James 4:1-10; Psalm 143:3-6

James 4:1-10
James is a pretty straight arrow about telling us exactly what our sins are! In these few verses he tells us that we are (1) selfish and jealous, vv. 1-3, and this is the reason we quarrel and even the reason our prayers are not answered. In order for God to answer our prayers we must

• Pray. You would think this would be obvious, but how many times do we try to solve problems without praying?
• Pray with the right motives, motives without selfishness and jealousy.

(2) Another sin James points out is worldliness. vv. 4-6 Instead of being a friend of the world, we should be a friend of God.

(3) And then there is that old enemy--pride. "God opposes the proud but favors the humble." v. 6
Satan knows how to use pride to defeat us, and not one of us is immune to this sin. Every human being since Adam and Eve have been tempted with pride. vv. 7-10 give us the remedy for pride.

• Humble yourselves before God. v. 7
• Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. v. 7 What a promise! Remember that these first two go together--humble yourselves before God and resist the devil.
• Draw close to God, and God will come close to you. v. 8 Another great promise!
• Purify your hearts. v. 8
• Be truly sorry for your sin. When we realize how much our sin offends God, we will be better able to feel deep grief for it. v. 9
• Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor. v. 10 

Psalm 143:3-6
Remember that this is David's prayer when he was depressed and hopeless. He honestly tells God how he is feeling. "I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear." When we have feelings like this, we must realize that we are not the first to feel this way, and we won't be the last! Even though we know it's not God's desire that we should feel hopeless or paralyzed with fear, we should feel free to pour out our fears and griefs to God. David was desperate for help and he went to the right place. "I lift my hands to you in prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain." v. 6 I'm afraid that many times when we pray, we don't have this kind of fervency or urgency. Can we say that we "thirst" for God "as parched land thirsts for rain"?