Lesson Nine: Why don't we have peace? Pt.1

James 4:1 "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill
and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not
have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because
you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

1. What causes us to fight and quarrel?
Desires that battle within us.
2. When we ask God for something, why do we often not get what we want?
We ask with wrong motives. We want something more than we want God.

Desires: Literally, "pleasures" as in v. 4:3. The Greek word hedonon gives us the word hedonism. James is not saying that pleasures of this life war against each other as though our main problem consisted in making a choice between higher and lower kinds of pleasure. Rather, they battle within us. The desires of our old man battles against our will to put aside selfishness and to serve others. This is also found in chapter 7 of Paul's letter to the Romans:

Romans 7:21 "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Application: What desires battle within you, against you? Are your desires or God the dominant concern in your life, in your specific situation where you do not currently have peace?

Examine your actions and ask God to show you the situation as He sees it. Ask God to show you your fault and where you can take responsibility. Submit yourself to God and ask Him how you can serve Him and others in the situation.