Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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What should I learn from this chapter?

• Satan can be resisted
• To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin

James 4

Pride Promotes Strife

James 4:¹ Where do wars (battles) and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

James 4:² You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war(battle). Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

James 4:³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

James 4:⁴ Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

The definition of Faith: Believing God has more to offer than the world.

James 4:⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

James 4:⁶ But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

Humility Cures Worldliness

James 4:⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

You cannot resist the devil without submitting to God (the commander in chief of your life):
<sup>* hold the tongue
* recognize Satan’s presence
* repent of evil thoughts
* ask God for wisdom
* join God’s resistance league</sup>

• ^{Ephesians 6:12 For we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your self with the grenades of truth, having put on the croix of righteousness, 15 and having shod your boots with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the bullet proof vest of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery bullets of the wicked one. 17 And take the beret of salvation, and the radio set of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints (of the resistance)—}

James 4:⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

To be double minded is to be a hypocrite. In Hebrew, hypocrite means “actor”:
Someone who wears a mask.

James 4:⁹ Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

“In the mourning the Son always rises”

~Barbara Grover

James 4:¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Do Not Judge a Brother

James 4:¹¹ Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

See Topic: Law and Grace

James 4:¹² There is one (Judge and) Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge (a neighbor) another?

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

James 4:¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will (let us) go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;

James 4:¹⁴ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

For believers, our lives are like the dew in the morning. When the Son comes out the dew goes up.

James 4:¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

James 4:¹⁶ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

James 4:¹⁷ Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Join the resistance.