James 4:8

NIV: Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

The Message: Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life.

Quit playing the field.

Come near to God and He will come near to you. I always think these words just show how much of a gentleman God is. He will not force Himself on you, make you follow Him, worship Him, love Him. Yes, that is what He wants but it has to be voluntary. Something you do of your own free will and not something you do because you feel obliged, because it is the right thing to do, or everyone you know is doing it and you want to fit in.

But not only does it involve wanting on our part, it also involves moving. We need to draw close to God, and going back to the trusty Oxford English dictionary, you can see that this means:

• verb (past drew; past part. drawn) 1 produce (a picture or diagram) by making lines and marks on paper. 2 produce (a line) on a surface. 3 pull or drag (a vehicle) so as to make it follow behind. 4 pull or move in a specified direction. 5 pull (curtains) shut or open. 6 arrive at a point in time: the campaign drew to a close. 7 extract from a container or receptacle: he drew his gun. 8 take in (a breath). 9 be the cause of (a specified response). attract to a place or an event. induce to reveal or do something. reach (a conclusion) by deduction or inference. (draw on) suck smoke from (a cigarette or pipe). finish (a contest or game) with an even score.

So it is a case of moving towards God, not just standing still and expecting God to do all the work. The above definition actually says "pull or move in a specified direction." So God is gently pulling us (but, like I said above, He will not force us against our will, this all has to be voluntary) and we need to move towards Him. Have you never felt the pull to find out more, to see whether or not what people say about Jesus is right or not? Or maybe someone has told you what goes on in their church and you are interested in finding out more? Maybe you have seen the changes in friends, relatives when they become a Christian and start wondering what has caused those changes. All this, and more, is God pulling.

The previous verses told us how we can come close to God:

• Humble ourselves
• Submit to God
• Resist the devil
• Wash our hands
• Purify our hearts
• Don't be hypocrites

We need to be humble, to accept God's authority and will for our lives. This is not always easy when many times, we want our own way, we think we know best and can do what we like, when we like. Giving the authority to God, or to anyone in fact, involves sacrifice on our part as we put what God wants first. But isn't it better to bow down before God rather than worship and honour drugs, sex, money, fame, position, power, people, the things of this world?

We need to submit to God, and that means obeying. We need to stop going our own way and start listening to God, find out what His will is for our lives. And yes, I know it is easy to carry on, try to muddle along as best we can, going our own way, trying to "do good" or be a "nice person" and the turning to God when it all goes pear shaped. But God's plans for us are better than anything we could ever dream of for ourselves.

Then resist the devil, which involves putting on all of our spiritual armour and actually using it. Not just saying the words, but really believing in our hearts that we are in a battle (which we are) and using the Word of God to attack, not just to defend. Pray the word of God, don't just recite the words or read them without really taking them in, but use them as the weapon they were designed to be.

We need to wash our hands to symbolise cleanliness, getting rid of all our sins. Remember Pilate washing his hands before Jesus and then condemning him to die on the cross (Matthew 27:24)? He was removing from himself all guilt, all blame. We need to symbolically wash our hands, to get rid of all the dirt, the grime, the sin in our lives. This means turning over a new leaf, no longer using drugs, sleeping around, drinking to excess, and so on. Change our outward behaviour.

The purify our hearts, change our inward behaviour, our thoughts, our desires, our motives. Replace the carnal thoughts we have with thoughts that come from God, immerse ourselves in God's word. That doesn't mean we have to read the bible, and only the bible, or only watch God tv and nothing else. But it may involve changing what we read or watch, moderating our language, deliberately turning our thoughts away from things that are not of God, refusing to allow ourselves to think of x, y or z if we know that will cause us to sin.

And finally, don't be double minded, don't be hypocritical. Don't say one thing and do another. One of the many reasons the church has a bad name is because of church leaders who have been found out leading a double life. They have been caught out in an adulterous affair or found to be in a homosexual relationship, defrauded the taxman or even used money given to the church to fund a lavish lifestyle. We will be caught out sooner or later if our words and our walk do not match up.

