James 4:1-10 ▼

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?

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.

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.

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”?

6 But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

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.

9 Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection.

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