Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
2-8 When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realise that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence. And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem he has only to ask God—who gives generously to all men without making them feel foolish or guilty—and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him. But he must ask in sincere faith without secret doubts as to whether he really wants God’s help or not. The man who trusts God, but with inward reservations, is like a wave of the sea, carried forward by the wind one moment and driven back the next. That sort of man cannot hope to receive anything from God, and the life of a man of divided loyalty will reveal instability at every turn.
Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Truth or False: There is a kind of prayer that receives nothing from God?
It is the prayer of the doubter, the one who does not “ask in faith.”
When James says we are to make our requests to God “with no doubting,” he’s not saying we must never have any uncertainty or confusion in our minds, ever.
To doubt in the sense that James uses the term here is more than simply saying, “I am struggling, wavering to be certain about this” or “I guess almost know this to be maybe 1% true but, ugh however, maybe sometimes I wonder it is not even less”; refusing to firmly ground themselves, entrust ourselves to our Father’s care.
It is to make a back-up plan that relies on our efforts even as we ask God for His intervention, or to ask for something that deep down we do not really want.
J.B. Phillips paraphrases this verse in a helpful way: “He must ask in sincere faith without secret doubts as to whether he really wants God’s help or not.”
James is addressing the issue of divided loyalty, describing the doubter as one whose prayers and desires are clearly at hard core odds with each other.
This person comes before God and asks for things that he or she has no intention of doing, much as the great 5th-century theologian Augustine famously prayed prior to his conversion: “Lord, make me pure, but not yet.”[1]
God knows exactly when we are simply playing the game, using the language, singing the song without any truth or desire to match up our lives to our words.
He knows whether we really want His help, are secretly reserving the right to do only exactly what we feel like doing if His wisdom does not lead, move, us in the only direction we naturally desire.
Faith says no to this kind of deliberate insincere hypocrisy, which prays for wisdom but acts only in complete foolishness. The faith James describes is therefore more than comprehension; it is an expression of trust and devotion.
Honesty lies at the heart of any genuine appeal, whether to an earthly father or our heavenly Father.
When you come before God, you must “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22).
With this kind of sincerity, you will make it clear in your own soul and to God that you are fully trusting Him to be faithful to His promises and that you are serious about acting on whatever wisdom He provides.
In what area of your life are you particularly aware that you absolutely need God’s wisdom?
Entrust yourself to your heavenly Father and be ready to follow His guidance, so you will walk steady in your faith and joy, and not be tossed about by the wind.
When You Not so Simply Don’t Know What to Do
James 1:5-8 Amplified Bible
5 If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask [for wisdom] in faith, without doubting [God’s willingness to help], for the one who doubts is like a billowing surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind. 7 For such a person ought not to think or expect that he will receive anything [at all] from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable and restless in all his ways [in everything he thinks, feels, or decides].
Throughout my ministry I’ve had people come to me and say, “I just don’t know what to do. I want to do God’s will, but I don’t know what he wants for me.”
And, really, how do you know for sure what school to go to, or what job to take? How do you know when to move, or not to move, what cars, homes to buy?
How do you know what person you should marry, when to start a family, or whether you should adopt?
More than once when we had to make an important decision, I found myself wishing that God would send a clear message to guide us.
So how do we know God’s will?
James 1:5 gives the answer, at least in part: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God …” By ourselves we don’t have the wisdom to know what God plan has in mind for us. And that’s the reason we need to ask God, “who gives generously.” If you don’t know what to do, ask God for wisdom.
God gives us his wisdom through the Bible.
“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105).
God gives us wisdom through the people in our lives. Don’t be afraid to ask other people for their insight. God gives us wisdom through open and closed doors and through doors closing, doors slamming, changing life circumstances.
We have to ask, and then we need to observe closely as God provides answers.
Truth or Nonsense?
When praying …
12 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, anyone who believes in Me [as Savior] will also do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these [in extent and outreach], because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in My name [[b]as My representative], this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified and celebrated in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything in My name [as My representative], I will do it.
Authenticity (Psalm 51) of our hearts 100% does not, will not, matter to God?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Praying …
Psalm 137 Complete Jewish Bible
137 By the rivers of Bavel we sat down and wept as we remembered Tziyon. 2 We had hung up our lyres on the willows that were there, 3 when those who had taken us captive asked us to sing them a song; our tormentors demanded joy from us — “Sing us one of the songs from Tziyon!”