My family, who are not believers, are always watching out for this in me. As a classic example, there was one day when I yelled upstairs to my daughter to tell her tea was on the table going cold, and then I walked back into the kitchen and carried on dishing it out on the plates on the worktop. One of my sons looked up and then asked me whether I had just told a lie to his sister by telling her tea was on the table when it clearly was not, and then went on to tell me that he didn't think Christians were supposed to lie…..Yes, he was only teasing me, but it just goes to show that even when you don't think people are watching or listening, or seeing how you react, how you behave, they are. What we do, how we speak, how we behave reflects not only on us but on the God we serve.

So keep these words of James close to your heart and as it says in the Message, say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field.

James 4:7

NIV: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

The Message: So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper.

This sounds so straightforward, doesn't it? Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee. Yet in real life, we each have troubles, worries, ill health and all sorts. Some of this may be just life, circumstances, but some of it may well be spiritual attack, and what do you do then if despite your best efforts at submitting and resisting, things go from bad to worse?

Looking at the Oxford English Dictionary, this is the definition of submit:

submit

• verb (submitted, submitting) 1 accept or yield to a superior force or stronger person. 2 subject to a particular process, treatment, or condition. 3 present (a proposal or application) for consideration or judgement. 4 (especially in judicial contexts) suggest; argue.

Accept or yield to a superior force or person. So this is all about obeying God, submitting to His will for our lives, following His way. Somewhat like being in the army when you have to follow the orders of your superior officer. So no matter what is happening in our lives, we need to trust in God, trust that He knows best no matter what the circumstances.

Imagine being in the army fighting a war. You’re out there on a mission led by an officer. The enemy are all around you and the officer is issuing orders to enable you all to fight your way out, hopefully successfully. So what do you and the rest of the men do? Stop and question the officer? Have a group discussion about whether you should take a stand on this hill, or in that grove? Question whether some of the men should be left behind the trees or whether they should be at the front taking cover behind a dip in the road? Do you start telling the officer he is completely wrong and it should be done this way, that way, or another way?

No, you are in the army, trained to obey orders. No matter what you may think of those orders, whether you agree with the officer's decision or not, you are trained to obey. You have to trust the officer, he has the training and may well know far more about the situation you are in than you do. Also, you have to obey because otherwise, you'd be up on a disciplinary charge, possibly court-martialled.

Yes, I know this is simplifying things, and you can probably tell the closest I've been to being in the army is reading of soldiers' exploits in a book, but the principle is true when it comes down to us and God. He is our commanding officer, and whether we like his orders or not, whether we think we know better or not, we should obey. But so often, we think we know better, we think we can cope on our own, manage without bothering God, because after all, he's got more important things to worry about than sorting out our finances, our health, our marital problems, trouble with the children, with the neighbours, problems at work/school/college and all those other things that may be troubling us.

In actual fact, when we do this, when we try and cope on our own, we are actually ignoring God, rejecting His help, His support, demeaning Him by effectively saying He can't get us out of the mess we are in, so why bother Him in the first place. We're really saying that God isn't powerful enough to help. What does God tell us?

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Deuteronomy 33:26 There is no-one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty.

Psalm 18:6 In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

Palm 22:24 For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help

Isaiah 58:9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need

*all the above taken from the NIV

We are told to lay everything before God. Not just the big things or the ones we think we can't handle, or the things that we consider too trivial for God to be bothered with. Each and every single one of our burdens we are told to lay before Jesus, and He will give us rest. This means the worries about money, about paying the bills, getting/keeping a job, exam worries, concerns over loved ones, health problems. It also means things like finding a car parking space on market day, having no traffic holdups on a long journey, being able to sort out what to do on a job without spending ages trying different solutions, and all those million and one other things we each do every day. And why? Because for God, nothing is impossible, absolutely nothing. He can heal, He can provide the finances, the support, the comfort.

