Brief commentary of James 4:1-8

1 ¶ From whence [come] wars and fightings among you? [come they] not hence, [even] of your lusts that war in your members?

What make you fight? Is it of God?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

You have a thirst you cannot satisfy through your lusts. You cannot satisfy this thirst, this spiritual hunger because you do not ask God to comfort you.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume [it] upon your lusts.

What is your true motive of your prayers; your spiritual standpoint? Are you asking for the good of the kingdom of heaven or the will of the Lord or are your prayers self centered? Where do you want to go? Why are you praying this particular prayer? What do you hope to receive or accomplish? to establish your objective is far more important than establishing your standpoint. and so ask yourself: "What is my spiritual goal, my objective?"

We humans are virtually incapable of judging our own motives, let alone the motives of others. But asking with the wrong motives produces no response from the Most High: No matter how sincere we may imagine ourselves to be.

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Remember to love God first, your brothers and sisters second.

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

Believe the Word of God.

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.

Here we see that the exhortation to resist the devil is sandwiched between the exhortations to submit to God and to draw near him. To be successful, we must both submit to the Lord and draw near Him. Everybody wants to resist the devil. How many times have you heard somebody say resist the devil and he shall flee? It is very important though to note that this command has a qualifier. Submit yourselves to God first. Only then will the devil flee. This verse says nothing about you fighting the devil; only that if you submit yourselves to God's will that the devil will flee.

By doing so, and asking for God's will and not your own the Spirit of God will cleans you. It will purify you. And it will remove the conflicts you have between your worldly matters and your Godly matters. Make no mistake however; as we are both spirit and flesh our flesh will wage war with our spirit, and so we are double minded.

Submitting yourself onto God will allow you to learn what plan God has for you in this life. Those who are entrusted with truly important missions (and we all are if we hear the call) have the grace to fulfill them because God "gives grace to the humble".

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