Jesus Christ, every spirit of discipline operating in my life: your legal right has been removed. You have no ground here. I command you to leave me now, and to leave my household."
Then test it. Move the part that hurt. Try what you could not do. Check the thing you were carrying.
Then record today's numbers on your issue grid.
Question to Consider
Have I done all the hard work of repentance and then never actually asked for anything?
Prayer
Father, I have dealt with what I could find. The ground is as clear as I know how to make it.
Now I am asking. Not vaguely — specifically, for each thing on my list. Remove it. And restore what it has cost me.
And to anything that has been operating in my life without a right: in the name of Jesus, you are done here. Go.
Father, thank You for what You are doing, whether I feel it today or see it next week. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Submit, then ask, then resist. Nobody skips step one.