It's not a case of submitting to God on Sundays and going our own way the rest of the week, or only listening to God when the sun is shining, or when we remember. No, this is something we need to be doing all the time, each and every day, not as and when we choose. After all, in an army, how would it be if the men only obeyed the officers when they felt like it, or when they remembered to obey? It needs to be something that is second nature, that we do all the time consciously and subconsciously.

And what happens when we submit to God? When we give Him the authority, the control in our lives, when we look to Him for to supply all we need? We are no longer relying on our own abilities, our own strengths and weaknesses, but we are relying, depending, on God's and for God, nothing is impossible, nothing. The great thing is, we don't have to worry about what we can do to sort out finances, a situation, health and so on, because as Paul tells us:

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (NASB)

That means you, me, we can all do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

As Christians, we really need to start trusting God more and to stop relying on our own capabilities. We will never match up to what God can do for us, and when we become Christians, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit, Christ and God are three in one, one in three, indivisible, that means we have Christ, we have God living within us. I know it all sounds a bit like the three musketeers or something out of Star Trek, but what it boils down to is that God lives within each one of us and when we really believe this,. When we know in our heart of hearts that we have been given the power, the authority from Christ to do the things He did whilst on earth, and more:

John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works (NLT)

We have been given the same power that Jesus has, the same power that was used by God to resurrect Jesus:

Ephesians 1:18-21 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

So we need to submit to God, to really believe the word of God, the bible, and use the power we have been given. Resist the devil, using the power and the faith we have, and he will flee. It is not a case of him going away tomorrow, next week, next year or in twenty years time. When we resist the devil using the power and authority we have been given in Christ Jesus, when we put our faith into action and actually use the a sword of the Word of God, then the devil will flee. He will have no alternative because he has no authority over believers unless we give it to him.

James 4:6

NIV: But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

The Message: It's common knowledge that "God goes against the wilful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble."

So what is all this about grace then? Well, reading through this, I reckon this is the grace to endure whatever it is we are going through, the grace to withstand the envy, the desires that rage within us. It comes from God and is the only thing, in my opinion, that can get us through the tough times.

Have you ever wondered how sometimes, it just seems as if life is against you? That no matter what you do, things just go from bad to worse? The illnesses get worse, the finances are even less, you only have to open your mouth and there are arguments, despite all your efforts at work, you are looked down on, ridiculed, ignored?

I believe God is with us in the good times and the bad times, and that He gives us His grace to help us along the way. It is by grace you can carry on even though the world is against you, it is by grace you persevere despite the illness of yourself or a loved one. It is by grace you are able to withstand the desires of this world, the temptations, the encouragement of others to fit in and go along with the crowd.

And what is grace? There is an acronym for grace which is:

God's

Riches

At

Christ's

Expense

John MacArthur puts this as:

It's not that he doesn't have anything to say to believers because secondarily he has been calling to believers to fully live up to the things which are characteristic of them. It's as if he says believers know how to handle trials but they still ought to handle them better. Believers know how to respond to the Word and be doers but they still ought to do it better. Believers pursue purity of life but they ought to pursue it more. Believers are gracious to people in need but they ought to be more gracious. I mean, there's word here for us as well. We too speak the Word of God with our mouth but we ought to do it more often and speak evil less often. Secondarily then these instructions definitely come to bring impetus on the life of a believer but primarily they have to do with that person who may be a professor of something he or she does not possess. And if that's your case the promise of verse 6 is wonderful. Even if you're a person who is characterized by worldly wisdom, characterized by the lust of the flesh, an enemy of God, driven by your own fallenness, even if you're a proud person God gives more grace. That's the wonderful promise of verse 6. That's the grace of salvation I believe. He is saying no matter what your life is like, if you're proud and you love the world and your wisdom is earthly, demonic and sensual, if you're a person who didn't pass the tests, God has grace for you. He gives more grace. I believe it's justifying, sanctifying, glorifying grace that he's talking about, the grace of salvation, saving grace. (Taken from http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/59-24 )

