WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12
Scripture: James 4:1-5

As we continue to look at Scriptures that let us know the criteria of becoming an enemy of God, even James speaks of this issue in James 4:1-5. He says, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’?” When do we become an enemy of God? When we refuse to deal with our flesh. When we refuse to choose the path of the Spirit and choose the dictates of our own body. Any believer can choose to follow a path which results in us becoming an enemy of God. At that point, we face His Judicial Hand and potential intervention. God’s corrections always come to us in love in order to restore us to our first love. But rest assured, His corrections come! They come to nations, they come to cities, they come to individuals. If a nation goes too far in becoming an enemy of God, then that nation ceases to exist forever. We certainly want interventions before that day comes!