James 4:11

NASB: Do not speak against one another, brethren.  He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.

The Message: Don't bad-mouth each other, friends. It's God's Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You're supposed to be honouring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. 

James here is not telling us not to judge, i.e. to confront sin, but is talking about when we pull someone apart, picking  at their motives, their lifestyle, criticising them for the things they have done or left undone.  It’s  those times when we hear what someone did or said, and we sit there in condemnation.  After all, we would never have done that or said that, we know that is a sin, specifically forbidden in the bible, how could they have done that, when it says…..  I am sure you know the type of thing I mean, although, naturally, each of us would never be guilty of this......

Right, yes, that is easy to say but how often do we truly hear what someone has done and that little voice inside pipes up in shock, horror, and amazement that they could have actually done that or said that?  It is so easy to be critical of others, to assume that no matter what the circumstances, no matter what had happened, we would never to something as bad as that.  We actually judge that person and James is telling us here that by doing this, we are judging the law, effectively setting ourselves up as better than God since it is His law on the first place.

Just look at the words of Jesus:

Matthew 22:35-40 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?  Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two command.'  (NIV)

If we are loving God with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind, and loving our neighbour as ourselves, then we wouldn't be critical of others.  We wouldn't  sit there in condemnation, probably without even knowing all the facts and circumstances.  Instead, we would accept our brother or sister for what they are, warts and all, just as we would hope to be accepted by others.  Yes, confront the sin, the blatant (or even the not so blatant) wrongdoing, but to sit there criticising, pulling someone apart because of their lack of morals, lack of self control, inability to keep their mouth closed or whatever we may consider to be the problem is in all reality only the pot calling the kettle black.

Matthew 7:1-5 Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (NIV)

And just look at the same verses in The Message:

Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbour's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole travelling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbour.

That puts a whole different meaning to the words of Jesus, doesn't it ?  Are we "playing a holier than thou part" when we criticise others, find fault with what they do or say?  Do we nit pick everything others do so we can make ourselves feel better, tell others about the things so and so has done or said so they can gain an appreciation of just how good we are, and how rotten that other person is?

It is really so easy to do this, even when we don't mean to.  It is far easier to be critical of others, to see their faults, their failures than their successes, the things they do well despite their struggles, their circumstances.  We need to look at others through the eyes of Jesus, not the eyes of the devil.  Jesus looked at the woman caught in adultery and did not condemn her.  He looked at her with eyes of love, compassion, mercy and told her to go and sin no more (John 11:1).  Jesus looks at us, and others, with the eyes of love, but the devil looks with eyes of hate.

How are your eyes going to look today?  Will you choose to look on others, no matter what they have done or said, with eyes of love, or are you going to look at others through the eyes of the devil, with hate, judgment and condemnation in your heart?

….in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  (Matthew 7:2, NIV)

James 4:10

NIV: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

The Message: Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.

This is a admonition to remember exactly who we are in the overall scale of things.  We are men and women, created by God, the Creator of all things seen and unseen, in the earth and heaven above.  We need to get on our knees more, to be less full of our own self importance but full of the love and grace of God, to let His glory shine through all that we do, not our own feelings of self worth.

So it is a case of getting things into perspective, of realising that we are so minuscule, so unimportant by comparison to God that we are really not worth considering.  Yet God in all his graciousness and mercy has chosen to love us, each and every one of us, no matter who we are or what we have done. 

Psalm 8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. (KJV)

Imagine that!  It doesn't matter who we are, what our position in society is, whether we have a high powered job, a menial, low paid job,  or even no job at all.  We can have pots of money, or no money at all, we can be the most hardened criminal or the person who always obeys each and every rule to the nth degree.  We can be totally full of pride and be self centred, not caring about anybody else, or we can be the equivalent of Mother Theresa to those in need.  Whoever and whatever we are, whatever we have done, good or bad, God loves each and every one of us. 

The Father of all mankind, the one who created the heavens and earth, fish and fowl, plants and trees, who put the stars in the sky, the planets in their orbits, He is the one who chose to love each and every one of us.  He is so great, so awesome, so powerful, so amazing, so majestic, so full of authority and power, with dominion over everything, the one for whom nothing is impossible, and yet, from all the things He could do, He chose to create us, to give us life, and to love us. 

It's a case of looking at things in perspective, seeing just how mighty and awesome God is in comparison to us.  How He could and would never do anything bad, yet look at what each one of us does every day - lying, cheating, committing adultery, losing our tempers, being selfish and self centred, having no thought or care for anyone else…. the list goes on and is never ending of all the mean and rotten things we each do. 

When I think of the majesty of God, of all that He is, and has done, and just how much He loves me, I am in awe, absolute awe.  For who am  that God should so love me?  Who is man, that God should have created the earth for us to live in? 

No wonder James tells us to humble ourselves.  For it is only by humbling ourselves we can truly appreciate who God is and He has done, all that He can do, for He is worthy to receive the honour, the power and the glory.   For when  we humble ourselves, we are not putting our self first, our wants our needs, thinking of ourselves as more important than we really are.  It is easy to become full of our own self importance, filled with a sense of our own worth.  After all, we spent all those years at college gaining those qualifications, or all that time in that job learning all those essential skills that others struggle to grasp.  We have a nice house, paid for with the work of our hands, a loving family.  Maybe we have a successful and growing ministry, or are a gifted prophet that people look up to and respect, or maybe we have a position of standing in the community, we are respected by the townspeople and when we talk, others listen.

