GRACE

"But He gives a greater grace.  Therefore it says, 'God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble'" (James 4:6).

There are several messages in this one verse.  

#1--God gives a "greater grace".  He gives "mega"-grace.  Grace is usually defined as "unmerited favor".  The grace that God gives is unmerited favor on steroids.  It's a great big grace!  Notice that it is a gift that God gives--impossible to be earned.

#2--God's great big grace is not for the proud (literally, the arrogant).  God actively opposes those who would live their own way in their own power (i.e. the world's system).

#3--God gives his great big grace to the humble--the lowly.

So how do we apply this today?  I think in this way--Give up on your plans to fix your life (and it's problems), humbly turn to God, then wait for His grace.  What is the one thing that you are trying to fix today?  What can you do about it?  What can God do about it?  

JEALOUSY

"Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose, 'He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us'"? (James 4:5)

We usually think of jealousy as a negative--not as a virtue.  Yet in this case, it is an expression of God's passion.  It literally means to long for or to desire.  Thayer's Lexicon defines the word in this passage as, "lust"!  Surprised?  Were you aware that God lusts after you?  Specifically, He lusts after His own Spirit which He has placed within you--the Holy Spirit.  That's why it's such a big deal to play around with the world.  God wants all of you--your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength.  He can't stop thinking about you!  He's crazy about you!

Since you know that he is thinking about you right now--why not stop what you are doing, close your eyes, and spend some time thinking about Him.

UNFAITHFUL

"You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4).

I thought about skipping this verse this morning because I really don't like it.  I don't like being called an adulterer.  I don't like the fact that my friendship with the world is a problem--a big problem.  I don't like being told that my friendship with the world makes me God's enemy.  I don't like it at all.  I'll bet that you don't like it either.

Here is what God is saying.  When you or I seek to have our needs met through anyone or anything other than God--He is offended!  It's that simple.  He is not ok with you hanging out with the "other" woman/man.  You're guilty...so don't try to pretend that this doesn't apply.  Instead let today be a day when you get alone with God and just let Him love you.

Brooke Fraser has written a very good song that applies.

PLEASURE

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures" (James 4:3).

This is one of the Bible's most direct statements as to why our prayers go unanswered.  The statement goes to the heart of why we pray a prayer to begin with.  In this single verse, James questions our motives.  He says that we, "ask with wrong motives".  The word "wrong" means evil and can be expressed as anything contrary to God and His purposes.  More specifically, James says that our prayer goes unanswered because it's all about fulfilling our desire for pleasure.  We want out of our pain and we want out of our problems.  And God doesn't cooperate...

What problem today is slapping you around?  Let me suggest that today you change your prayer to one of transformation.  "Father, use the problems and the pain to change me, mature me, and make me into the person that honors you best".

PLEASURE

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures" (James 4:3).

Why don't we get what we ask for from God?  Why doesn't He answer our prayers?  James says that it's  because we're praying with "wrong" motives.  The Greek word translated "wrong" here carries the idea of "evil".  Our prayer deviates from the purpose of God, the will of God, the plan of God. We are praying for something that contradicts what God is doing--and thus He will not answer the prayer affirmatively.  Our motive is evil because our motive is all about removing pain and providing pleasure.  "Pleasure" carries the idea of gratification.  We're asking God to invest in our plan for personal gratification (our lusts)--and He just will not do that.  Check out Luke 8:14 and Titus 3:3.

"Father, may my prayers today be filled--not will requests for pleasure--but with requests for you.  I want you!"

PLEASURE

"You lust and do not have; so you commit murder.  You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel.  You do not have because you do not ask" (James 4:2).

We work hard and usually do whatever it takes to try to remove pain and problems from our lives.  I mean, who wants pain?  We desire a life (or at least a day) that we do not have.  We believe that we deserve a life filled with pleasure--or at least free of pain.  God, our friends, our family, our job--they all owe it to us.  And when it doesn't happen?  We fight.  We quarrel.  We murder (at least in our hearts).

And here is the problem:  we're expecting happiness from the wrong places.  We can't find it in our relationships.  We can't find it in our work.  We can't find it in our pleasure or in the absence of pain and problems.  What we are looking for can only be found in God.

Pray with me:  "Father, I'm asking today that you would be with me every moment and that I would learn to be content with only you."

