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More Grace Needed!

Scripture reading for November 5: James 4

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 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. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 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. 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”? But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”” James 4:1-6

Human nature without Jesus Christ is full of quarreling and strife. Each person centers on themselves and their own passions and desires. Selfishness is worked out through fighting, sometimes leading to murder either with a weapon or the tongue. Coveting is a lustful desire to have what belongs to someone else. This may include property, positions, or affections which leads to theft, gossip, adultery or fornication. James also pointed his finger at the religious who prayed for their fleshly desires to be fulfilled. They asked God but asked with selfish motives, and God did not answer.

These worldly people were adulterous in their relationship with God. They often claimed to love God but were really adulterous as they followed their own desires and passions. James said that God was jealous for their affections, yearning over them and desiring their loyalty. Through the gift of His Son, God had provided grace needed to break free from the world and their own passions. What was needed in the believers was to appropriate the grace provided by humble confession of sin and repentance. The foundational truth James based this instruction on was “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” More grace was already provided to enable them to break free from their passions and be fully committed to God.

Are you currently struggling with fleshly passions and desires that seem to dominate your thinking and life? Have you been asking God for fulfillment of your desires or grace to yield to His desires? Have you struggled with pride or feeling that God doesn’t care about you?

Prayer: Father God, thank You for jealously yearning over my spirit and giving me more grace. I humbly ask you to continue to provide grace to live fully for You and Your will. Use me to bring the Gospel of grace to those who quarrel and fight. May my life reflect Your grace to live in peace. Amen.