James 4:1-5

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?  You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet 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 wrongly, to spend it on your passions.  You adulterous people!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 

Broken relationships are a common reality in far too many lives.  Families, neighbors, churches, ministries, communities, and nations seem to constantly be at odds with one another.  Why is there so much brokenness in our world?  The answer can be found by examining our own hearts, the motives behind our prayers, and our associations with the godless world in which we live.  We must learn to limit these influences on our lives if we want to develop godly relationships.

WARING PASSIONS: The quarrels and fights that we have in our families, places of work, and churches can all be traced back to what James calls the passions that war within us.  They come from our hearts that are by nature self-centered and idolatrous.  Many in our society today claim that one of the biggest problems people face is an inferiority complex.  In reality, our biggest problem is a “divinity complex.”  We live in competition with God and expect others to treat us like gods.  We have a far greater passion for our own glory than we have for God’s.  We expect God and others to serve us.  When those expectations are not met: “watch out.”  Our response to disappointment in our circumstances range from murder to fighting and quarreling, all of which stem from the passions of our hearts.     

WRONG PETITIONS: Instead of fighting God and others to promote our own selfish agendas, we are instructed to ask God.  There are two reasons that we don’t get the things we desire.  The first reason is that we don’t ask God for it.  We strive and struggle to fulfill our own desires instead of depending on the Lord to meet our needs.  The second reason is that when we do ask, we have selfish motives.  No asking and wrong asking are both impediments to effective prayer.  God delights in our prayers because they are a demonstration of our dependence on Him and a declaration of our desire for His will to be accomplished.  Prayer is supposed to mold our wills to the will of God.  Unfortunately, much prayer is an attempt to conform God’s will to our own.  Prayer should demonstrate our passion for God, not strive to manipulate God into aligning with our sinful passions.  

WORLDLY PARTNERS: When we imitate the world and the sinful passions of the world, we are acting as enemies of God.  Ambition and selfish desires are all worldly passions that have no place in the body of believers.  We live in a fallen world amongst fallen people for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel that can free them from slavery to their own passions.  We are called to influence them and not be influenced by them. God has given us His Spirit to transform our hearts and minds from conformity to this world to conformity with His Son.  When we allow the influences of this world to become the passions of our hearts, we are committing spiritual adultery.  God wants our affections to be directed toward Him, not ourselves or the world system in which we live.  When we misplace our affections, God becomes jealous because we are not doing what He created us to do.

APPLICATION: Beware of the passions of our natural hearts and know that they are at war with the Spirit of God who lives in us.  Pray for God’s will to be accomplished in our lives and in this world recognizing our dependence on Him and declaring our affections for Him.  Impact the world around us for Christ instead of being influenced by the world.