PLEASURE

"What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?  Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?" (James 4:1)

I don't know about you...but I hate pain.  I avoid discomfort as much as I possibly can.  And since this life is filled with problems--I find that I am internally conflicted a great deal of the time.  And that makes me grumpy...lol.  I want pleasure but it seems that God provides pain.  To paraphrase James, "What is the source of my stress? It's that I have a wonderful plan for my life--a plan for pleasure not pain--and the world is not cooperating."  And if it's true for me, then I'm pretty sure that it's true for you too.  Who is it that you get irritated with?  It's the person who isn't cooperating with your plan, right?  It happens at home.  It happens at work.  It happens at church.  It happens...

Today, let's remember that the purpose of our life on this planet is not pleasure.  It's not pain either!  The purpose of our day is to know God more intimately.  Look for Him--He is out there waiting for you--perhaps disguised as your problems.

GENUINE

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy" (James 1:17).

The word "hypocrite" in the Greek language is used simply to describe an actor in a play--a person who plays a role.  In our biblical definition of godly wisdom, we are told that wisdom does contain hypocrisy--acting, pretending, role-playing.  It is rather, genuine and authentic.  The wisdom, then, that we give or receive today should be consistent with how we actually live our life.  It should not be "theory" but rather "practice".

UNWAVERING

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering..." (James 3:17).

"Unwavering" means "undivided, wholehearted".  It is the opposite of undecided.  Wisdom that is unwavering has absolute confidence in the way to go.  How can it be so confident?  The person who has unwavering wisdom has heard from God.  They know what God said and they know for sure that it was God speaking.  Now remember, this isn't foolish arrogance.  Wisdom is the fullness of everything contained in James 3:17 including peace, gentleness, reasonableness, etc.  Unwavering isn't the loudest voice at the table--confidence doesn't need to yell.

FRUIT

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits... (James 3:17).

Wisdom is full of good fruit!  That just means that the results of wisdom are always beneficial.  The end result of wisdom accomplishes awesome things.  We need to learn to listen to those people who go through trials and somehow manage to land on their feet.  Wisdom is a gift from God--a blessing--and those who exercise it are able to bear good fruit.

MERCY

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy..." (James 3:17).

Wisdom sides with mercy.  Just this morning I was reading Luke 10:25-37 where Jesus defines the requirements for eternal life.  He says that if we want to live forever, then we must first love God with all of our being.  Secondly, we must love our neighbor as ourself.  A neighbor is defined in the story, contained in verses 30-35, as a samaritan who stops and renders aid to a robbery victim.  Jesus says that a neighbor is one who shows mercy (v37).  True Godly wisdom is filled with this kind of mercy!

REASONABLE

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable..." (James 3:17).

"Reasonable" means "easily persuaded, willing to yield, compliant" (Rogers & Rogers, p561).  The idea presented is that the person who exercises God's wisdom will carefully and intelligently consider all of the options available before speaking.  They don't operate from any bias other than the bias of having heard and understood the way of God.  The truly wise person will seek to understand without forcing their own personal preference upon the situation.

I heard a friend the other day tell someone who was seeking advice from them, "I know what I want to say...but let me wait and make sure that it's what God wants me to say."  That, my friend, is wisdom.  Until we've heard from God--we don't really have anything to say.

GENTLE

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle..." (James 3:17).

The word "gentle" signifies a humble patience, a steadfastness able to submit to injustice, disgrace, and maltreatment without hatred and malice, trusting in God in spite of all of it (Rogers & Robers, p561).  That's quite a big definition packed into such a little word.  God's wisdom is packaged in gentleness.  It's not defensive.  It's not impatient.  It's not proud.  It's not bitter.  This hits  home for me this morning because (like you) there have been times when I have not been treated in a way that I felt was appropriate.  "Wisdom" does not have to fight back or shout or yell in order to be heard.  "Wisdom" can take it on the chin and still survive without needing to hit back. 

I'm going to have to work on this one...how about you?

PEACE

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable..." (James 3:17).

True Godly wisdom is marked by peace.  The idea in the text is that God's wisdom promotes peace--it allows peace to breakout as a result of our words.  So today the question for us to consider is this, Do our words create peace or do they create anxiety and conflict?