James 4: 7-10 Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.
THE UNSTABLE OR DOUBLE-MINDED HAVE A CONSTANT WAR WITHIN DAILY
James 4:1-10: From whence come wars and fightings among you?
James here is talking about fighting among the people in the church of that day
- One thing that will tear a church apart is fighting among the members
- Most times that fighting among members is in the background
- The pastor may know nothing about it
- A lot of the fighting can be because of spiritual immaturity
- Because of lack of growth in the Word of God
come they (the wars and fightings) not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 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. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
- James is saying the fighting and quarreling comes from evil desires or Lusts within
- When we don’t get what we want, we fight to have it
- We should pay attention to what we desire (Lust after)
- What is the root of our desires?
- Are they selfish desires? (we can all have selfish desires)
- Selfish desires need to be submitted to the Lord
- And trust Him to give us what we need
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity (opposed or hostile ) with God? whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
- Adulterers and Adulteress can be spiritual and refer to unfaithfulness to God.
- The Bible speaks of Spiritual adultery
Jeremiah 3:20: Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.
Isaiah 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.
WE CAN’T HAVE FAITH IN GOD AND BE DOUBLE-MINDED
THE BIBLE SHOWS THAT WE SHOULD BE SINGLE-MINDED- NOT DOUBLE-MINDED
WE ARE EITHER OF DOUBLE MIND OR SINGLE MIND
THE BIBLE ENCOURAGES US TO STRIVE FOR SINGLENESS OF HEART AND MIND
Matthew 6:19 – 24: Talks about our heavenly investments
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
- Our treasures and desires are linked to our hearts
- We should always examine our hearts
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.23 But if thine eye is evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
- 22 is talking about spiritual vision
- To be able to see the world from God’s perspective
- But we need to guard this spiritual vision
- Spiritual vision can become clouded
- With self-serving desires, interest, and goals
- A “single eye is fixed on thing things of God
Vs. .24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
- This particular scripture is talking about (mammon: a principality that is over material wealth)
- This scripture can apply to any idol, addiction, worldly pleasures, etc.
- We cannot serve God and those things too.
- Our heart and mind must be single, not double
1 John 2:15-17 Love, not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
SEEK TO BE SINGLE-HEARTED AND NOT DIVIDED BETWEEN THE THINGS OF GOD AND THE THINGS OF THIS LIFE.
1 Cor 6:19-20: 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Give your heart to Jesus today by saying this prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. Please forgive me. Come into my heart and life. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Please, help me to live for you and tell others about you for the rest of this life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.