He goes onto say that grace is God's favour to undeserving sinners:

And within that favor is forgiveness and love and the promise of heaven and the Holy Spirit and all spiritual blessings and understanding of God's Word and joy and peace and all the fruit of the Spirit. And all of that comes as God's favor given to sinners who do not deserve it. And God has that grace available to all who will come in faith to Christ...greater grace than the strength of depravity, grace greater than the power of sin, grace greater than the might of Satan, grace greater than the pull of the flesh, grace greater even than death. No matter what your life is like, no matter how sinful you are, no matter how much you love the world, no matter how proud you are, no matter how your lusts drive you, no matter how your wisdom may be that of the world and even below the underworld, still God has grace.

Isn't that just amazing? No matter who we are, no matter what we have done, no matter what our circumstances in life, God's grace is freely available in abundance to each and every one of us, and then even more! I am in awe over a love like that, that just keeps pouring out no matter what I do. Can you imagine doing that to your teenage child when they are rude, disrespectful, stomp about the house as if they own it, pay no attention to anyone else and think the world revolves around them? When they demand this, that and the other, without so much as a please or thank you but automatically assume that what they want, they will get and they have no regard for anyone else's feelings? Or the times you have to tell them to tidy their room, clean their mess up, get their homework done and they completely ignore you, or answer back and tell you exactly what they think of that idea? No matter hwo kind and considerate you are, eventually there comes a point when you say enough, no more. But not God, His grace just keeps pouring you over us.

But just read the second half of this verse. God's grace is a free gift to each of us, but we have to be humble to receive it. After all, if you are proud, arrogant, full of your own self importance, knowing you have done well in the world, you are a "good" person, feeling respected, looked up to, a person of standing in the community, will you really want God's grace? Or will you be too proud to even know you need it?

The thing is, until you are a believer, you will never know just how much you need the grace of God. It is so easy to go your own way, doing your own thing, living for yourself. I mean, I did this for years, never really noticing others around me, more interested in myself than anyone else. I did all sorts of things that I know I have now been forgiven for, but God did not really factor in my life at all. I was too busy living my life to think about God. But gradually, He drew me back and yes, I still mess up. There are times when one of my children only has to say something in the morning when I am rushing around doing packed lunches, getting breakfast organised, and trying to get everyone out of the house on time, and I explode. Not literally, of course! But they know they need to stand well back!

Look at Proverbs 3:34:

Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly (KJV)

This does not mean that if you are a humble believer you will receive God's grace, but if you are a proud, arrogant believer, you won't. No, the contrast is between believers and unbelievers, the wicked and the righteous. Because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, all believers are seen as righteous by God, so God's grace is freely available to each one of us in abundance. But the unbelievers, the wicked? Not so.

So where do you stand on the question of grace? Have you received this from God or do you think you don't need it, that you can carry on without it because, basically, you are a "good" person, and are bound to get into heaven because you aren't really bad or evil? Just remember, grace is God's riches at Christ's expense but in order to receive this, you have to have accepted the payment made on your behalf.

James 4:5

NIV: Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?

The Message: And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that "he's a fiercely jealous lover." And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find.

When I read this, my first thought was "huh?" I mean, is this verse really telling us that God caused a spirit of envy to live within each one of us? And where does it say this in the bible? So I did what any self respecting internet user would do, and googled it.

Apparently, there is confusion over this verse (no, really?!) but one site I saw gave this explanation:

The Bible often uses the word, spirit, to indicate the inner part of man that receives the life of God and is enabled by God's Spirit. We are taught by the Spirit through our spirit (1 Corinthians 2:11-14) and the Spirit of God bears witness to our spirit (Romans 8:16). However, the word can be used in other ways as well; as this passage shows. The "spirit" of James 4:5 is a spirit that lusts. It is therefore our earthly life and not our heavenly one. It is the "spirit of the world" (1 Corinthians 2:12) and not the life from above.

