Monday, October 17
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? James 4:1
Have you ever had an argument or disagreement with someone? Of course you have, and it is never something we would categorize as fun. We end up avoiding them in the hallway, or not talking to them. Our stomach churns when we have to interact with them. Who really enjoys that?
Today James continues the theme that we learned last week back in chapter two. “Wars” speaks of relationships that are characterized by friction, and “fightings” speaks of the individual, visible arguments and fights we get into. The words “among you” suggest that this was a problem in the churches to which He was writing. Some may ask, “You mean that Christians have arguments and fights with each other, even in the same church?” The answer is obvious. Yes! We have disagreements and often these turn into “wars” and “fightings”.
So what is the source of these “wars”? According to James it is the sinful desires found inside (“in your members”) the people who are involved. The war going on inside the people involved shows up in the “war” and “fighting” on the outside.
Application:
Since this is the case, for a “war” or “fighting” to end we have to stop looking to the other person first and check out what is going on inside of ourselves. We’ve got to own up to the “lusts that war in your members”?
Are you involved in a fight with someone else? If so, here is an extremely important these question: In what part of this fight are you to blame? What have you done wrong? What evil desire inside you is fueling the war on the outside? It’s time to own up.
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
Im not in a fight with anyone!! :). This passage is saying that or asking you where do your conflicts or brawl come from?? Is it from your passions that are inside of you??.
I think that your anger comes from your heart I believe that there is a bad or evil side to your heart and then there is a good side. When your angry your bad side takes over your whole heart and you could be mad for days, weeks, months or even years and thats exactly what satan wants us to be mad, angry, and bad, but we can fight him if we just come to God and ask him for help then if your the bigger person god will help you go up to that person and settler your differences then the bad side will go away and then you good side will appear.
Ok here’s what I learned today….” Since this is the case, for a “war” or “fighting” to end we have to stop looking to the other person first and check out what is going on inside of ourselves.” this is what Pastor ben was saying. <———- Idts tht I'm in a fight ao I think I'm good! 😉 I'm going into my lat week of school! 🙂 and gonna be leaving someday between October 24-26 sooo,,,, it's coming up pretty close! Great devos today! Well they always r but u know!
Iloveyou guys!!!!! ❤ and c u Wednesday!!!! 😀
What i learned from this message is that we shoudnt fight instead we should be friendly and be making new friends. Because when we do this it make Gods happy because they may not know the lord and we can start bring them to church and then they will be apart of a new church family.
What I got out of this is that the wars we have with one another we can be the thing that wont stop the wars we have a earthy attitude sometimes where all we want is to be right and we want them to say there sorry when where to blame to.
i’m pretty sure i dont have any arguments going on at the moment…. but, to me, this passage is just saying that sometimes and MOST OF THE TIME when we get into a fight or argument we have some blame too. It’s not alllll the other persons fault. You most likely did something too and had a part in it. I also think it’s saying that arguments start because we’re thinking about ourselves and putting our own selfish desires before others. “your lusts that war in your members” You put your own desires and “lusts” before the needs of others and then it starts “wars” or arguments between our “members” or family, friends, ect. So, if we think of others needs before our own maybe we could get rid of some fights and arguments in the world. 🙂
im not in a fight w/ anyone!! well,u know how people say “i want peace”.if they want peace and they r in lots of fights they need some serious work 2 do.this reminds me of one of Pastor Bales’ messages on peace.remember when he said that if u wanted 2 go on a cruise the problem would be that u r there because u start lots of arguements and it wouldn’t be fun.we need 2 pray to God that we would be slow to speak and slow to wrath so we wouldn’t get in as much arguements cause someone may not take it the right way.when u think about it,who would want 2 be in an arguement?its no fun is it?why don’t we all try being slow to speak and slow 2 that.try seeing how that works out.i can’t believe that ur moving so soon tristian!! 😦 its so sad 2 think about it!! love u guys soo much!! u guys rock!! 🙂
This is so true!!! Unfortunately, I’ve been in a lot of fights (or arguments) and some of them have been in the church too. I’d like to think that the past fights I’ve been in have always been the other persons fault, but I am just as much to blame. One fight in particular comes to mind when reading this today, when I was fighting with one of my best friends over something stupid and not even worth fighting over. I realize now that there was evil inside of me fueling the “war”, and because of that I lost someone close to me. But I believe God worked everything out for the better 🙂
Thankfully I’m not in any fights right now! But that doesn’t mean I will never be. Everyone gets into fights, but that doesn’t make it right. Sometimes it’s so easy to use my words to hurt someone if I’m mad, and that definitely starts arguments! Lately God has been showing me that sometimes it is better for me just to keep quiet, rather than stir up anger. “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak.” One of the big problems in past fights has been that I was looking to the other person first, instead of myself. And next time (cause unfortunately there will be more times :/) I need to stop fueling the fight by what’s going on inside of me, and look to God. Cause He has a plan! 😉 A song that came to mind when I was reading this today is Battle by Chris August. It talks about the battle inside of us, and the battle between good and evil. It’s a really good song!!
