What causes fights and quarrels among you?
Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
James 4:1
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Conflict.
It is a constant, and reality of life.
A bomb is a bomb – regardless if it has exploded or not. And here’s the interesting bit, after it has exploded, no one is ever in any doubt that it was a bomb to begin with.
So it is the same with conflict.
Sometimes you suspect that there is conflict, but you are not certain… could be a dud… and suddenly, BOOM!
Most times, when we bring ourselves to recognize the conflict, it has already left more than its fair share of hurts and grieves in its wake.
No one can ever claim to be free from conflict because as James points out, we are in perpetual conflict – within ourselves; with God, with others around us and with the world that we live in.
As Christians, we must acknowledge that conflict is part of our constant reality, and understand conflict biblically, in order to be able to resolve conflict biblically.
And remember, we are not only talking about resolving conflict within the Church, we are talking about extending Christ’s brand of all-surpassing peace to the world.
Only when we are able to think biblically about ‘conflict’, would we then understand and live out our lives in biblical wisdom, and our roles as ‘peacemakers’ in a world seeped in conflict (Ref: James 3:17-18).
So if you are in undergoing a conflict situation today, be encouraged – you are exactly where God wants you to be. May the Lord grant you wisdom and courage as you navigate the conflict with Christ beside you.
If you think you are not in any conflict situation in your life today, it is simply because the conflict has not grown enough to affect you, yet. May the Lord open your heart to the truth of reality, and prepare you for the developing storms.
We should never deny the existence of conflict – regardless if it has exploded or not, and we should never shirk from our divine appointment as Christ’s ‘peacemakers’ to the world.
How then, should we think biblically about conflict?
How do we develop a theology of conflict?
Christ was born into conflict. His life and ministry, death and resurrection, is the archetype of our own ultimate victory over sin, death, and conflict.
The moment we are born, we are born into conflict.
Where do conflicts come from?
It does not come from the so-called ‘other’ person, the offender or the trespasser.
Sure, the offender is always offensive. But should the offender have the power or the right to determine your own emotional response? Most certainly not!
Only you have the power to determine your response.
Let your emotions be indicative, but never imperative, of how you feel.
Never surrender control of your emotions to someone else, but let the Holy Spirit fill and guide your heart in all of your responses. (Ref: Ephesians 5:18)
Which is why James brings us exactly to the source of all conflicts – the ‘human’ desire.
Conflicts ‘come from the desires that battle within us’ (Ref: James 4:1). And these desires by being ‘human’ in nature are therefore fallen, sinful and wicked.
These ‘human’ desires are the very same desires that led to the Fall of Man in the beginning of time – ushering the world from the age of Communion into the age of Conflict which we continue to live in today.
The Fall of Man gave rise to conflict on three dimensions;
It is my deep belief that unless we address conflict on these three dimensions through Christ simultaneously, the Church will continue to struggle in her endeavors to understand her role as peacemaker in the world.
This is certainly something to think about for now, and something to talk about in the near future.
Conflict.
To think biblically about conflict, we must first understand the state of our ‘human’ desire.
We know that we are sinful, fallen and wicked.
But is there any part within us that is possibly… good?
“Not so”, says Paul.
“9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.
10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 9)
From Paul’s teachings, Augustine of Hippo – early church theologian and philosopher who greatly influenced the thoughts of Western Christianity and Culture – surmised the doctrine of total depravity.
Augustine taught that a result of the Fall, every person born into the world is enslaved to sin due to our fallen nature.
Apart from God’s grace, we are utterly unable to even choose to follow God, refrain from evil, or accept God’s gift of salvation through Christ Jesus.
Apart from God’s grace, we are sinful, wicked, utterly and totally depraved.
Even as Christians, we find ourselves constantly struggling in our faith journeys, doing our utmost in believing, receiving and living out God’s grace over our own selfish and sinful desires.