4 How can we sing a song about Adonai here on foreign soil? 5 If I forget you, Yerushalayim, may my right hand wither away! 6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember you, if I fail to count Yerushalayim the greatest of all my joys.
7 Remember, Adonai, against the people of Edom the day of Yerushalayim’s fall, how they cried, “Tear it down! Tear it down! Raze it to the ground!”
8 Daughter of Bavel, you will be destroyed! A blessing on anyone who pays you back for the way you treated us! 9 A blessing on anyone who seizes your babies and smashes them against a rock!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
12 Since we have such a [glorious] hope and confident expectation, we speak with great courage, 13 and we are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the Israelite’s would not gaze at the end of the glory which was fading away. 14 But [in fact] their minds were hardened [for they had lost the ability to understand]; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed [only] in Christ. 15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil [of blindness] lies over their heart; 16 but whenever a person turns [in repentance and faith] to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom]. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Becoming Like Christ
2 Corinthians 3:15-18 Amplified Bible
15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil [of blindness] lies over their heart; 16 but whenever a person turns [in repentance and faith] to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom]. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.
If the Holy Spirit’s work in us is like the work of a master gardener, what is the Spirit growing in us?
The Spirit wants to reproduce Jesus’ character in us.
Our reading from 2 Corinthians today states that we “are being transformed into [Jesus’] image with ever-increasing glory.”
In other words, the Holy Spirit’s aim is to make us more and more like Jesus.
The Holy Spirit’s work is to nudge us, prod us, move us, transform us and shape us to think and act and be more like our Savior Jesus, for us to better mirror Jesus in our character, to increasingly help us love like Jesus in our daily life.
Of course, it’s not an overnight rush job.
The Spirit doesn’t guarantee delivery in full by 8:00 a.m. the next day—or even within a few days, months, years or decades.
This isn’t the work of a courier driver.
This is the work of the Master Gardener, the One with a master’s vision of the finished garden, the One who daily, gradually toils and works in our lives until the desired spiritual fruit eventually sprouts, blossoms, unto the glory of God.
There are times when the Holy Spirit’s work in us will be immediate, dramatic, and maybe even spectacular.
But usually the Spirit’s work in us is slow, subtle and gentle.
That’s the Holy Spirit’s trademark.
We are made in God’s image, in the image of God we are created, (Genesis 1:26-27) but that sacred image became spoiled and polluted in us because of sin.
So now God is slowly remaking that image in us—to be like our Savior Jesus!
Steps Towards Spiritual Freedom
Have we truly noticed that most of our unrest comes from ourselves?
We get stuck ruminating on the things we can’t change or control.
Un-forgiveness stops us from moving toward healing in our relationships.
Pervasive negativity prevents us from enjoying the moment.
Exhaustion keeps us functioning as only a shadow version of ourselves.
Repeated excuses keep us trying the same things over and over again that are no longer capable of working, are burning bridges and stop us from changing.
Fear, guilt and shame stop us cold from accepting God’s free gift of grace.
Our unhappiness lives in our souls and finding peace starts as a process of Holy Spirit-led self-discovery.
How many of us will spend our lives turning a blind eye to our own hangups?
In our own stubborn blindness, we refuse to consider that maybe the rhythm of frustration we are up against might be something we have the power to change.
It’s so much easier to render our judgments, and then blame our surroundings.
To point out the sliver in our neighbor’s eye, all while avoiding our own planks. (Matthew 7:1-5)
We so often live stuck in a giant sheet of bubble wrap we wrapped around us.
Thank God He is patient with us!
Thank God that God knows exactly what to do with bubble wrap – POP IT!
How, then, do we allow ourselves to be “popped by God” to get us past our blindness and grab onto the gracious freedom that God promises each of us?
1. Freedom comes when we abandon pride.
The path towards freedom begins with a surrendering of the pride we each hold that claims we have what we need to fix ourselves all on our own.
This pride tells us to be ashamed, embarrassed, fearful and humiliated when we don’t live up to our own internal standards.
It relies on rules and religion rather than grace and a relationship with Jesus.
Step one towards freedom and making peace with the people God created us to be is to abandon our pride.
