James 4
1. What is the reason that there are wars and fighting among you? Is it not because you want to get your own way which creates a war inside yourself?
Doctors can tell you that many mental problems come from doing things that you know you should not do.
2 - 3
You want what you want but you never seem to find it. You want what someone else has and you are jealous. Since you cannot get what you want, you start fights and wars. You do not get what you want because you do not ask God for it. When you do ask God you do not get what you asked for because you ask in the wrong spirit. You only want what you want.
James is warning us not to pray with wrong motives. 1 John 5:14
Here are some examples of these prayers:
Jacob was praying in fear. Genesis 32:25
Paul was asking for something that God hadn’t chosen for him. 2 Corinthians 12:8
If we intend to continue in sin, God will not hear our prayer. Psalm 66:18
4. You are like an unfaithful wife. Do you not know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy against God? Anyone who has decided to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other … . Matthew 6:24. See also Matthew 12:39, Hebrews 10:31.
5. Or do you think that Scripture has no meaning when it talks about how God is jealous over the Spirit that He has placed in us?
Scholars disagree over how to interpret this verse. The word “envy” can be translated as “jealousy” and there are many instances of God’s jealousy towards us. Exodus 34:14
The verse simply means that the Scriptures, in general, do not speak in vain about God's jealousy over us.
We do not use the word jealousy in a good way. The original word means that God wants us for Himself.
6. But He gives stronger grace. And so the Scripture says, "God sets himself against the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
Would you rather humble yourself or be humbled by other people?
This stronger grace is greater than our enemy’s power! When you feel that you just cannot do something, ask God to show you ways that you can be humble in that situation. The Lord will take control of this thing. 1 Peter 5:6
The main issue is humility. Have you been humbled? Then notice that God HAS given you the grace to handle it. What’s the opposite of humility? Pride, one of the three main sins in the world (1 John 2:16).
Would it be worth it to experience the embarrassment of being misunderstood or looking like a fool if God’s purpose was served? What if someone gave their life to Christ as a result of watching your response? Read 2 Corinthians 3:2.
See also Psalm 9:12, Proverbs 3:34, Isa. 14:14, Matthew 23:12.
7. Be humble before God. Refuse the devil and he will run from you.
Notice how it takes no special power to get rid of the accuser.
8. Come closer to God and He will come closer to you. Wash your hands, sinners, and clean out your hearts, you double-minded.
A key Scripture when you are in a crisis
9. Turn away from evil and cry out, let your laughing be turned into crying and your joy into serious concern.
For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5. See also Matthew 5:4.
10. You will need to humble yourself in the sight of the Lord before He will lift you up.
Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor comes humility. Proverbs 18:12
11. Never say bad things about each other, brothers. Whoever says bad things about his brother, or passes judgment, is saying that God's law is not good. If you say that you know better than God's law, then you are not a servant of God's law but a judge of it.
This is what happens when we take God’s place as judge. Notice that when we stop being “doers” our focus is off of the ministry which we have been called to.
Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses … Numbers 12:1
This kind of talk destroys three people, the one spreading it, the one listening to it, and the one they are talking about. See also Leviticus 19:16, 1 John 4:20-21.
12. There is only one lawgiver and one judge, and it is He who has the power of life and death. And who are you, that you can pass judgment on another person?
Compare Matthew. 7:3-5. How are these verses talking about the same thing?
13 – 14
Just a minute, those of you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to some place and stay there for a year and make a lot of money. In fact, you know nothing about what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? It is like smoke that can be seen for short time and then is gone.
As for the days of our lives, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years. Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for soon it is gone and we fly away. Psalm 90:10
See also Proverbs 11:29, 20:18, Luke 12:20, 14:31, Proverbs 27:1, Isaiah 47:8.
15. What you should say instead is, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."
The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9
16. As it is, you lift yourselves up in your pride and all such bragging is evil.
The wicked brags about his heart’s desire ... Psalm 10:3.
17. If anyone knows what the right thing to do is, but he does not do it, this is sin.
Proverbs 24:9 says that even the thought of foolishness is sin. See also Matthew 23:23, Ephesians 5:15-16.