The CURE for …

The Cure from the sickness of worldliness.. yes worldliness can cause sickness, and lead to the death of what could have been a beautiful life.. 

Here are 10 steps according to the book of James that help us be free from worldliness.. 

James 4:7-17 NKJV

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. [11] Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. [12] There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? [13] Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; [14] whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. [15] Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." [16] But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. [17] Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

1. submit to God 

2. Resist the devil 

3. Draw near

4. Cleans your hands

5. Purify your heart 

6. Lament over your sin

7. Humble yourself 

8. Do not speak evil 

9. Seek Gods will 

10. Do good

Submit to God

Submission to God is submission to His Word.. when faced with choices you have either life or death as a way.. Jesus is The way and The truth.. submission is to allow your will to come in agreement with His Will.. Allowing The scriptures to instruct and inform you of what’s right and pleasing to God. 

Resist the Devil.   

You need to know Gods Word to know how to resist the devil..  resisting the devil requires a bold trust in Gods word to sustain you in the face of what pressure the devil is trying to present. 

Jesus said in His resisting 

Matthew 4:4 NKJV

But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"

He was hungry … devil placed an option that would satisfy him.. a real option not fake.. the devil will tempt with real options that appeal to the flesh realm.. 

Resistance is a requirement to be free from having a worldly heart.. 

Deliver us from temptation was part of the model prayer taught by Jesus 

Draw near 

God promised us that if we take the first step towards Him, He will respond.. 

It’s always our choice.. 

Drawing near daily is a sure way to fortify your heart from worldliness .. how easy it is for worldliness to creep in by just not drawing near. 

Cleans your hands 

Think in the natural just how much we wash our hands.. to remove dirt, and germs.. how many hand sanitizers are in your work place ?? The more people contact the more hand sanitizers there are .. 

Hands signify work.  There is righteous work and so forth . 

God promises to bless the work of our hands… but can He bless unrighteousness? Can He bless false weights 

Deuteronomy 16:15 NKJV

Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

Deuteronomy 24:19 NKJV

"When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Proverbs 20:10 NKJV

Diverse weights and diverse measures, They are both alike, an abomination to the LORD.

 1 Timothy 5:8 NKJV

But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Cleansing your hands is not washing often yet that’s a good practice.. it’s the action of righteousness.. right living, right doing, right application and approach to everyday transactions.. not defrauding, nor giving half truths, such as being a false witness.. your testimony to others is seen by this standard of outward living. 

Cleansing your hands is a sure way to fortifying your life against worldliness. 

Purify your heart 

Double mindedness will not receive anything from God.. 

James 1:5-8 NKJV

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. [6] But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. [7] For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; [8] he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The heart is the seedbed of life… what you plant in it … that is what will grow.. 

You are to purify your heart again by watering, digging, uprooting, and replanting Gods word in your heart.. 

Lament over your sin.. 

Have you sorrowed because you were found out about your sin ?? Or were you truly sorrowful because you realised you have taken responsibility and realise it will take God to change you and cleanse you.. 

Sin opens the door to distraction and eventually death.. 

Romans 6:23 NKJV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

James 1:15 NKJV

Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

2 Corinthians 7:[10] For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. [11] For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

Psalm 32:10 NKJV

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.

Humble yourselves. 

You can do it, or God will do it for you.. 

1 Peter 4:17 NKJV

For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

The Old Testament humbling included fasting .. 

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Do not speak evil 

Remember God sees, hears, and knows all things.. you cannot hide nor deny it when you have spoken evil.. 

Gods view of evil speaking is a much higher standard than we think. 

Ephesians 4:29-32 NKJV

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. [30] And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. [31] Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. [32] And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Colossians 3:8-10 NKJV

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. [9] Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, [10] and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

1 Peter 2:1-3 NKJV

Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, [2] as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, [3] if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Feeding on the milk of Gods word will help get your speaking corrected.. 

When was the last time you fed on the milk of Gods word.  

Speaking the right way will fortify your life from worldliness. 

Seek Gods Will 

Have you consulted with God as you plan out your year?? Even your day ?? 

Consulting the Lord with your life on a daily basis will keep you from allowing the filth of worldliness corrupt and influence your decision. 

Matthew 6:31-34 NKJV

"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' [32] For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. [34] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Do good

It’s an attitude of the heart.. 

Matthew 5:43-48 NKJV

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' [44] But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, [45] that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. [46] For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? [47] And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? [48] Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.