To lust means to wrongly desire something for the sake of self-gratification. James 4:1-5 uses some form of the word, lust, four times. Fightings come from "your lusts that war in your members" (James 4:1). To "lust" is to "desire to have" (James 4:2). When you pray, you ask for things "that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3). And, finally, the natural human spirit "lusteth to envy" (James 4:5). This passage strongly deals with this sinful motivation.

We are then told that this natural lust leads "to envy." Envy is defined as a feeling of displeasure and ill will because someone else has advantages that you do not possess. Envy is connected to the wisdom of this world at the end of the previous chapter. You are not to glory if you have "bitter envying and strife in your hearts" (James 3:14). The wisdom that leads to such envy is worldly and "where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work" (James 3:16). James 4:4 warns of the danger of making "friendship of the world." If we love the world, we will eventually envy those who have the things of this world.

The teaching is clear. If I follow the wisdom of this world and allow the natural lusts in my human heart to control me, I will be filled with envy toward those I see as having what I desire to have. Envy then expresses itself in strife (James 3:14, 16) and further leads to "confusion and every evil work" (James 3:16).

Pasted from http://www.learnthebible.org/what-scripture-is-james-45-referring-to.html

So when we obey our natural instincts, when we become jealous, angry, proud and so on. then we are filled with all those other emotions and desires that lead us down the wrong path, into sin and away from God. When we follow the Holy Spirit within us, when we choose to do right instead of wrong, then we are following God's way, obeying His will. When we set our standards by the standards of the world, where everyone has a "right" to be happy, where you cannot say something is wrong because of fear of giving offence to others, where you cannot refuse to do something that is against your religious faith if you want to keep your job, when we follow what everyone else is dong rather than what we know is right, then we are no different from anyone else. We are letting the things of this world, letting the prince of this world, govern what we say, what we do, how we act and behave.

God has given each one of us the freedom to choose. We can choose to follow Him, to receive His Son as our Lord and Saviour, to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, help us, or we can choose to go our own way, to do what we want, when we want, to live according to our own wants and desires without regard or consideration for anyone else. It’s a case of following the sinful nature we were all born with , or following the Holy Spirit who lives within each believer.

I also think these verses in Galatians help explain this too:

My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.

But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. (Galatians 5:16-21, The Message)

We need to live by the Spirit, not the spirit, if that makes sense. It is a choice we have to make each and every day, as there are always things around us to tempt us. The devil is always on the look out for those who are not paying attention, not watching where they are going or what they are doing, ever ready to draw them down the sweet, slippery path of sin. So following God has got to be a conscious choice, and one we need to make everyday.

Do you choose to follow God, to be led by His Spirit, or do you choose (even if it is by default because you have not consciously made any decision) to follow the urgings of your spirit, to follow the world, and the prince of this world? Because if you haven't made a choice for God, then you are choosing to follow satan.

James 4:4

NIV: You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

The Message: You're cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.

Being a friend of the world makes you an enemy of God.

Well, James tells it like it is, no beating around the bush with him, or trying to dress things up to make them sound better than they actually are. We can't be friends with the world and friends with God. We have to choose, take sides. And why is this? Because the prince of this world is that old enemy, the deceiver, satan, the angel of light:

2 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (NIV)

When we become friends with the world, we become friends with the ruler of the world, satan. How, as Christians, can that be?

