James 4:1-6

1 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.”

Important Thought:

The greatest threat to our faith is not the pressure around us but the desires within us—but God gives greater grace to the humble who surrender their hearts to Him.

When Your Eyes Finally Open

John 7:5

5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 

1 Corinthians 15:7

7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 

If suffering is not met with spiritual maturity, it can produce bitterness instead of faith.

The War Within

Galatians 5:17

17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 

1 Peter 2:11

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 

The greatest battles in the Christian life are internal.

Misaligned Desires

Matthew 6:33

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 

Prayer is about discovering what God is already doing.

Spiritual Adultery

1 John 2:15-17

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 

17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 

Matthew 6:24

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 

Divided loyalty is impossible in the Kingdom of God.

There Is More Grace

1 Peter 5:6-7

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 

7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 

Hebrews 4:16

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 

The war within does not have to define us. Because through Jesus Christ we can come to the throne of grace.