But when we are living out of selfishness, we find our lives misaligned to God’s purposes for us. This misalignment leads to the uncertainty of God’s sovereign will in our lives. We begin to ask but do not receive, because we ask with wrong motives. (James 4:3)
Conflict leads to this misalignment of our lives with God’s purposes for us, and results in our prayers with wrong motives.
We forget to seek God’s purposes for our lives. We forget to pray with God’s purposes in mind.
Instead of ‘Your kingdom come; Your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven’, it becomes, ‘my kingdom come; my will be done, on earth… and with this, you can tell that I couldn’t care less about heaven.’
This type of prayer represents a potentially catastrophic failure of faith.
James expressed the immense gravity of this dangerous situation when he incites us to question our allegiance. (James 4:4-5)
If your life is misaligned to God’s purposes, you may become friends with the world, but you also become God’s enemy.
Are you prepared to become an enemy of God?
Where does your allegiance lie?
Are you lying about your allegiance?
What?
The snare set by the demon is the false idea that if you have been a ‘Christian’ for many years, attended ‘church’ for many years, give regularly to the ‘church’ for many years, you are a friend of God.
This is a lie; a great big lie.
Brethren, learn this well:
The real test of friendship with God is our ability to humble ourselves solely and fully before our God.
Quoting Proverbs 3:34, James reminds us, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
Do you humble yourself before God? Even to the point of letting go of your own dreams and plans for your own life? Or even to the point of knowing that His ways are higher, and therefore more perfect, than yours?
Do you humble yourself before God to the point of believing that every idea, concept, thought of your own human construct is misaligned to His?
Do you humble yourself before God to the point of saying to Him, ‘Lord, Your will be done in my life, as it is in heaven’?
This is critical to the deepening process of our faith life.
Because when our lives become aligned to God’s purposes for us, our conflicts become His, and His conflicts become ours.
God will oppose the proud.
Resist the devil’s schemes, ploys and temptations for you to work on fulfilling your own dreams, fantasies and will for your life.
The devil says, ‘live for yourself’, you tell the devil, ‘I live for Christ.’
The devil says, ‘fulfill your desires’, you tell the devil, ‘I live to fulfill God’s,’
The devil says, ‘glorify yourself’, you tell the devil, ‘I live to glorify God.’
Submit yourself to God. Do this first.
Know what you need to do, then do what you need to do.
Actually work on actively submitting your life into God’s hands, and in the course of dong so, He will empower you to resist the devil with the kind of resistance required for the devil to feel the need to flee from you!
You don’t want to simply push him back, only to have him come right back into your face again.
You want to shove him so hard that he will not want to stick around for your next shove.
When you actually live for Christ, the devil does not stick around you; he will flee.
Who can stand against our God?
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)
Stand with God. Humble yourself before God. Live in His favor. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)
In this, James (4:8-10) equips us with practical steps to living our lives in faith and humility before the Lord.
As a pastor, my life’s call is to minister God’s surpassing peace in circumstances of conflict, within and with-out our faith community. Every call requested of me into circumstances of life, marriages, family and community, and that the Holy Spirit leads me into, has almost always been to participate with God in inbreaking His Kingdom over these circumstances of conflict.
This passage in James 4:8-10 are the very same principles that I draw on, in prayerfully discerning my participation with the Holy Spirit’s ministry of conflict resolution, and in inbreaking God’s kingdom upon conflict situations.
I pray that these steps will deepen your relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ as it has done in mine.
“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.”
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our dear heavenly Father,
Hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Forgive me, O Lord, for building my own kingdom and seeking after my will. I recognize that this selfishness and sin is rooted in my total depravity.
In this, I thank you for Your mercy, and grace upon my life; in revealing Your presence, purpose and love for me.
I recognize that Your ways are far higher than mine, and as such, I humble myself before You, my God and King.
Have Your way in me.
Teach me to recognize the full extent of the conflicts that I am in.
