Tuesday, October 18
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. James 4:2
In today’s text James explains what these “wars” and “fightings” can look like. He is making the argument that these are caused by our sinful desires. When these sinful desires go unrealized we go to greater and greater lengths to try to satisfy them. Often the end of these sinful desires can look like murder and covetousness. We can go to the extreme to try to get our way, and yet so many times it doesn’t get us what we want.
Has a long term fight and argument really ever satisfied what we really want? Maybe ultimately get us what we thought we wanted, but what do we sacrifice and pay for to get it along the way.
What is interesting is that James says that often we haven’t even stopped to ask from God (the one who can satisfy our desires) to give us what we are ultimately trying to get from the person we are fighting with.
Application:
Today, take a few moments to think about the argument, fight, or “war” that you are involved in or have been involved in. Was the fight really worth it?
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
The fight I was involved in it was like really stupid and I don’t even now why I was in it because it wasn’t even about me it had nothing to do with me.., later on I forgave that person I was only mad at them for like 1 or 2 weeks I don’t remember but now every time I see that person I wave hi and so do they. I’m really a forgiving person I don’t hold a grude for to long, what I learned from this passage is that you want something but you like don’t have it and you don’t have it because you don’t ask for it I don’t know if I got the verse right.
I am the kind of person who wants to forgive but I feel like if I do they will do the same thing back to me again. And thts not a good feeling. I was involved in a fight maybe a year ago. I stopped being friends with her cuz of what she kept doing to me. And now she just ignores me and I try to talk to her but then she just acts like I’m not even there. -______________- i don’t think tht thts good at all. The lord has been speaking to me to reach out. But it’s hard. Very hard. It’s hard cuz people will make fun of u cuz ur talking about god. But u know what? Idc!! He is my savior!!! I believe in him! And u should to!!!! I always speak out like tht if people try and make fun of me! 🙂 it’s a way I have to get people to stop! I mean I don’t scream at them I just flat out tell them my thoughts! 🙂 great message pastor ben as always! But c u guys Wednesday and love u guys!!!!!! 🙂
The fight I have been in was not helping anything when I was in that fight you just want to be right in your fight and them to say there sorry but its are fault to but what James is saying that we can stop the fighting the reason we won’t stop I think is because we want them so make the first move.
the fight that i got in lasted about 20mins.then we were friends after that.it wasn’t really worth it cause she acts like she knows everything even tho she doesn’t and i try 2 tell her its not right she gets all upset about it.those fights iv’e had w/ her are just silly little fights.i wish we just wouldn’t fight so much.anybody can do something about that tho.#1-we can definetly pray that those things would work out.#2-we can just ignore them.#3-we can just talk 2 them and work things out.why don’t we all try those things and see how it works out.hope u all had a GREAT tuesday!! 🙂 i know i did!! 🙂
love u guys soso much!! 🙂 praying for u guys!!! 🙂 <333
Today’s devotions have really opened my eyes that I have not been doing what I should when it comes to fighting with someone. Whenever I’m in a fight or argument I always want something out of it, but never ask God to help me, I always think I’m right, or I think I “deserve” whatever it is I’m fighting over. Most of the time I ended up not getting what I wanted, but instead I lost something. Honestly the fights were never worth it. Probably because I never asked God to handle it.
“ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” I specifically like this part of the verse, it is so true! We don’t get what we want out of the fight because we never think to ask God for it. That doesn’t mean every time He’s going to give you what you want, but He will definitely give you what you need and what He thinks is best for you! 🙂
One fight that I’ve been in, in the past, comes to mind these past few days. It was a fight that ruined a friendship, and not just with me but with others as well. When I look back at the situation I just think about how crazy everything was then, and how hard it was to get through. A fight ruined a friendship. That should be enough to say that fighting is never worth it. Although, God has shown me that everything has turned out ok and I’ve completely rededicated my life to him since then, fighting or getting in arguments is never the answer, but turning to God is! Trust me, I’ve been in many fights/arguments before, and none of them have been worth it. Not all of them were dramatic or life changing, but a few have been, and it’s definetly not fun. Don’t take matters into your own hands, put it in Gods!
We think fighting is the answer to everything we want, but it’s not. All we simply need to do is ask God. He’s there for us and He wants to do everything He can to help us, because He loves us! He let His son be crucified for us.He had to watch sinful people inflict terrible pain on His son and He did all that for us! So of course, all you need to do is ask! He’s there for you. The people I argue with the most are definitely my family. Don’t we all? Honestly, when i’m in the middle of an argument the first thing i think of is not “God, help me out with this one” it’s usually something like “I’m right, you’re wrong, so just shutup!” haha. That’s probably not so great. I definitely need to turn to God more instead of myself. This could go back to last weeks devos on godly and worldly wisdom. 🙂
awesome comments guys!! 😀
Its like sometimes we are so blinded by what we want and so determined just to win that we can forget what we are fighting about. Sin is definitley a cause to fights its kind of like the spark that started the fire. If we are not careful and are sin goes unchecked it will take us further than we wanted to go and cost us more then we thought.
Fights are never worth it.. Every fight/argument ive been in has resulted in me not talking to the other person. I see some people ive been in fights with around school & lemme just say its super awky 😦 God’s been helping me out a lot lately, and He’s been giving me insight as to what to do in situations. I get frustrated a lot, and these verses have been really helpful to how i should be living! God doesnt want us fighting with others obviously, and i know i dont want to fight with others either. It is SO hard sometimes not to be involved in some type of tizzy, but whats awesome is God is with us through all our problems 🙂 we just have to go to Him before we try and make our own decisions!
What i earned from this message is that fighting in any sort of way isnt a godly thing. If you are fighting for a family reason to get them back together then that is a totaly different story from fighting against someone about a problem or situation. Something i want to say about wars is that at school i learned about if a certain thing someone else that we need and they just stop giving it to us, you shoudnt just go to war with them, you should try to reason with them without threats or weapons. I want to thank pastor ben for taking time give us an awesome devotional that we can all comunicate through.