| Verse | KJV | Barlow Paraphrase |
| James 4:1 | From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? | Hey, where are all these fights among you coming from? Remember, if there are outward fights there are inward fights. You are conflicted within yourselves and its leaking out. |
| James 4:2 | 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. | You’ve got strong, even sinful, desires and they are not satisfied. You’d even kill for things and you still can’t get them. Why? Simple! You don’t have because you didn’t ask God! |
| James 4:3 | Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. | Even if you do ask Him, you’re still messing it up. If you ask for the objects of your lust it would be wrong of God to give it to you. He loves you too much for that. |
| James 4:4 | Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. | What you are doing is like adultery. You are married to God yet you are in love with the world. Choose. Who are you going to love? God or the world? You can’t have both. If you choose the world, God will be your enemy. If you choose God, the world will be your enemy. |
| James 4:5 | Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? | Even the scripture lets us know that the Spirit He placed in us is jealous. Jealous for our love and if we love another He feels it and knows it. |
| James 4:6 | But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. | But we have an empowerment from God. His grace is on us. So, standing in that grace, let’s resist pride, when we do He pours out His grace on us. The humble will receive from God; the prideful will not. |
| James 4:7 | Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. | So get control of all your sinful desires, trust God and submit to His way. In doing this you are literally resisting the Devil. You’re not trusting the Devil anymore by following after the desires he’s trying to give you. The Devil flees when no one listens to him. |
| James 4:8 | Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. | So pull your hearts right in with God. Set your desires on Him. Not on far away places. This is like washing your hands and purifying your hearts. Now we are not split in our desires wanting to go to God and the world at the same time. |
| James 4:9 | Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. | God helps us turn away from the world and its desires. Sometimes there’s a sadness with that. A true repentance where your heart is sorry for the things you’ve done. Go ahead and be sorry. Let that work in you for a time. |
| James 4:10 | Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. | Bring yourself to the point where you completely realize that you totally need God. From that position you don’t think you can do anything and you realize you have to totally rely on God. God answers that! He can tell when your heart is pure. |
Tag: repent
Getting To Jesus
He climbed a tree. He was short of stature. He wasn’t a tall man, but he was hungry. The life he’d been living had its perks but peace wasn’t one of them. Taking & cheating are soul-diminishing practices but it can make the bank balance go up. If you’re hungry for money and pursue it you should pray you won’t be successful. The leanness of soul that it will produce in you is actually painful.
That’s where this man was. He was a taker. A cheat. Full of himself and his own greed, but who was this new fellow? His life was a constant outflow. He was just giving. Compare a drain to a fountain. That would be Zacchaeus and Jesus. Jesus just overflowed and people were attracted to him. Zach was always on the take and people fled from him. It’s a lonely life being on the take. There is no one to enjoy all of your ill-gotten gains with. Oh he was rich alright, but not in things that would satisfy his soul.
Now he was hungry. He saw Jesus. Heard about how He operated. Was intent again on getting what He wanted. He wanted to see Jesus. So he climbed the tree to have his way. But this day he got more than he bargained for.
The Giver came right up to the tree that Zacchaeus had climbed, he looked right at the Taker and said, “Zacchaeus come down from there for I’m going to eat at your house today.” Have you ever told someone that you are going to eat at their house? I’ve never been so bold. Now Jesus was not asking. He was telling the taker that He was taking from HIM today. Now this was more than he had bargained for. The Taker was being taken by the Giver!
So Jesus goes to Zacchaeus’ house for dinner and Zacchaeus is so excited that he repents and decides to give back all the things he had taken. Some even four-fold. Jesus said to him, “This day salvation has come to this house!”
Now how did the Giver bring salvation to the taker? By getting him started in the giving process.
Well, my friend, what is your title? Are you a giver or a taker?
Joseph Barlow 