James 4

1-3:

three wrong stuff:

1. don't ask at all from God (depending on ourselves)

2. asking the wrong things

3. asking the right thing with wrong motives

why ask when God knows what we want at the first place?

picture dad-son in mind, dad already knows what son wants. but dad will be happy to hear his son asking him stuff. it's a communication that's quite important here.

when you're giving much details in your prayers, it's also the communication stuff.

17:

put the verse in context.

in EE, they kind of expanding the meanings in this verse, which is not exactly right...

james' context: "if you know that X is sinful, and you do it anyway, it's a sin."

now, not everything is sinful, things get complex. in those cases, just think about your conscience and do follow up on that.

one thing for sure is that we shouldn't use verse 17 as a weapon to make people feels guilty about themselves.