James 4 - The War Within
1 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?
2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it.
You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.
Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.
3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
The problem is internal strife - Jesus has accomplished love, acceptance, and belonging for us and the Holy Spirit lives within us. It is an internal conflict with evil allies on the outside. —RM
James 1
13 And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. 14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
1 Peter 1
13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children.
Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires.
You didn’t know any better then.
15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.
1 Peter 2
10 “Once you had no identity as a people;
now you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy;
now you have received God’s mercy.”
11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
1 Peter 4
1 So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too.
For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. 2 You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. 3 You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.
2 Peter 1 Not a good life FOR salvation, but FROM salvation.
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.
We have received all of this by coming to know him,
the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises.
These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises.
Phil. 2.13
God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
So then, what pleases God is worked out in and for me so that when I respond to the power God has given within me, I learn to desire what He desires for me. —RM
Rev. 22
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.
Luke 11
9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
So keep asking for the desire. Keep after what you say you want and God will give you HIS want, HIS desire for you and me!
EXTRAS:
Chuck Swindoll - Train Yourself To Be Godly**
David Guzik - Sharing the Divine Nature
Songs: