James 4:1-7. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

"James 4:1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" If we pluck this verse out of its context, we may think that it refers to fighting our own sexual lust, which is in our body. That could be a fact also, but it is not that by its context. Preachers were hypocrites, they teach tradition and rituals instead of truth, they hate the followers of Jesus Christ and want people to follow them. So, the fight was among the members of the church. To fit the context, we may read the entire chapter 23 of Matthew, it is from Jesus Christ to preachers. In verse 15 Jesus calls the preachers, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." So, preachers work very hard to increase the membership in churches, calling it as revival and evangelism. But they train their converts to be saved in sin, and it is false doctrine of the devil, and make them to go to hell. "2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not." Again, let us study it in its own context. You lust; it is not sexual lust, but lust to rule the church. To kill, is to kill the wisdom of God, since it is foolishness to them. They desire to have the wisdom by theology, they fight a war with the Spirit, instead of being led by the Spirit. Instead of asking God wisdom, they fight God; and so, they do not have wisdom, but what all they have is foolishness. "James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally,..." Then they may have the wisdom of God. "3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." Even if you ask God for wisdom, you ask with the motive to be a macho to people and to become a celebrity; and so, God will not give his wisdom, which is godly and heavenly. "4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." The phrase "Ye adulterers and adulteresses," is not referring to sex, but it refers to the friendship with the world. Their wisdom is of the world and of the devil. Here, Jesus Christ says that if we are friend with the world, then we are enemy to God. "John 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." The language is so clear and very easy to understand. Even then why do Christians not understand?; it is because they do not want to understand. Worldliness is opposite to Godliness; they are like enemies; but Christians treat them as comrades. Preachers and Christians live completely worldly life, but they think that they are godly and holy; and so, they have become hypocrites.

"5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?" If we are born again, the Spirit that dwells in us is the holy Spirit. The holy Spirit lusts to envy about us. That means that the holy Spirit doesn't want to lose us to the world or to the devil. So, he must give us more power in the form of grace and wisdom from God. In the previous verses we have studied about the wisdom of God and compared it to the wisdom of the world, which is of the devil. Now we will see the grace of God which is identical to God's wisdom. Wisdom from God is power given to us to it make us strong. "6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." This grace will chase the devil away from us. What is this grace? Christians claim that they are saved by grace. But I think that none of them have grace, since they exhibit pride even in saying it. Grace is not given to proud people. But the devil makes it up; and so, it is the grace of the devil; and it is not from God. But Christians preach this grace in the churches and so, it is the grace of preachers and churches. It is a big subject, and so, let me give the link for you to study it in detail. The link is: "Grace." Jesus Christ says in "Matthew 23:11, But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." Jesus Christ gives an example for this in Luke 14:8-11. [Luke 14:8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; 9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. 10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. 11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."] Many verses in the bible emphasize that we must humble ourselves even for common decency; more so, if we do not humble, we will not receive grace from God; and it means that we will not be saved. Apostle Peter also says in 1 Peter 5:5&6, "5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:" The language is so simple to understand, that if we are not subject to one another among brethren, God considers it as pride. Verse 7 tells us to Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Submit to God, is to give yourself to God; and resist the devil, he will run away from you. Let me give an example from apostle Paul.. He was in religion and with the world before his conversion. Please read Acts 9:1-7.  ["Acts 9:1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. 3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. 7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man."] Paul was persecuting the disciples and new converts everywhere and he was on his way to Damascus just to do more. A light from heaven knocked him down and spoke to him. In verse 5, Paul asked "Who art thou, Lord?" Jesus Christ identified himself. Paul replied saying "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" From that time onward, Paul did whatever Jesus Christ told him to do, and the devil lost his grip and ran away from Paul. This is an example of how to submit to the Lord and how will the devil flee away from us. Let us see one more example: Please read Acts 16:16-24. ["16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: 17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation. 18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. 19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, 20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, 21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. 22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. 23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks."] These verses say that Paul cast out a spirit from a damsel, who brought good money to her masters, and their income was lost because Paul did cast out her divination spirit. So, they stirred up people and have Paul and Silas locked in Jail. Please read the rest of the incident in 25-34. ["Acts 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house."] There was a shock by earthquake and such things on the jail. Following that Paul preached to them; the response was, they took water baptism immediately on the same night, and so on. It is in verses 32&33 say, "32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway." It is immediate obedience to God, and it is submitting to God.

Resist the devil: Please read Matthew 4:1-11. ["1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him."] Satan tempted Jesus Christ when he had fasted forty days. Satan wants Jesus to prove, if he was the son of God, by turning a stone to bread. Jesus resisted Satan by declining to do so. Then Satan misquoted a scripture and asked him to prove, if he was the son of God, by cast himself down from the pinnacle. Jesus declined and has resisted the devil. However, Jesus proved that he was the Son of God by living a sinless life. But so many preachers do miracles with the power of God, being tempted by the devil. They do not resist the temptation of the devil and they fall. Then, the devil asked Jesus to worship the devil himself in exchange of all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. Jesus declined it and resisted the devil. But present-day preachers, not only they obey and worship the devil for some prosperity and fame; but they also take the place of the devil and tempt other Christians with devil's gospel of deception. "1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. 10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." The devil tempted Jesus, but he could not deceive him. We must be very vigilant in fighting the temptation and deception of the devil. Now a days, the devil uses Christians preachers, to deceive Christians. They take words like, grace, prosperity, and such words from the bible, and preach them deceptively to deceive Christians. We have studied the wisdom of God and the grace of God; be vigilant and be careful about fake grace, wisdom, and such. God will make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.