The Bible teaches that pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18), and the humble find wisdom (Proverbs 11:2).
2. God’s wisdom teaches us how to change.
Wisdom helps us change.
Only through God’s miraculous truth can we see the way past the same thought processes which keep us trapped, wrapped, in our own fears, shame, bitterness.
James 1:5prompts us to ask God for wisdom when we don’t have it.
He gives it freely when we have a humble heart.
When we read and study God’s Word, spend time in his church, seek Him and His Kingdom through prayer, we discover what godly wisdom looks like.
Proverbs 1:7instructs us that wisdom is found in the context of community.
We have to be willing to accept advice and instruction when we are stuck and looking for a new way forward.
Proverbs 3:7 tells us that wisdom turns away from evil.
If our own set patterns get us stuck in sin over and over, then God’s wisdom, and our Savior’s Cross, His Resurrection power moves us away from that evil temptation that keeps repeatedly keeps maliciously tugging at our souls.
3. Freedom points us towards others.
Interestingly God gives us the internal power through the Holy Spirit to find spiritual freedom, not so we can just enjoy ourselves better.
Even though a free you is a happier you and is a you that you can be confident in and enjoy.
The purpose of this Christ-purchased freedom is that we can serve others.
Isaiah 61:1tells us God’s spirit in our lives gives us the ability to bring good news to the poor, assist the brokenhearted, and set free those imprisoned in this world!
We are set free, so we can help others find that same freedom.
When we find ourselves stuck, wrapped in our own frustrations or even upset with others in our lives because their sin nature is making our lives harder, we are invited to draw on God’s spirit to see new ways to love and to serve others.
4. God’s spirit sets us free.
2 Corinthians 3:17says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
There is a mysterious element to spiritual freedom.
Freedom is an indescribable moment or journey that can take time where Heaven meets us here on Earth.
Areas I’ve sought freedom in has been anxiety over diabetes management.
For me, this freedom journey has taken years, but God has been my faithful teacher and sustainer through step forward and backward, each up and down.
Other times our freedom is like a dam breaking all at once.
The old life is washed away in an instant, and a new one is ready to begin.
Why does God work one way in my life and a different way in yours?
That is part of the mystery of the Spirit.
God is connectional and relational and not a rule-based God, which is why each of us has a singularly unique and diverse and vastly different spiritual journey.
One thing the Bible does tell us is that if we want to find freedom in our lives, we have to seek His Kingdom through His Holy Spirit.
Matthew 6:33 Amplified Bible
33 But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.
John 8:36says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Jesus came to Earth, so we could not only escape death and join his family, but so we could experience freedom in our lives here on Earth.
I am so thankful that God has not left me as I was.
He is always renewing my mind and spirit.
May you, by God’s grace, take steps toward spiritual growth and freedom today.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Jesus, my Savior, I have been listening to too many lies for far too long. I have been tricked one too many times by the enemy and I am frustrated. I need to be free from these lies. Jesus, I know that You are true and that the truth will set me free. Jesus, help me to rejoice in the truth. I need to believe the truth. I pray that it really would set me free. Help me with my unbelief, Jesus. Holy Spirit, You know my heart, and know that I need help believing. Thank You, Jesus, that You offer truth to Your children. Thank You for Your patience with me. In Your glorious name, I pray.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
It has been suggested that a knowledge of one’s own ignorance is the beginning of wisdom and recognizing our lack of wisdom is the first prudent step towards understanding. Proverbs 1:1-7 reminds us of this truth: fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, that a knowledge of the holy brings true understanding.
Life is full of pitfalls and snares, and we often make wrong choices, but it is comforting to know that no matter what trials we may be called upon to face, or what foolish choices we have made in the past, what foolish choices we will definitely and decisively make in the future, how righteous is it to know that we can go to the Lord, ask Him for godly insight and spiritual understanding, and He has promised to give us all the wisdom we can handle, is needed for the task.
1 How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent Word! What more can he say than to you he has said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
James 1:5-8 The Message
5-8 If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Do not think you are going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
A man was given a tour of heaven in a dream. As the tour ended, he noted one particular building was skipped over. The angel sternly warned that he did not want to see the inside of the building. This only heightened the man’s curiosity. The angel finally showed him. It was a building filled with beautifully wrapped presents. When the man asked what these were, the angel answered these were gifts which God had prepared for his children that were never claimed in prayer.
