4Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war within you. ²You want things, but you do not have them. So you are ready to kill and are jealous of other people, but you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You do not get what you want, because you do not ask God. ³Or when you ask, you do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. You want things so you can use them for your own pleasures.

⁴So, you are not loyal to God! You should know that loving the world is the same as hating God. Anyone who wants to be a friend of the world becomes God’s enemy. ⁵Do you think the Scripture means nothing that says, “The Spirit that God made to live in us wants us for himself alone”? ⁿ ⁶But God gives us even more grace, as the Scripture says,

“God is against the proud,

but he gives grace to the humble.”

⁷So give yourselves completely to God. Stand against the devil, and the devil will run from you. ⁸Come near to God, and God will come near to you. You sinners, clean sin out of your lives. You who are trying to follow God and the world at the same time, make your thinking pure. ⁹Be sad, cry, and weep! Change your laughter into crying and your joy into sadness. ¹⁰Humble yourself in the Lord’s presence, and he will honor you.

Read in Logos

James 4:10: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Footnotes

n“The Spirit … alone” These words may be from Exodus 20:5.