MOVE: An Invitation to Submit

MOVE: An Invitation to Submit

Pastor Dewayne Peters

1. God invites us to a personal reflection

James 4:1-3

"What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?  You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

2. God invites us to a worldly rejection

James 4:4-6

"You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: 'God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.'" 

3. God invites us to a shared reception

James 4:7-10

"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 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."

Application Questions:

1. How have you seen your desires create conflict with others?
2. Can you think of a time in your personal reflection and prayer time where God has shown you grace?
3. In what ways have you accepted the world as your friend?
4. What promise do you want to humbly receive today?