How many mansions does God have set aside for us? How many rooms are in all of those many mansions? How many are full? How many are empty? How many are unoccupied by God’s children but are used only as simple storehouses? If it’s one building, one mansion in heaven, storing and housing unclaimed gifts, how many boxes would contain unclaimed, unwanted gift of wisdom? When facing trials, we pray for provision, healing, strength, protection, intervention, miracles, deliverance, and so very many other things, besides God’s wisdom.
In this short passage, James, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, is particularly referencing the wisdom of God we need when compassed about by the various difficulties we encounter in our everyday lives and the tough choices we are all required to make. Until Christ’s resurrection, James was at enmity with God and scornful towards his older sibling. It must have been shocking for this young man to discover that the brother whom he had treated with such contempt, during his life, was his Lord, his Savior, was the source of all the best wisdom.
This bondservant of Christ may have lacked wisdom in his earlier days but was ready to admit his folly and willing to share with us how easy it is to gain godly wisdom and spiritual understanding. James began his lesson on wisdom by pointing out that the suffering of this life produces patient endurance, which will furnish us with spiritual maturity. “However,” he continues, “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” If we do really, seriously, unreservedly, want to know how we can set our ultra-unwise selves aside, James writes.
Don’t ask how we entered into or exactly how can get out of our trials.
But PRAY! God, the Father, Son, Spirit, what we can get out of our trials?
There are times when we do not know what to do or which way to turn, and I am sure James was shocked and mortified when the resurrected Christ visited his petulant, younger brother. But James was a young man with a teachable spirit, who was quick to embrace the wisdom of faith he lacked and encourages those of us who are deficient in spiritual insight to ask the Lord for all the necessary wisdom we need – and never to doubt that God will provide for us liberally.
James also knows that trusting the Lord for godly wisdom as we travel through life… is a tool the Lord uses to test and strengthen our faith in Him, and which helps to produce in us the patient endurance that is so needful for our spiritual growth – we are reminded to stand fast in the faith unwaveringly – if we are to honor the Lord Who bought us with His precious blood, to come forth as gold.
How much we all need God’s heavenly wisdom in the tests and trials of life’s disappointments and difficulties, which are so much a part of our everyday lives. How much we need His guidance in the choices we have to make, a willingness to admit our faults, a readiness to learn the lessons God desires to teach us, and an eagerness to put into practice the truth we have learned.
James 1:1-4 The Message
1 I, James, am a slave of God and the Master Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered to Kingdom Come: Hello!
Faith Under Pressure
2-4 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work, so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
James is saying, Pray for the unclaimed, unwanted, but precious gift of wisdom.
James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” This verse is a continuation of the previous paragraph. Verses 2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Then here it seems that James abruptly shifts to the subject of prayer. But the two passages are connected. The link is the word “lack.”Verse 4 says that the purpose of trials is to become “perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Verse 5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God.”
It is God’s will for you to become a mature Christian that lacks no good thing. But we need to grow up. But we need our trials to know how to “gird ourselves” to mature in our faith. Our faith is always going to somehow be incomplete. We consistently lack needed virtues for godly living against all situations. We can in no way predict who, what, where when and why of every exact situation. One thing we always lack is wisdom. God uses trials to expose our need for wisdom.
James 1:5-8 teaches that God freely provides wisdom to face life’s trials to those who come to him in believing prayer. Vance Havner said it well: “If you lack knowledge, go to school. If you lack wisdom, get to God on your knees!”
How do you access the wisdom you need to face life’s trials?
Ask God for Wisdom.
Verse 5 says, “If anyone of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
The Problem. Verse 5 begins: “If any of you lacks wisdom…” This conditional statement does not suggest some do not need wisdom. James states the fact in a way that requires each person to examine himself and be humble enough to confess need for wisdom. No one is perfect in wisdom! (1 Corinthians 1:18-25)
What is wisdom? In scripture, wisdom is not academic, philosophical, or intellectual. Wisdom is not knowledge. Wisdom requires knowledge. But you can have knowledge and not be wise. You can be an “over-educated fool.” Our world is truly filled with them. We live in truly the most skilled, knowledgeable, and advanced generation ever. We also live in the most profane, violent, and hedonistic generation ever. We have our knowledge. We lack God’s wisdom.