Guide me to think biblically about conflicts, in order that I may participate with Your Holy Spirit in resolving my life’s conflicts in a way that is acceptable to You.
Grant me courage and wisdom to deprive my fallen and sinful nature, and depend wholly upon You and Your holy purposes
I acknowledge that apart from Your grace, I am utterly unable to follow Christ, refrain from evil, or even accept Your gift of Salvation through my Saviour, Jesus.
Be present to me in my conflicts and struggles, that I may always choose to live in Your grace over my own sinful and selfish desires.
May I be aligned to Your purposes for me. Teach me to pray with the right motives. Especially in my conflict, may I continue to seek Your purpose in my life, and pray with Your Sovereign will in mind.
Holy Spirit, fill me; that I may be Christ-like in every way and in all my emotional responses, especially when I am in circumstances of conflict.
Grant me the resolve to resist the devil in every way.
Grant me the resolve to stand with You all the days of my life; for I live only for my Lord Jesus Christ, to fulfill Your Will, and to glorify You alone.
Heavenly Father, I long to come near to You.
I long to consecrate myself, presenting my body as a living sacrifice – holy and acceptable to You. Forgive me of my sins, O Lord. I repent and ask that Your Holy Spirit purify my heart and fill my life.
I long to humble myself, my ideals, my desires, my dreams and my destiny before You, my Lord. I commit all of my conflict situations – past, present and future – into Your sovereign hands.
Walk with me, Lord, now and always.
I thank you and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Peace-bringer, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
James 4:1
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Conflict.
It is a constant, and reality of life.
A bomb is a bomb – regardless if it has exploded or not. And here’s the interesting bit, after it has exploded, no one is ever in any doubt that it was a bomb to begin with.
So it is the same with conflict.
Sometimes you suspect that there is conflict, but you are not certain… could be a dud… and suddenly, BOOM!
Most times, when we bring ourselves to recognize the conflict, it has already left more than its fair share of hurts and grieves in its wake.
No one can ever claim to be free from conflict because as James points out, we are in perpetual conflict – within ourselves; with God, with others around us and with the world that we live in.
As Christians, we must acknowledge that conflict is part of our constant reality, and understand conflict biblically, in order to be able to resolve conflict biblically.
And remember, we are not only talking about resolving conflict within the Church, we are talking about extending Christ’s brand of all-surpassing peace to the world.
Only when we are able to think biblically about ‘conflict’, would we then understand and live out our lives in biblical wisdom, and our roles as ‘peacemakers’ in a world seeped in conflict (Ref: James 3:17-18).
So if you are in undergoing a conflict situation today, be encouraged – you are exactly where God wants you to be. May the Lord grant you wisdom and courage as you navigate the conflict with Christ beside you.
If you think you are not in any conflict situation in your life today, it is simply because the conflict has not grown enough to affect you, yet. May the Lord open your heart to the truth of reality, and prepare you for the developing storms.
We should never deny the existence of conflict – regardless if it has exploded or not, and we should never shirk from our divine appointment as Christ’s ‘peacemakers’ to the world.
How then, should we think biblically about conflict?
How do we develop a theology of conflict?
Christ was born into conflict. His life and ministry, death and resurrection, is the archetype of our own ultimate victory over sin, death, and conflict.
The moment we are born, we are born into conflict.
Where do conflicts come from?
It does not come from the so-called ‘other’ person, the offender or the trespasser.
Sure, the offender is always offensive. But should the offender have the power or the right to determine your own emotional response? Most certainly not!
Only you have the power to determine your response.
Let your emotions be indicative, but never imperative, of how you feel.
Never surrender control of your emotions to someone else, but let the Holy Spirit fill and guide your heart in all of your responses. (Ref: Ephesians 5:18)
Which is why James brings us exactly to the source of all conflicts – the ‘human’ desire.
Conflicts ‘come from the desires that battle within us’ (Ref: James 4:1). And these desires by being ‘human’ in nature are therefore fallen, sinful and wicked.