Just take a look around you, at the people you see, the ones you meet and watch how they behave, what they say, what they do. There are people who cheat on their wives or husbands, those who lie on a regular basis, some who cheat, steal, borrow with no intention of giving back. There are others who turn up for work five minutes late every day, take smoke breaks, have a longer coffee break than anyone else. There have certainly been plenty of MP's here who have claimed far more in expenses than they really should have. It’s not just the fact that there are the drug dealers, child pornographers, murderers, thieves, rapists and so on out there, there are also all sorts of people (the likes of you and I) doing things each and every day that really grieve God.

Any sin separates us from God, any sin at all, no matter whether we consider it to be a small one, a little white lie (e.g. telling our wife/husband that the reason we were late home is because we were working late when in reality we went out for a drink after work), or a big one, committing adultery, sleeping around and so on.

If we are friends with people who drink to excess, sleep around, swear all the time, then sooner or later, we will pick up their habits, start having that extra drink, using the odd swear word in our conversation, etc. If we are friends with those who commit crimes (burgle houses, pick pockets, breaking and entering and so on), then their way of life will become commonplace, nothing exceptional. The habits and behaviour of those we mix with can rub off on us. After all, who wants to be the odd one out, the one who is thought of as a fuddy duddy, old fashioned and stuck in the mud? What can be the harm if everyone else is doing it?

Of course, the opposite is true too, If we are friends with those who spend their time worshipping God, giving Him the praise and glory, turning to Him when things get tough, putting God first in their lives, then this will rub off on us too.

James is telling us here is that when we become friends with the world, when we look to others for their approval, try and fit in, be one of the crowd and not stand out, act like everyone else around us, then that is when we become enemies of God. When we set our hearts and our minds on the things of this world, on friendship with others, when we effectively turn our backs on God as we seek the endorsement of others, their praise, their admiration, when we look to others all the time instead of God, then we become friends with the world and enemies of God.

Of course, there are times when we want to get the approval and respect of others, that is only natural. We all want to be looked up to, respected, thought well of. But when that is the be all and end all of life, when we are living to please others, to fit in, be the same as everyone else, that is when we run the risk of ignoring God in our lives.

Look at the moral decline in this country and many countries in the west. When I was a child, it was really frowned upon (to say the least) if you had a baby without being married. It just wasn't done. Nowadays, I think the statistics here are something like 40% of all babies are born to unmarried parents (over 50% in Scotland). We have one of the highest teenage birth rates in Europe. Divorce rates are, depending on where you get your statistics from, either one in three or up to one in two marriages ending in divorce. My mother once proudly told me that her neighbour had a son or daughter that had divorced and she (my mother) must have done something right as all her children were still married. Unfortunately, she can now no longer make that claim due to certain escapades of one of my brothers!

When we set our sights, our hearts, on the things of this world, when we become a follower of the prince of this world, turning our back on God's word, on His blueprint for how we should live out lives, then this is what happens.

Yet again, everything boils down to where our heart is, what really matters deep inside to each one of us. Do we want to be liked, admired, by those around us, to fit in, be the same as everyone else, act and talk the same way, have the same priorities, standards, or do we want to live our lives as God would have us live them? Receiving His Son as our Lord and Saviour, living our lives for God, not to satisfy our own desires?

Where is your heart? Where is your friendship?

James 4:3

NIV: When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures

The Message: Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to. You're spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

Firstly, James tells us that the quarrels between us are caused by our own desires when we want something we can't have and end up having an argument, starting a war, or whatever to get what we want. Then he tells us the reason we don't have what we want is because we don't ask God, and now, here he is saying that when we do ask God, we ask with all the wrong motives.

Remember the Lord's prayer? Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done….. Thy will be done, not mine or yours, but His will, the Father's will. If we have our hearts right with God, if we are truly seeking to follow Him, to do His will, not ours, then it will follow that we will be praying in line with His will anyway. We won't be concentrating on the things we want but we will be focusing on the things of the Kingdom, things that are of God. That doesn't mean to say that we can’t ask for the things we need (food, finances, healing, children, spouses, family, and so on), but when we do ask, we will be asking from the right motives.