Wisdom begins with a certain kind of knowledge. Psalms 14:1 says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” This knowledge of God comes through God’s self-revelation of himself in scripture. The wisdom of God is found in the word of God.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the incarnate wisdom of God. (John 1:1-5)
Colossians 2:3 says in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” When Adan and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they made fools of us all. But God sent his Son into the world to live a righteous life, die on the cross for our sins, and rise from the dead to give us new life. The gospel is able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ. But saving faith does not automatically produce perfect wisdom. Jesus is the answer. That does not mean you will not have to face life’s difficult questions.
Proverbs 4:7 says, “Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.”
The Prescription. God is the source of all wisdom. To receive wisdom to face life’s trials, ask God for it. The prescription for wisdom is simple yet dynamic. You do not need time, experience, or education to be wise. The young, naive, and unlearned can ask God for wisdom. There is never a time God is unavailable.
The prescription is personal: “let him ask God.” You need godly people in your life to intercede for you. But there are things you need from God you will not receive from the intercession of others. You must ask God for yourself. If you need wisdom, you do not have only to go to your pastor, visit a counselor, inform your prayer partners, or go to your family and friends. They are 100% important. But true wisdom you need to face life’s trials is only a prayer away.
God gives. After commanding to us ask God for wisdom, James describes the character of God that makes him inclined to grant our request. God is a giving God. It is wrong to view God with clenched fists that must be pried open. God’s arms are outstretched. God’s hands are full, open, and ready to give. God’s pitcher is tilted toward his children to pour out blessings (Matthew 7:11).
God gives generously. The word “generously” means to be simple, single, or sincere. It is that which is pure. James uses the term to say God’s gifts are true gifts. Proverbs 23:1-3 says, “When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is set before you, and put a knife to you throat if you are given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.” Sometimes a person’s generosity is not genuine generosity. That is not the case with God (Romans 11:35). God gives generously, liberally, purely, sincerely, and freely.
God gives generously to all. Divine generosity is nondiscriminatory. God does not play favorites. He is no respecter of persons. In Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who kept going to the marketplace to hire workers. He hired workers early in the morning. he hired workers before the end of the workday. But he chose to pay them all the same things. The early birds whined, grumbled against the landowner. The landowner responded, “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me?” Indeed, God has the right to do what he wants. In his sovereign grace, he chooses to be generous to all.
God gives generously to all without reproach. You may know people who could help in your time of need. But are they the first people you want to help because of the lecture you will hear when you ask for help? You would never hear the end of it after they help. God will never chastise you for asking him for His wisdom.
You do not have to worry God is too busy running the world to help you.
You do not have to worry God may mock you for not knowing how to face life’s trials.
You do not have to worry God will become irritated because you ask for the same thing.
The Promise. When Solomon became king of Israel, God signed a blank check and gave it to him. In 1 Kings 3:5, God said to Solomon, ask what I shall give you.” What should you ask for if you had a guarantee that God would grant your request? In 1 Kings 3:9, Solomon asked, “Give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”
Solomon asked for wisdom. This request so pleased God that he gave Solomon wisdom and threw in wealth, longevity, and success. The wisdom God gave Solomon was not an exclusive gift. God has signed a check and made it out to any believer in Christ who asks for wisdom. All you have to do is endorse it in prayer. Verse 5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
James 1:5 promises those who ask God will receive wisdom, not answers. All too often, answers become idols. We are in many ways like Job, who demanded to interrogate God about his suffering. When God finally took the witness stand, Job was interrogated with questions and never answered one of Job’s questions. Yet Job emerged with greater wisdom. This is precisely how Savior God works.
Wisdom is not a spiritual navigation system with turn-by-turn directions. It is spiritual alertness to see the potholes in the road, or the guy who darts in front of you, and respond in a wiser way that does not ruin your Christian wisdom, dishonor the Lord, or discourage other believers.
Trust God for Wisdom.
There is a natural and critical progression in the text. Trials demand wisdom. Wisdom demands prayer. Prayer demands faith.
Verse 5 commands us to ask God for wisdom. Verses 6-8 explain how to ask God for wisdom. Verse 5 is an open gift every Christian can claim. Verse 6-8 establish an essential condition for receiving the promise. As you ask God for wisdom, trust God for wisdom.