These ‘human’ desires are the very same desires that led to the Fall of Man in the beginning of time – ushering the world from the age of Communion into the age of Conflict which we continue to live in today.
The Fall of Man gave rise to conflict on three dimensions;
- Mankind’s conflict with God;
- Mankind’s conflict with one another; and
- Mankind’s conflict with Creation.
It is my deep belief that unless we address conflict on these three dimensions through Christ simultaneously, the Church will continue to struggle in her endeavors to understand her role as peacemaker in the world.
This is certainly something to think about for now, and something to talk about in the near future.
Conflict.
To think biblically about conflict, we must first understand the state of our ‘human’ desire.
We know that we are sinful, fallen and wicked.
But is there any part within us that is possibly… good?
“Not so”, says Paul.
“9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.
10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 9)
From Paul’s teachings, Augustine of Hippo – early church theologian and philosopher who greatly influenced the thoughts of Western Christianity and Culture – surmised the doctrine of total depravity.
Augustine taught that a result of the Fall, every person born into the world is enslaved to sin due to our fallen nature.
Apart from God’s grace, we are utterly unable to even choose to follow God, refrain from evil, or accept God’s gift of salvation through Christ Jesus.
Apart from God’s grace, we are sinful, wicked, utterly and totally depraved.
Even as Christians, we find ourselves constantly struggling in our faith journeys, doing our utmost in believing, receiving and living out God’s grace over our own selfish and sinful desires.
But when we are living out of selfishness, we find our lives misaligned to God’s purposes for us. This misalignment leads to the uncertainty of God’s sovereign will in our lives. We begin to ask but do not receive, because we ask with wrong motives. (James 4:3)
Conflict leads to this misalignment of our lives with God’s purposes for us, and results in our prayers with wrong motives.
We forget to seek God’s purposes for our lives. We forget to pray with God’s purposes in mind.
Instead of ‘Your kingdom come; Your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven’, it becomes, ‘my kingdom come; my will be done, on earth… and with this, you can tell that I couldn’t care less about heaven.’
This type of prayer represents a potentially catastrophic failure of faith.
James expressed the immense gravity of this dangerous situation when he incites us to question our allegiance. (James 4:4-5)
If your life is misaligned to God’s purposes, you may become friends with the world, but you also become God’s enemy.
Are you prepared to become an enemy of God?
Where does your allegiance lie?
Are you lying about your allegiance?
What?
The snare set by the demon is the false idea that if you have been a ‘Christian’ for many years, attended ‘church’ for many years, give regularly to the ‘church’ for many years, you are a friend of God.
This is a lie; a great big lie.
Brethren, learn this well:
The real test of friendship with God is our ability to humble ourselves solely and fully before our God.
Quoting Proverbs 3:34, James reminds us, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
Do you humble yourself before God? Even to the point of letting go of your own dreams and plans for your own life? Or even to the point of knowing that His ways are higher, and therefore more perfect, than yours?
Do you humble yourself before God to the point of believing that every idea, concept, thought of your own human construct is misaligned to His?
Do you humble yourself before God to the point of saying to Him, ‘Lord, Your will be done in my life, as it is in heaven’?
This is critical to the deepening process of our faith life.
Because when our lives become aligned to God’s purposes for us, our conflicts become His, and His conflicts become ours.
God will oppose the proud.
Resist the devil’s schemes, ploys and temptations for you to work on fulfilling your own dreams, fantasies and will for your life.
The devil says, ‘live for yourself’, you tell the devil, ‘I live for Christ.’
The devil says, ‘fulfill your desires’, you tell the devil, ‘I live to fulfill God’s,’
The devil says, ‘glorify yourself’, you tell the devil, ‘I live to glorify God.’
Submit yourself to God. Do this first.
Know what you need to do, then do what you need to do.
Actually work on actively submitting your life into God’s hands, and in the course of dong so, He will empower you to resist the devil with the kind of resistance required for the devil to feel the need to flee from you!