Take a look at David. Remember the time when all his men were at war but he stayed at home. Then he just happened to be wandering around on the roof after lunch (obviously bored, or couldn't be bothered doing the things he should have been doing ;) - I have days like that too!), and he took a look over the side of the roof to see Bathsheba taking a bath.

2 Samuel 11:2-4 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. (NIV)

David was led astray by his own desires to sleep with Bathsheba and then ended up having her husband killed as he tried to cover up the adultery. He took his eyes off God, and placed them fair and square on the things of this world with disastrous consequences as his son (his and Bathsheba's) died, and there were family problems (to say the least) from thereafter.

In the same way, if we see something we want and try and get it in our own way, that often leads to arguments and quarrels. When we ask God, we are probably asking for all the wrong reasons, because we want what others have, we want to look good, feel good, and not because we are wanting to do God's will, seeking His glory not ours.

What do we want to do? What desires doe we want to fulfil? Are we only seeking to satisfy our own desires or are we really wanting the things God would have us have? Are we just asking in prayer in order to get God's approval for something we are going to go ahead and do anyway regardless?

If so, what do you think might happen if we ask in prayer for God to change our desires so they match His will for our lives? Prayer is a very powerful weapon and tool, and many times, we really don't appreciate what we have at our fingertips. Maybe if we all spent more time on our knees in prayer, asking for the things that are in line with God's will, for ourselves, our family and friends, our countries, , the world would be a much better place.

James 4:2

NIV You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.

The Message YYou lust for what you don't have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn't yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it. You wouldn't think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not?

Just read through what James is saying here. We fight, argue, quarrel, kill, covet and do not have what we want because we do not ask God.

What I interpret these words as saying is that we are relying on ourselves to provide all that we need. Then when we don't have what we want, we get jealous of those who do, or perhaps we end up so bitter and twisted inside (because we don't have the big house, the fancy clothes, the high powered job, the pots of money in the bank and so on) that we blame the rest of the world for everything that is not right in our lives and end up quarrelling with everyone and pushing our friends and family away.

Maybe we think we are perfectly capable and don't want to bother God with the mundane things in life, the day to day problems of work, school/college, or whatever. Maybe we don't trust God enough to ask Him, because after all, if we don't ask, then we won't be disappointed if the answer is no. Maybe we don't have enough faith, we don't really believe that God can, or will, answer our specific requests for money to pay the bills, healing, for children, for marriage, and so on. Maybe we feel that we don't deserve God's help, that we are just such an awful person we are having a hard time believing God really cares. Then again, if He really does care, does He really have the time to take care of our problems, because after all, He is busy running the Universe, and doing everything else He does. Surely He can't be interested in the problems we're having at work, whether or not we can get a parking space on market day, if we have enough money in the bank to pay the bills that have just arrived in the post, etc.

But the bible tells us exactly the opposite. We serve a big God, one who has more than enough time for each one of us, one who loves us more than we could possibly imagine and is interested in each and every aspect of our lives, no matter how small or trivial:

• Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! (Luke 12:27-28, NIV);
• Like a shepherd, he will care for his flock, gathering the lambs in his arms, hugging them as he carries them, leading the nursing ewes to good pasture. (Isaiah 40:11, The Message)
• The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. (Psalm 9:9, NLT)
• For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11, NLT)
• I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you. (Isaiah 46:4, NLT)

So for me, this is a lesson on not worrying, for trusting God ion all things, big and small. That includes everything from whether or not I have any work or any clients who will be paying me so I can pay our bills, to sorting out packed lunches for the children and deciding if we are going walking this weekend. God cares about the big things, and the little things, and if He takes such good care of the flowers in the field that are only here for a short time, then just think how much more care He will be taking over each one of us.

James 4:1

NIV: What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?

The Message: Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves.

Why do we argue and fight? Why do nations go to war with one another? Why do some people become suicide bombers and all sorts to make people follow their way, their religion, do what they want them to do? The answer here is that it all stems from a person's own natural, and sinful, desires.

