Promise of Presence

lie - distortion of a partial truth

James 4:1-3 ESV

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 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. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

"The first step to happiness is understanding why we are unhappy."

We are most unhappy when our expectations are greater than reality.

James 4:4-5 ESV

4 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. 5 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”?

There is no neutrality in the war with our flesh.

James 4:6 ESV

6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

3 Promises from James Chapter 4:

1. God gives grace to the humble.

You can't out-sin God's grace.

Pride can be a prison that traps us in a self-destructive cycle.

We can't be serious about the grace of God until we are serious about the sin of self.

James 4:10 ESV

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

3 Promises from James Chapter 4:

1. God gives grace to the humble.

2. God will exalt the humble.

It's only when we realize we have nothing to offer God that He gives us everything.

James 4:7-9 ESV

7 Submit yourselves therefore 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 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

5 Directives:

1. Submit (to God).

2. Resist (the enemy).

The enemy seeks isolation; God desires proximity.

5 Directives:

1. Submit (to God).

2. Resist (the enemy).

3. Draw near.

3 Promises from James Chapter 4:

1. God gives grace to the humble.

2. God will exalt the humble.

3. God is near the humble.

God runs to our brokenness with healing.

5 Directives:

1. Submit (to God).

2. Resist (the enemy).

3. Draw near.

4. Cleanse your hands.

5. Mourn.

A broken-hearted change is met by God with a restoring presence.