• Sometimes I just want someone to hug me and say, I understand your pain.

• It's going to be OK. Here's a cup of coffee,• and two million dollars.

3 For I envied the arrogant    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.4 They have no struggles;    their bodies are healthy and strong.5 They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills.6 Therefore pride is their necklace…

James 4:1-2a – What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.

1. Control – Do I seek more money/material things because I want more control?

2. Significance – Do I want to acquire this to increase my sense of importance?

3. Emotional – Am I seeking an emotional lift by getting this thing?

James 4:4,5 - You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? …Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the Spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?

SATAN (Genesis 3:1-4): 1“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” ....5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Is it others I envy? Is it my sinful nature and desires? Am I doubting God’s goodness because of something I don’t have?

1. Gratitude – God is the giver of all I have. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – In everything [every

circumstance] give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

James 1:17 – Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father.

1 Timothy 6:17 – …God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

1. Talk to the Owner – PRAY2. Examine motives3. Does it keep me from

something better?

1. Gratitude – God is the giver of all I have. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – In everything [every

circumstance] give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

James 1:17 – Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father.

1 Timothy 6:17 – …God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

2. Faith – God my provider will not forsake me. Hebrews 13:5 – Keep your lives free from the love

of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.

Philippians 4:12,13 – I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all things through him who gives me strength.

1 Timothy 6:8 –But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that…

1 Timothy 6:18-19 – Command them (Christians who are rich) to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

1 Timothy 6:9,10 – Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

3For I envied the arrogant    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

16 When I tried to understand all this,    it troubled me deeply17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;    then I understood their final destiny.

23 Yet I am always with you;    you hold me by my right hand.24 You guide me with your counsel,    and afterward you will take me into glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.