The Letter of St. James
Chapter
4
¹ Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verse 1)
Oh God, my beloved Father, I thank You for this great awareness of the reasons behind my internal and external conflicts. I pray that You help me in resolving these conflicts so that I can be a whole person instead of one who is torn between my thoughts and my feelings Amen.
² You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verses 2 to 3)
Oh God, my blessed Father this morning You touched an important issue. This is that of prayer and why at times our prayers seem to be unanswered as the evil one may persuade us to believe however the reason could be that what we are asking for is not according to the will of God, therefore in our prayer we are to include the clause 'Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven and then leave the decision for God to make Amen.
⁴ Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verse 4)
Oh God, my Father, I prefer to be friends with You and an enemy to the world, for my beginning and end all have their roots and meaning in You my God and Father Amen.
⁵ Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, "God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"?
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verse 5)
Oh God my blessed and loving Father, You empathize with us and show Your feelings when somebody attempts to harm our spirit. You wish that we are already with You in Paradise our heavenly home, however, as humans we are like gold that needs to be polished before we can be presented before our maker that is You Amen.
⁶ But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verse 6)
Oh God, my beloved Father, I pray that every day of my life, You unclothe me of my old natural selfish state and clothe me with the Holy Spirit a new self which is holy and obedient to Your mighty and Holy will Amen.
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.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verses 7 to 8)
Oh God, my Father may it be that we be fully convinced about our Faith and commitment towards You, may we not create a new bible that contains only those verses which we like Amen.
⁹ Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy into dejection. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verses 9 to 10)
Oh God, my Father, I am facing a great dilemma, a big part of me wishes to follow and obey Your will which tells me to abandon all and follow You and the other part wishes a carnal friendship or relationship. I pray for Your intervention my God and Father Amen.
¹¹ Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the law and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verse 11)
Oh, Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ it is better to let the Word of God judge us than to judge it, for in front of God we have no righteousness. Before God, we see ourselves as we really are with all our best and even with all our sins. Amen.
¹² There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and destroy. So who then, are you to judge your neighbor?
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verse 12)
Oh God, my beloved Father, in truth I am not in a position to judge, however as a Social Worker I am to make an in-depth assessment of a person and a situation however still I am to abide by having a non-judgmental attitude Amen.
¹³ Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there doing business and making money." ¹⁴ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verses 13 to 15)
Amen, this is the correct attitude that we must adopt, for I wish that all that I experience is according to Your will and not according to mine. In all I think and do may Your will be done Amen.
¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ Anyone then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verses 16 to 17)
Oh God my beloved Father, in this respect I claim to be counted as a sinner, for even though I know what is the right thing I do not always manage to choose the right from the wrong, and at times I end up doing that which I know is not according to Your will. I, therefore, pray for Your mercy my God and Father Amen.
I, therefore, would like to end this meditation on the fourth chapter of the letter by St. James with the following prayer:-
Holy God and Father I pray that You inflame my will in order to make the right choices, save me from acting according to the flesh instead of according to the Holy Spirit. I wish that You give me the power to overcome my mind and body so that one day I become a perfect offering worthy to be accepted in Your presence Amen.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verse 1)
Oh God, my beloved Father, I thank You for this great awareness of the reasons behind my internal and external conflicts. I pray that You help me in resolving these conflicts so that I can be a whole person instead of one who is torn between my thoughts and my feelings Amen.
² You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verses 2 to 3)
Oh God, my blessed Father this morning You touched an important issue. This is that of prayer and why at times our prayers seem to be unanswered as the evil one may persuade us to believe however the reason could be that what we are asking for is not according to the will of God, therefore in our prayer we are to include the clause 'Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven and then leave the decision for God to make Amen.
⁴ Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verse 4)
Oh God, my Father, I prefer to be friends with You and an enemy to the world, for my beginning and end all have their roots and meaning in You my God and Father Amen.
⁵ Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, "God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"?
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verse 5)
Oh God my blessed and loving Father, You empathize with us and show Your feelings when somebody attempts to harm our spirit. You wish that we are already with You in Paradise our heavenly home, however, as humans we are like gold that needs to be polished before we can be presented before our maker that is You Amen.
⁶ But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verse 6)
Oh God, my beloved Father, I pray that every day of my life, You unclothe me of my old natural selfish state and clothe me with the Holy Spirit a new self which is holy and obedient to Your mighty and Holy will Amen.
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.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verses 7 to 8)
Oh God, my Father may it be that we be fully convinced about our Faith and commitment towards You, may we not create a new bible that contains only those verses which we like Amen.
⁹ Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy into dejection. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verses 9 to 10)
Oh God, my Father, I am facing a great dilemma, a big part of me wishes to follow and obey Your will which tells me to abandon all and follow You and the other part wishes a carnal friendship or relationship. I pray for Your intervention my God and Father Amen.
¹¹ Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the law and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verse 11)
Oh, Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ it is better to let the Word of God judge us than to judge it, for in front of God we have no righteousness. Before God, we see ourselves as we really are with all our best and even with all our sins. Amen.
¹² There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and destroy. So who then, are you to judge your neighbor?
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verse 12)
Oh God, my beloved Father, in truth I am not in a position to judge, however as a Social Worker I am to make an in-depth assessment of a person and a situation however still I am to abide by having a non-judgmental attitude Amen.
¹³ Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there doing business and making money." ¹⁴ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verses 13 to 15)
Amen, this is the correct attitude that we must adopt, for I wish that all that I experience is according to Your will and not according to mine. In all I think and do may Your will be done Amen.
¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ Anyone then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.
(The Letter of St. James Chapter 4 verses 16 to 17)
Oh God my beloved Father, in this respect I claim to be counted as a sinner, for even though I know what is the right thing I do not always manage to choose the right from the wrong, and at times I end up doing that which I know is not according to Your will. I, therefore, pray for Your mercy my God and Father Amen.
I, therefore, would like to end this meditation on the fourth chapter of the letter by St. James with the following prayer:-
Holy God and Father I pray that You inflame my will in order to make the right choices, save me from acting according to the flesh instead of according to the Holy Spirit. I wish that You give me the power to overcome my mind and body so that one day I become a perfect offering worthy to be accepted in Your presence Amen.
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