Neville Goddard on James 4:1-6 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read James 4 in context

Scripture Focus

1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2Ye 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.

3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4Ye 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.

5Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

James 4:1-6

Biblical Context

James 4:1-6 shows that quarrels come from inner desires. External battles reflect inner lusts, and grace arrives when we humble ourselves and align with God through prayer.

Neville's Inner Vision

Within this letter the wars and fights you see are not fought by others against you, but are waged within your own consciousness. The lusts that war in your members are the private images you call mine, desires that imagine possession, advantage, and separate selfhood. When you feel you lack, you strive; when you strive without surrender, you remain outside the flow of life and cannot obtain what you seek. To receive, you must revise your aim from personal gain to alignment with the one Life expressing through you now. The scripture says the Spirit dwells in us and longs to envy, yet God gives more grace to the humble. The humble are those who stop bargaining with the world and cultivate a quiet expectancy that the divine I AM is already aware of you, supplying every need. As you yield, grace becomes your atmosphere, not a prize you chase. Your true petition is not for things but for the recognition that you and God are one activity of consciousness. When you know this, the so-called enemies fade, and grace becomes your constant companion.

Practice This Now

Imaginative Act: Close your eyes and imagine you are already living in the grace you seek; feel the I AM within declaring, 'It is done,' and let that certainty settle as fact. Then act from that revision in daily choices, permitting grace to guide your desires.