It is so easy to become filled with self importance and when we do this, where is God?  We end up pushing him to one side as we think more highly of ourselves than we should and God ends up being totally ignored. 

Obviously, this doesn't happen overnight, we are not humble one day and proud and conceited the next.  But how often do we do something and feel pleased because we did a good job, especially if it is something that others were having problems with?  What about if we do something and it is as fi we were born to do it?  Maybe we are a natural speaker and we can really inspire those to whom we are speaking.  Perhaps we are able to pray such powerful prayers others are humbled and in awe of our capabilities.  Or maybe we are a gifted teacher and can explain the most intricate of problems in such a way that everyone can understand. 

But who gave us the ability to speak in public clearly and concisely, the gift of intercession, the skill of being able to explain things to others without making them feel like an idiot?  All gifts come from God, and He is the one who deserves the praise, the reward, not us, for all we are doing is using something that He gave us.

We need to keep things in perspective, not get too big for our own boots and to humble ourselves before the Lord, and then He will lift us up.

James 4:9

NIV: Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

The Message:  Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious.

This is all about getting serious with God, not messing around and treating life, and sin, as if it is all one big joke.

It’s easy to just carry on regardless, never really thinking about all the sin in the world, all the sin each of us commits every single day.  After all, why worry about what may never happen when you can just enjoy the moment, carpe diem and all that?  Life goes on and it is so very easy to never give God a thought, to get embroiled in the pleasures and cares of life, so wrapped up in our own lives that we never give a thought for others, let alone God.

So this is a reminder from James that we need to get serious about life, about sin.  It means we should take notice of the things we do that are wrong, listen to that little voice inside that tells us when we are about to do something we shouldn't, or points out that we have just done something wrong.

It doesn't mean we spend the rest of our life on a guilt trip, watching each and every word we say, everything we do and continually beating ourselves up when we get it wrong.  Because after all, we all know that it is not a case of if we mess up, but when we mess up.  We are all going to sin sooner or later, despite our best intentions.  Remember Paul telling us that even though he tries to do good, to not sin, he fails?

Romans 7: 21-24 It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.  I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question? (The Message)

 I've been reading "Practising the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence recently.  He was a monk from the 17th century who practised the presence of God.  In other words, he spent his life in communion with God, like one continual conversation throughout each and every day with God.  So He didn't just talk to God on Sunday mornings when he attended the service, or on odd occasions during the week when he remembered to pray.  No, his whole life  became such that he was always talking to God, no matter what he was doing - washing dishes, peeling potatoes, when doing the most mundane of tasks and when doing the most important of tasks.  If ever he forgot about God, because ehe became so wrapped up in what he was doing, who he was taking to, when the busyness of life took over, he just asked God's forgiveness, thanked him, and moved on.

I reckon that's what we need to do, to get serious about God and live our lives as if He is beside us, walking with us, talking with us, each and every moment.  Yes, I know God is with us always, but realistically, exactly how many of us act as if He is?  We let the moment distract us, we let the busyness of life fill our hearts, minds and senses, and God gets pushed to one side, shoved out of the way whilst we try to cope with the troubles and worries of life, with work, with friends, family, with our needs and everyone else's needs.

God created us:

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (NIV)

Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created (KJV)

He created us in His image, designed to be pure and holy, because it was His pleasure.  It pleased Him to do so.  And why?  What was the purpose?  Look at what He did with Adam and Eve:

Genesis 3:8  And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…(KJV)

Isn't that just amazing?  God walked in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day and spend time with Adam and Eve.  Ok, in this particular verse, Adam and Eve ended up hiding from God because they had disobeyed Him, but this was obviously not just a one off (the walking in the garden, that is!).  Otherwise,  there would be something here to let us know that this was an unusual occurrence,. Something that had not happened before.  But no, it just says that God walked in the garden in the cool of the day.  He wanted to spend time with Adam, with Eve, with man, just as He wants to spend time with each of us today.

Yet so many turn their back on God, refuse to listen to Him, or acknowledge His very existence.  But we were created to be like God, to spend time with Him, fellowship with Him, spend eternity with Him.  So what happens when we turn our backs on God?  When we refuse to see the hand of God in all that is around us?  When we deny His existence, believe that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a myth, that the Holy Spirit is just fiction?  When we choose to go our own way all the time, ignoring the inner voice that tells us not to sleep around, take drugs, steal, kill, lie, cheat and so on?  When we behave as if the world is our oyster and everything is there for our own pleasure if only we just reach out and take it?  When what we want is the aim of everything we do?

Then in that case, when we totally reject God, and refuse to receive His Son as our Lord and Saviour, then our names will not be found written in the Lamb's book of life.  We will be doomed to spend eternity in the lake of burning fire:

Revelation 20:15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (NIV)

So yes, take heed to the words of James and start to get serious about God, because the consequences of not doing so are eternal and everlasting.

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.