& great job on the comments guys! 🙂
Proud of you Alexis…
Thank you 🙂
I’m not in a fight with anyone right now, and I’m very thankful for that! I’ve had fallouts with friends with friends in the past and fights with my siblings and people I care about. What James wrote about this, is so powerful! The war comes from inside. If I have hatred in my heart towards someone, my actions will result in hatred. Everything comes from the source within. It’s so easy to play the blame game on other people, but in reality we need to take a reality check on ourselves in those situations. My dad always says it takes two to fight, which is so true. It doesn’t matter if you engage in the fight first rather then you engaged in the fight. I know I’ve had problems with people within the church before and it’s honestly the hardest thing. It’s the hardest thing to have a fallout with someone you come to worship with every week and to grow with and then they leave the church.. Puts you in the reality that fighting is not worth it. God has a plan for everything in life, rather then taking your own gut, take God’s! He’s always right!!
I’m fighting with everyone!!! And I”m right all the time!!! JUST JOKING!!!!! It would seem logical that we wouldn’t see fighting among the brethren in a church, but this is not so. Where there are people, saved or not, there will be disagreement and unfortunately fights. I do find this sad though. Scripture is very clear about this but yet it happens all the time. When people leave a church it is usually because of hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and unresolved conflict. It is so important to go to the person who has wronged you or who you have wronged and work it out before it gets blown out of proportion. It is so true what Pastor Ben said about how uncomfortable it is to be in a disagreement with someone and then have to face that person all the time. AWKWARD! I know, it has happened to me. In a disagreement there is usually three sides to the story: yours, mine, and the truth. Let’s cut each other some slack and remember what is really important, living for God and sharing Him with others.
Lol…good stuff Laura
I’ve definitley been in fights with people before- my family, friends at school, and even friends at church. The nicest person gets into disagreements with people, & i think its part of our sinful nature to start or be involved in fights. I know when this happens i think about my involvement in the argument, and why the arguments even happening. most of the time it’s my big mouth getting me introuble! I just have to watch what i say. Like Laura said, when we see someone who we havent resolved a conflict with, it is super awky! I feel like i’m in this kinda situation everyday. I may say i have forgiven them but have i really? Thats my “war inside” and i know that i need to resolve it. “The War Inside” by Switchfoot is what i thought of when i read todays devo. This war is inside all of us i think as christians, because i know we all dont strive to be in conflicts with people. It’s a struggle we deal with everyday. At the moment, i’m not in a fight with anyone, but i’m also not 100% peachy with everyone either, which i kinda consider to be my fault. My own desires get in the way of some of my friendships, and i know i can be a better friend to them!! Going to God with our struggles is the best way to deal with them and it’s been helping me a lot 🙂 good job today guys!
Part of the problem with fights is that we can sometimes be the cause. So one of the ways that we need to resolve the issue is to get some stuff out of our lives and own up to your sin. This is very hard for me because I don’t exactly like being told I’m wrong! But that’s something I need to work on and God can help me with this.
Proud of everyone on here today! Great comments!
I really hate to fight and I know it doesn’t please the Lord. Most of the time it is selfish and shouldn’t be happening if I was truly loving my neighbor and being selfless. The hardest part I have with fighting is apologizing to the person. I think sometimes I hate it so much that I’d rather not argue although neither is good in this circumstance. God is just reminding me here that what is inside comes outside and I need to make sure that my intake is righteousness and pray that’s what comes out.
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