Faith that Works Day 8
James 4:1-12
A Godly Perspective
4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
What did you think, feel, or see as you read?
Empty Results
“You do not have because you do not ask.” In the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” the line reads: “O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” Is this you? Are you disappointed with God but have not asked Him to act? Or could it be that you have prayed and prayed for something and it hasn’t happened? Maybe you need to consider what you are praying for. Does it align with His character and His will? Have you asked while still accepting “not my will but Yours be done”?
God desires to do good for those who love Him. Sometimes we do not get what we want, but we must trust that God always gives us what we need! That is not a cliché—that is built into His character!
Expected Actions
James ends by giving us instructions on how to live: Submit to God. Resist the enemy. Outwardly cleanse and inwardly purify the things that are not of God. Lay your whole life at His feet and trust Him to work on your behalf! This is what God expects.
