James Chapter 4
Showing all 17 verses for James Chapter 4.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? "
"Where do fights and quarrels among you come from? Don't they come from the selfish desires battling inside you?"
Before you blame the other person in a fight, look inward at what you actually wanted and didn't get - most conflict starts right there.
"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 want things and don't get them, so you're willing to hurt others. You crave and can't obtain, so you argue and fight. You don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it."
Bring your wants into the open with God instead of scheming or resenting others for having what you lack - honest asking dissolves a lot of hidden bitterness.
"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. "
"And when you do ask, you don't receive, because you're asking with the wrong motives - just to spend it on your own cravings."
Check what you actually want something for - a request driven purely by appetite, with no room for anyone else, rarely brings the peace you're chasing.
"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. "
"You are being unfaithful - don't you realise that cosying up to the world's values makes you an enemy of God? Whoever chooses to be a friend of the world becomes God's enemy."
Notice which system you're actually loyal to when it costs you something - approval and comfort, or honesty and love - you can't fully serve both.
"Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? "
"Or do you think the Scriptures are just empty words when they say the spirit God placed in us longs jealously for our whole-hearted devotion?"
Being loved fiercely means being wanted wholly - that's not possessiveness, it's the kind of love that won't settle for only half of you.
"But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. "
"But God gives more grace to make up for it - that's why Scripture says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
You don't earn your way back by being flawless, only by being honest and humble enough to receive help - that door is always open.
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. "
"So submit yourselves to God. Stand firm against the devil, and he will run away from you."
Real strength isn't refusing to bow to anyone - it's bowing to what's good so you're able to stand firm against what isn't.
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. "
"Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Clean up your actions, you who do wrong; purify your inner life, you who are torn between two loyalties."
You don't need to have it all together to start - take one step closer, in what you do and where your real devotion lies, and you'll find you're already being met.
"Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. "
"Grieve, mourn, and weep over this. Let your laughter turn to mourning and your joy to sadness."
Don't be afraid to feel the sadness of having hurt someone or yourself - numbing it with distraction only delays the healing that honest sorrow starts.
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. "
"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
You don't have to fight your way to significance - let go of the performance, and you'll find yourself carried further than pride could ever take you.
"Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. "
"Don't speak against one another, friends. Whoever criticises or judges a fellow believer is really criticising and judging the law itself; and if you judge the law, you've stopped obeying it and set yourself up as its judge instead."
When you tear someone down behind their back, you're not upholding a standard, you're exempting yourself from it - stay under the same rule you'd apply to them.
"There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? "
"There is only one lawgiver and judge - the one with the power to save or destroy. So who are you to judge your neighbour?"
You were never given the job of deciding someone else's worth - put that weight down, it was never yours to carry.
"Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: "
"Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go to this city, spend a year there, do business, and make money" -"
Ambition itself isn't the problem - forgetting how little you actually control is. Plan boldly, but hold your plans loosely.
"Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. "
"But you don't even know what tomorrow holds. What is your life? It's like a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."
Your life is shorter and more fragile than your plans assume - let that make you more present and grateful today, not anxious about tomorrow.
"For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. "
"Instead, you ought to say, "If it's the Lord's will, we'll live and do this or that.""
Make your plans, but leave room in them for life to surprise you - humility about the future is what keeps ambition from turning into arrogance.
"But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. "
"But instead you boast arrogantly - and all such bragging is wrong."
Confidence is fine - it's the swagger that shuts God and other people out of the picture that does the damage. Keep some humility in your certainty.
"Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. "
"So then, if you know the right thing to do and don't do it, that is sin for you."
It's not only what you do wrong that matters - the kindness you knew you should show and didn't counts too. Let today's clear nudge to do right actually move you.