Read James 4:3 – When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.



Sometimes what we ask for is right but the reason we are asking is wrong. Motives mean everything in life. They especially matter in our requests to the Lord we serve. He knows us and our motives because he is all-knowing. We are silly to live in denial of this reality when we pray. If our motives are untrue, God knows and cannot answer. God wants you to pray, but be sure your prayers are sincere and true.

Read James 4:5-6 – Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”


Pride is opposite of everything God is about. Pride will cause a man to fall faster in life than most anything else. In fact, many times pride is the root of the things that cause men to fail in their walk with the Lord. Pride blinds you to your true self and limitations. The best way to cure your pride is to humble yourself. Take the second seat when your heart says you deserve the best seat. You will always have this war with pride. Your spirit struggles against God through pride. Humble yourself, and you invite God to rein in your life.

Read Genesis 32:24-26 – Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" (NKJV)



A Man’s Model Prayer



Jacob’s praying takes on a new dimension when he wrestles with a Man, who was most likely God Himself. Jacob’s prayer was, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” He was determined to persevere in prayer, not giving up without an answer from God. Men, keep praying. It is NOT a lack of faith when you keep coming back to God in prayer with the same request. Join with Jacob and say, “God, I will not let you go until you bless me and my family.” “God, I will keep praying about this need until …”

Read James 4:9-10 – Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

True sorrow over sin has a dramatic effect on any man’s life. When men truly see Christ for who He is – Righteous, Holy and True – it is overwhelming. Then the mirror of the Holy Spirit shows us who we really are – wretched, sinful and lost – which is equally overwhelming. It is then that godly sorrow is experienced. When a man does not care who sees him cry, mourn or wail over his life then that man has truly humbled himself before God. It is then that God lifts a man out of the miry clay of sin into a great place of salvation. Pride and humility are opposites. They cannot exist at the same time in any man

Read James 4:12 – There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

God is the Supreme Court of the heavens. His word is final and conclusive in all matters. He is able to save and restore any man in any situation. He is also able to pass judgment on any nation and to carry out the sentence if He so wishes. He is all-powerful, all-knowing and ever present. Now put Him on one side of the picture and place yourself on the other side. Who do you really think you are in contrast and comparison to Him? Ask yourself if you really should be judging others when He is judging you?

Read James 4:13-14 – Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Sadly many men think that their destiny is in their own hands. These men believe that in their own power they can determine when they will do something or how they will manage their life. The truth is we have no idea what will be revealed by the receding darkness of a new day. It only takes one visit to the doctor and the words of some disease to turn a sunny day cloudy. Life that is firmly held in youth seems but a fleeting moth in old age. A good euphemism for one’s life is “As the mist arises from the ground in the morning and is burned off quickly by the sun.” Never assume you know the outcome of your life by what is happening today. Live each day as if it is the last one you may have because it could be the very last one you live.

Read James 4:16 – As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

Boasting and bragging is foolishness. The weakest men are those who build a wall around themselves of their exploits and strengths. If a man has to tell someone how great he is, it is probably an indication of how small he really is. He may convince some with his flowery description of himself but he will be exposed when he has to produce. Too many men over-promise and under-deliver in life. It is much better for a man to boast only in Christ and never exalt his feats. Greater is the man who humbles himself and allows God to exalt him.

Read James 5:1 – Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you.

Wealth itself is not a bad thing and people who have it should not be looked down on for their financial success. The problem with wealth comes when people think it can insulate them from hard times. There are a lot of wonderful comforts that wealth can buy. But there are also a lot of things all the money in the world cannot purchase. It can get you the best doctors, but it cannot buy healing from a deadly disease. Wealth can buy you a house, but it cannot buy a happy home. Wealth can make life appear better, but it cannot assure you of it always being so. We have assurance in Christ that He will be with us always even when good times are not.

Read James 5:5-6 – You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

Sad is the man who lives only for himself. The man who can live in luxury while others live in lack is wrong when it is in his power to relieve some of the load. When we have abundance we should be sure that there are not those around us who might need some consideration. Men who live selfish, indulgent lives are in the wrong. Men who are so selfish that they feel they have to push every person close to them away are really sad. God wants to bless us so that we can be a blessing to others.

Read James 5:7 – Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.

Life can be hard when you have little means and the economy is fragile. It is hard when you do what is right and it is rebuffed as wrong. All over the earth we see inequity, heartlessness, trouble and pain. It seems that the woes of this earth only get worse each rising day. If we are not careful we will look at the signs of the times and let them determine our outlook. All that we see today should not discourage us but cause us to look more intently for the Second Coming of Christ. We have to be patient and firm in our hope in the Lord. He is coming and in the hour men least expect Him.