God responds to the one who prays in faith. Verse 6 says, “But let him ask in faith.” God generously gives wisdom without reproach to all who ask him. But God requires that we ask in faith. This requirement applies to anything you ask.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
Whatever you ask in prayer must be asked in faith. James specifies that when you pray for wisdom, you must ask in faith. In Mark 11:22-24, Jesus says, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
God rejects the one who prays with doubt. Verse 6 says, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting.” There is a sense in which double is a friend of faith, not its enemy. Doubt is the ants in the pants of faith. It keeps faith alive, awake, and alert. Yet James commands us to ask in faith with no doubting. It is a prohibition against spiritual indecisiveness that wavers between trust and double. Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs!
What God thinks about the doubter. Verse 6 says, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that tis driven and tossed by the wind.”
This marine analogy is one of many images from nature in James. Growing up with his half-brother Jesus near the Sea of Galilee, James was familiar with storms at sea. Winds drove the waves in one direction, then another. Winds tossed the waves, lifting them high and then crashing them down. It is the kind of storm the disciples experienced that caused them to wake up Jesus and ask, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38) The one who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and fearfully tossed about by the wind.
Psalm 107:23-30 Authorized (King James) Version
23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; 24 these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. 25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. 27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 28 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
What the doubter thinks about God. The doubter lives with a foolish assumption. He supposed he can pray with doubt and receive an answer to his prayers. She supposes God will grant her request even though she does not trust God for what she asks. The doubter is confused about who God is and how God works. James disabused the doubter of this erroneous supposition.
James 1 Verse 7 says, “For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the lord.” James 1:2, James addresses his readers as “brothers,” a term of spiritual communion used throughout this letter. James addresses the doubter in verse 6 as “that person,” disassociating himself from the one who prays with doubt.
“For that Person must not suppose he will receive anything from the Lord.” “Anything” is not absolute. Matthew 5:45 says, God “makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends his rain on the just and on the unjust.” This is called “common grace.” It is the favor of God put out one all humanity.
James does not mean God refuses to do absolutely anything for the one who doubts. “Anything” must be understood in the context of prayer.
God does many things for doubters. But the doubter should never think he or she will receive anything they ask God for in prayer.
James states this as a divine command: “For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.” Doubt receives God’s rejection slip that reads: “Request denied due to insufficient faith.”
Verse 8 gives readers a final, devastating description of the one who believes but doubts: “he is a double-minded man,” unstable in all his ways.” “Double-minded” is unique to this epistle. Scholars believe James coined the term. It means to have two souls. It is to be two different people. Yet the term does not suggest duplicity or deceitfulness. It describes something far worse: Doubt rooted in divided loyalties.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 declares, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
There is one God. This One God alone demands every last ounce of your total devotion. Doublemindedness is exact the opposite of such complete devotion.
James 4:8 says,“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
The doubled minded has a sinful heart which needs to be purified to draw near to God (Psalm 51).
This is how a 21st Century version of James would describe the one who doubts.
He is a double-minded man.
He is a fence-straddler.
He is “Mr. Facing-Both-Ways.”
He is a walking civil war.
He trusts, but he doubts.
He hopes for the best but expects the worst.
He tries to be a “best friend forever” of the world and God at the same time.
In 1 Kings 18:21, Elijah the prophet confronts the double-minded children of Israel: “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? IF the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 says,
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
1 How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent Word! What more can he say than to you he has said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
2 “Fear not, I am with you, O be not dismayed, for I am your God and will still give you aid; I’ll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand, upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
3 “When through the deep waters I call you to go, the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow, for I will be with you, your troubles to bless, and sanctify to you your deepest distress.
4 “When through fiery trials your pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be your supply; the flames will not hurt you; I only design your dross to consume and your gold to refine.
5 “The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose I will not, I will not, desert to its foes; that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Lord of wisdom, I sometimes finding understanding the Bible to be difficult. I know you want me to apply your word to my life. I thank you for giving me your word so I can grow in my relationship with you. Help me grasp what you want me to know as I read your revealed word. Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions. Be my teacher, so I can live and obey your word. Thank you for your ever greater, wiser advice. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 