We were made perfect, in the image of God. Just how awesome is that? The fact that the Lord God Almighty made each one of us to reflect his glory? Yet Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and as a result, sin entered into the world. So everything we do is tainted by the sin within us. We may desire to do good, but this desire is at war with the sinful nature we inherited from Adam.

So, for instance, we may see someone with something that we have always wanted ( a large widescreen monitor and lots of hard drive and ram, in my case! Or possibly new glass for my camera ;) ). Maybe our best friend has a new car, and we have to make do with travelling on the bus. Or what about those people who seem to have everything: nice house, big car, good job, money in the bank, wearing all the latest fashions and having figures to die for?

It’s a case of want, want, want. We want the things that others have, the things that look good and that make us look good. The time saving gadgets, the clothes, the car, the house, the things that give us a status, a position, make us look as if we are doing well and getting on and going up in the world. The more possessions we have, the better we are doing.

But what did Jesus say about the rich man and the kingdom of heaven?

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:24, NIV)

And what about when we are always looking to have the biggest, the best, the newest of things? When we're never satisfied with what we have, but are always wanting more?

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21, NIV)

The desires of our hearts will govern what we say and do. If we always want what others have, if we are jealous when our neighbours get a new car, or have their house refurbished, if we are always looking to have the latest model, have to have the latest gadget, wear the latest fashions, then can we really say that our hearts are set on Jesus, that we, like David, are men and women with a heart after God? Is God our treasure? What is really, truly in our heart and what do we really and truly desire?

Our hearts will govern our behaviour. If we are always wanting what others have, we will probably end up being full of jealousy, pride, avarice, greed, being self seeking, self serving, looking after ourselves at the cost of others. But if we have a heart that is after God, then the opposite will be true. We will be seeking to serve, rather than be served. We will be content with what we have rather than always wanting more. We will be looking to help others, rather than help ourselves.

If we have hearts that are not seeking God, that are filled with the things of this world instead of looking to God all the time, then our own desires will, like James says, be battling within us all the time, leading to quarrels and arguments.

If we're always looking inwards, we're looking at ourselves, our wants, our needs, our desires, and we have no time or inclination to think of others because we are so wrapped up in ourselves. We become very self centred and selfish. When we look outwards instead of inwards all the time, then we're more likely to consider others, to put their needs first, to be a kinder, more considerate person. But when we are seeking God, when we are actively seeking to do His will not ours, everything falls into place. Not only will we have a heart after God, but we will become more like Jesus, and we will be less inclined to treat others with the current worldly view when anything goes because we have a right to" be happy", to put ourselves first and others last because we have had a poor start in life, we come from a single parent family, our parents had no money, we were never shown love as a child, or whatever excuse comes to mind. I'm not saying these things aren't important, weren't soul destroying, painful experiences, and haven't helped shape the person we have become, but why should they be an excuse to treat others badly?

So often in life we choose to put ourselves first, and I know I am no exception here. I could very easily become self centred (if I'm not that way already….) thinking I'm better than others in the family, those around me, and expecting others to be at my beck and call at all times. But then doesn't that start all the arguments and quarrels? When we want our own way all the time? James is pointing out this to us in plain and simple language. It’s not just others who are at fault when we have an argument. We are probably just as much to blame when we let our own desires rule our head.

So today, why not try putting God first? Ignoring your own wants and wishes, and putting those of others first? It doesn't mean becoming a doormat for everyone to walk all over, but involves instead being kind and considerate towards others, taking their feelings into account. I know this has become kind of trite these days, but before you open your mouth for that quick retort, ignore someone you just don't want to speak to, don't do something you know you should do, why not ask what would Jesus do? Ask God for help, for advice throughout the day, not just when a major catastrophe occurs. Seek Him with your whole heart, body and mind, and just watch what happens.