You don’t want to simply push him back, only to have him come right back into your face again.
You want to shove him so hard that he will not want to stick around for your next shove.
When you actually live for Christ, the devil does not stick around you; he will flee.
Who can stand against our God?
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)
Stand with God. Humble yourself before God. Live in His favor. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)
In this, James (4:8-10) equips us with practical steps to living our lives in faith and humility before the Lord.
As a pastor, my life’s call is to minister God’s surpassing peace in circumstances of conflict, within and with-out our faith community. Every call requested of me into circumstances of life, marriages, family and community, and that the Holy Spirit leads me into, has almost always been to participate with God in inbreaking His Kingdom over these circumstances of conflict.
This passage in James 4:8-10 are the very same principles that I draw on, in prayerfully discerning my participation with the Holy Spirit’s ministry of conflict resolution, and in inbreaking God’s kingdom upon conflict situations.
I pray that these steps will deepen your relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ as it has done in mine.
“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.”
- Come near to God. (v8)
- Do you have an authentic relationship with God?
- Is He even more real to you than your spouse, children, or family?
- Do you tithe your time to God? Do you make special considerations in your daily life to give the first-fruits of your time to Him?
- Consecrate yourself. (v9)
- Repent from your sins, and purify your hearts.
- “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God”; make this your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1)
- Purify yourself. Live in God’s pathway of holiness.
- And never, ever gawk at the idea of becoming a holy person. Of course, becoming holy is never the chief objective in following Christ, but rather the consequence.
- We are called to be a royal priesthood. As such, we must be known to the world as a holy people.
- Commit your circumstances to the Lord. (v10)
- In other words, commit your conflict to the Lord.
- Let God have first and last word in your participation in the conflict.
- Accept His guidance on the matter - in which the first course of action being always the release of His forgiveness to all who may have trespassed against you.
- Act on your faith in Christ, by being Christ-like to those who are in conflict with you.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our dear heavenly Father,
Hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Forgive me, O Lord, for building my own kingdom and seeking after my will. I recognize that this selfishness and sin is rooted in my total depravity.
In this, I thank you for Your mercy, and grace upon my life; in revealing Your presence, purpose and love for me.
I recognize that Your ways are far higher than mine, and as such, I humble myself before You, my God and King.
Have Your way in me.
Teach me to recognize the full extent of the conflicts that I am in.
Guide me to think biblically about conflicts, in order that I may participate with Your Holy Spirit in resolving my life’s conflicts in a way that is acceptable to You.
Grant me courage and wisdom to deprive my fallen and sinful nature, and depend wholly upon You and Your holy purposes
I acknowledge that apart from Your grace, I am utterly unable to follow Christ, refrain from evil, or even accept Your gift of Salvation through my Saviour, Jesus.
Be present to me in my conflicts and struggles, that I may always choose to live in Your grace over my own sinful and selfish desires.
May I be aligned to Your purposes for me. Teach me to pray with the right motives. Especially in my conflict, may I continue to seek Your purpose in my life, and pray with Your Sovereign will in mind.
Holy Spirit, fill me; that I may be Christ-like in every way and in all my emotional responses, especially when I am in circumstances of conflict.
Grant me the resolve to resist the devil in every way.
Grant me the resolve to stand with You all the days of my life; for I live only for my Lord Jesus Christ, to fulfill Your Will, and to glorify You alone.
Heavenly Father, I long to come near to You.
I long to consecrate myself, presenting my body as a living sacrifice – holy and acceptable to You. Forgive me of my sins, O Lord. I repent and ask that Your Holy Spirit purify my heart and fill my life.
I long to humble myself, my ideals, my desires, my dreams and my destiny before You, my Lord. I commit all of my conflict situations – past, present and future – into Your sovereign hands.
Walk with me, Lord, now and always.
I thank you and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Peace-bringer, Jesus Christ. Amen.