The Inner Wars

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James 4:1-17

Pride Promotes Strife
1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
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.
5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

Humility Cures Worldliness
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Do Not Judge a Brother
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.
12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;
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.
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Today, we hear of wars, and news and predictions of wars that are coming. But we do not need to be afraid. These things must happen before the end comes. Nations will fight against other nations. Kingdoms will fight against other kingdoms. There will be times when there is not enough food for people to eat. And there will be earthquakes and diseases in various places. These things are like the first pains when something new is about to begin.

Matthew 24:6-8
6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

But much worse than these wars that are happening outside, brothers will turn against their own brothers, and give them over to be killed. Fathers will turn against their own children, and give them over to be killed. Children will fight against their own parents, and cause them to be killed.

Mark 13:12
Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.

Why are there wars inside the homes, and even inside the churches? Where are the sources of all these? Where do our fights and arguments come from? They come from the inner wars that are happening inside us! And why do we have inner wars?

The inner wars within us come from the selfish desires that make us envious and angry about others especially our loved ones. We expect others to be, and do what we demand. If their performances and works fall short of our expectations and requirements, we will not be happy. We will lose our tempers, and yell at them. Sometimes, we also punish them by various ways and means.

We want some things that we deem to be necessary and essential, but we do not have them. Our inner wars cause a lot of tensions and troubles inside our own homes. That's why divorces are increasingly becoming more rampant. And more children are leaving their homes at very young ages. And some have become mentally ill, or have attempted suicides.

We compare ourselves with others. We are envious of what other people are having. Our covetousness, if unchecked and monitored, can lead to murder, and other crimes or evils.

When we do not get what we want, we will begin to argue and fight. Why do we not get what we want? It is simply because we do not ask God. Or if we do ask, we do not receive because the reasons of our prayer requests are wrong. We want those things so that we can use them for our own pleasures and gratifications.

We have become boastful and proud. And we have become unfaithful to God! We have loved the world, and the things in the world more than God! By doing so, we start despising God and His ways! But the Holy Spirit living within us desires us to live for God alone. There is a great inner conflict inside us. The war between our spirit and our flesh continues daily! But the cure against worldliness is true humility before God!

Proverbs 3:34
Surely He scorns the scornful,
But gives grace to the humble.

God will give us even more grace. God is against the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Thus, we need to submit and give ourselves to God. Only then, we can stand against the devil, and the devil will run away from us. We need to draw near to God, and God will draw near to us. Only then, our inner wars will begin to diminish and fade away!

We need the Lord to clean us once again, removing our sins, lusts and transgressions away from our hearts. We cannot follow God and the world at the same time. We need to ensure that our thoughts and deeds are pure and acceptable in His sight.

There may be a time of crying and weeping, and a time of sadness and mourning when we let go of those things that we hold on dearly. Yes, those things that we once thought were important and precious to us! When we humble ourselves before the Lord, He will honor us, and lift us up.

However, when we are not godly and contented, we will move our inner wars outside, and find faults with others. We will begin to judge others! As we are not perfect, our judgments and standards are not perfect. We are also not the judge!

We should not say bad things about others. If we say bad things about others, we are just judging them using our imperfect scales and measurements. Since we are not the judge, we cannot condemn and debase others. Jesus Christ our Lord is the Only Judge. He is the only One who can save and destroy. Therefore, it is not right for us to judge others.

As we are living in times of great uncertainties and troubles, we face a lot of unknowns daily. We have a lot of inner struggles and warfares! We worry about our finances, our families and our futures when we should put our hope and trust in the Lord. We doubt His goodness and greatness!

Some of us may say, “Today or tomorrow, we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.” But we do not know what will happen tomorrow! Our life is like a vapor. We can only see it for a short time, but then it vanishes away.

In fact, we should say, “If the Lord desires, we will live and do this or that.” But some of us are too proud, we want to live our life the way we desire. We still brag and boast about our skills and strengths. All of these boastings are wrong. We know what is the right thing to do, but do not do it. When we do not do the right thing, we are sinning against the Lord.

Our inner wars will continue if we refuse to submit to God, and let Him lead and guide us. Our Good Shepherd is still waiting for us to return to Him, and find rest in Him.

Matthew 11:28
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

When we calm down and be still before Him, we will truly know that He is God!

Written on 20 February 2022