{"id":6155,"date":"2015-02-18T01:21:09","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T01:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=6155"},"modified":"2015-02-18T01:21:09","modified_gmt":"2015-02-18T01:21:09","slug":"james-41-3-quarrels-conflicts-and-wrong-motives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=6155","title":{"rendered":"James 4:1-3\u2014Quarrels, conflicts, and wrong motives"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 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. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.<\/em> James 4:1-3<\/p>\n

I have to be honest\u2014this section of James is difficult for me to write about. Perhaps it\u2019s because when I was born again, God landed me in a wonderful group of believers\u2014my college Bible study group\u2014and each one of them looked out for everyone else\u2019s best interests. And in the churches I have attended\u2014although they weren’t untouched by conflict\u2014I rarely witnessed the hornet’s nest described by James. Disagreements happen, fallings-out occur, but I\u2019ve seen very little of this kind of carnal hate-fest in my years as a believer. I have been blessed to be around loving, gracious Christians and wise leadership. For that I praise God.<\/p>\n

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s good to discern the cause of conflict when it arises. Likewise, it\u2019s good step back and be brutally honest with yourself when you feel yourself gravitating toward strife. Why am I so upset with him\/her\/them? What’s stirring this sense of outrage in me?<\/em> These things are nearly always two-sided. Rarely is one party an angel and the other a devil\u2014especially between brethren. If you have a tendency to think you\u2019re never wrong, then perhaps you\u2019re the main problem in this deal! Jesus is the only One I can think of who is actually right 100% of the time.<\/p>\n

Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?<\/em><\/p>\n

Bible teacher David Guzik wrote about this section, \u201cThere is some root of carnality, an internal war within the believer regarding the lusts of the flesh. No two believers, both walking in the Spirit of God towards each other, can live with wars and fights among themselves\u201d (see http:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/Comm\/guzik_david\/StudyGuide_Jam\/Jam_4.cfm<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Are you living in a state of \u201cme vs. him\/her\/them\u201d? Check your carnality gauge. It\u2019s probably through the roof. Guzik goes on to quote New Testament scholar Douglas Moo, \u201cJames seems to be bothered more by the selfish spirit and bitterness of the quarrels than by the rights and wrongs of the various viewpoints” (ibid.) Amen to that.<\/p>\n

You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel.<\/em><\/p>\n

The apostle John said, \u201cWe know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him<\/em>\u201d (1 John 3:14-15). Lust\u2014whether for someone else\u2019s stuff, status, position, relationship, or anything else\u2014can lead you into jealousy or indignation bordering on hatred. You’ve got to learn to recognize the signs of envy in your own heart so you can stop it before it takes root. Don\u2019t let yourself flirt with that green-eyed monster! If you discover you are dealing with jealousy, then acknowledge it before God,\u00a0and receive His mercy and grace to deal appropriately with it. If you don’t, you will be held accountable.<\/p>\n

You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.<\/em><\/p>\n

Many Bible teachers cite this section to diagnose underlying causes for unanswered prayer. It\u2019s important to recognize, though, that James specifically wrote this portion of his letter to contentious Christians involved in conflicts and quarrels due to their lust for what each other possessed. Therefore, this admonition should not<\/em> be universally applied to all cases of lack and unanswered prayer. Have you prayed for something and have not yet received it? Don\u2019t automatically assume you have asked with the wrong motive; a number of reasons exist for unanswered prayer; this is but one of them.<\/p>\n

However, if your prayers remain unanswered and<\/em> you find yourself in a constant state of conflict with one or more believers, then check your heart. Are you jealous? Are you angry that someone else has attained a position or status that you think you deserve? Do you feel slighted because of someone else’s blessings? Are you fuming because someone did not listen to your advice or go along with your opinion? Are you stewing because someone has snubbed or overlooked you? James just might be talking to you. Both jealousy and a misplaced sense of \u201crighteous\u201d indignation are definitely prayer hinderers\u2014and blessing blockers.<\/p>\n

Your job? Guard your heart, watch over the state of your soul, and yield to the correction of the Lord whenever that familiar conviction arises within you. Leave it to the Lord figure out everyone else’s heart, soul, and motives, and don’t get your hackles up over the distribution of God’s blessings, abundance, and wealth. There’s enough for everyone, and He’ll never run out. Only believe.<\/p>\n

Dorothy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 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. You ask and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-james-4"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6155"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6158,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6155\/revisions\/6158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}