5 Dollar Nachos

James 4
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow [h]we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

This attitude that James challenged goes far beyond making wise plans for the future. “Not, let us go, but, we will go, in the indicative mood; noting the peremptoriness of their purposes, and their presuming upon future times and things, which were not in their power.” (Poole)

Our plans MUST include the Lord and His direction. We cannot live like we are apart from God. We must live like He is the reason we exist.

I wanted to highlight this comment from yesterday:
oh secondly then we will know the difference between judgement and accountability, and we in love will be able to help each other be accountable

James 4:12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

When we truly love people, they understand when we offer our help in love to better them as a person.

Truly, we need to better OURSELVES first and foremost. When we have matured even a small amount, judging will become so obvious. We will realize how much mercy and grace WE need, and we will give the same amount to other people.

James 4
11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one [e]Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who[f] are you to judge [g]another?

There is so much context needed for verses like this, but let’s tackle it anyway.

We have no authority to condemn someone or to save someone.   We do not even know what the Lord is speaking to that person, or what is going on in their Spirit. THIS is why we should not judge.

Now some people have confused judging, with holding them accountable, and that is an entirely separate discussion with many different parameters.

Let us pray for those around us, that the Lord would give them grace and mercy like we want pouring over our own life. Let us speak no evil of our brother. Let’s spend our time perfecting ourselves and working to be as awesome as we can be in Christ.

James 4
9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

I have long struggled with this verse, but I feel I have received a small amount of revelation.
James is really going at the Christians who have a problem with maturing in Christ. They have a problem with pride, and with loving the world and everything it has to offer.
Here James is telling them, to get low, and allow GOD to lift them. There is much in this world to mourn over. The only thing to be excited about is our Father in Heaven and the love for people here on Earth.
Be humble, allow the Lord to lift you. In all things give credit to God. The Lord WILL lift you up.

Here is a song that I hear in my head when I think about getting lifted up. Enjoy your 90′s rewind. LOL.

I find myself praying about this more and more:
James 4
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

I want to be “the humble.” I want more grace.
the free and unmerited favor of God

I do not “know it all.” There are some things I am okay never knowing. My goal is to love people. I want to show people the love of God. I want my mistakes to have mercy and grace poured on them. I will not stand in judgement over anyone. I myself am an imperfect person.

So yesterday our need to resist the devil, to make him flee. The very next sentence is:

James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

James is calling us out. Walk away from evil, and run to God. Stop doing wicked things, and stop doubting God.
It is time to grow up.
No more evil deeds.
No more double speak.
No more backstabbing Christians.

It is time to humble ourselves at the feet of God and believe for great and amazing things.

Something I am meditating on right now, is that two of my favorite scriptures have us doing something and in return God does something:

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

We must remain IN God, then God will BE in us. That is when we can take on the world.

James 4
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

This is NOT a one time affair.
You will have to do this as a discipline. Once the devil flees, he regroups to attack again.

We need to stay vigilant. We must never let our guard down. This is the reason why we put on the full armor of God.

James 4
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 [d]Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

We spend too much time worshiping the gifts from our Father, instead of worshiping our Father and using the gifts.
The Lord wants time with us so bad.

The idea is that God loves men with such a passion that he cannot bear any other love within the hearts of men.” (Barclay)

We are to USE objects. We are to LOVE people, and LOVE God. We should not LOVE things. I do not LOVE my car. I do not LOVE my house. I enjoy them. I am blessed by them. However, they will never show me affection and they are all from God. To love the gift more than the giver is foolishness.