James 1:5-8 ESV
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Praying for Wisdom
So, as followers of Jesus Christ, we should pray to the Lord
for wisdom to make right and just and honest decisions. We should seek his
counsel in making decisions of consequence which can impact our lives and our
lifestyles and the lives of other people. We should seek him when we have to
make career decisions, or if we are faced with a possible relocation, or if the
church gathering we are attending is obviously not following the counsel of
God, and if they are promoting false teaching, and things like that.
We should pray for him to lead us in the path of
righteousness and that we would follow his counsel and his wisdom, and that we
would discern lies from truth, and that we would not be naïve and gullible to
the point to where we fall into other people’s traps. And we should pray for
open doors to share the gospel and for ministry opportunities and for
sensitivity to other people’s needs. For there are many things that we should
seek the counsel of the Lord about, for we now belong to him, and we are to be
his servants.
And when we pray for wisdom, how do we know the answer? How
do we know what God is saying to us? Well, for one, we have the Holy Spirit living
within us, and he is God living within us giving us his counsel through an
inner voice. But as we pray for wisdom, we should also be in the word, and the
Spirit will speak to us through the written word. And sometimes we will know by
opened and closed doors. But the wisdom we think we are hearing needs to align
with the Scriptures, and we need to be obedient to our Lord.
The Double-Minded
Now, to be double-minded means to be of two minds and souls, and to be wavering and
vacillating between two opinions. It is like a person split in half, kind of
like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – one person but split personalities. He is like
someone on both sides (or ends) of a teeter-totter (seesaw). And he fluctuates
up and down from one side to the other. It is a lot like someone who professes
faith in Jesus Christ but who lives like hell, still walking in deliberate and
habitual sin without regard for the Lord and for his commands (New Covenant). He
professes one thing but lives the opposite.
So, this is not someone whose life is surrendered to Jesus
Christ to walking in his ways and in his truth and righteousness. This is
someone who is still being tossed back and forth by various winds of doctrine, sometimes
vacillating between the true gospel of grace and the cheap grace gospel, and between
believing his sins don’t matter to God at all and at least saying he believes
that they do. So, his life is not committed to God but to himself, with him
still deciding how he is going to live, regardless of what God says.
So, when this person who is double-minded is doubting the
Lord and is not acting in faith, then he should not expect to receive anything
from the Lord. But many do expect God to do for them regardless of whether or
not they are walking by faith in Jesus Christ. For they have this entitlement
mindset which says that God is supposed to do for them what they ask, even
though they refuse to do what he asks of them. They see God as there for them,
but they don’t see themselves as God’s possession and him as Lord (Master).
So, when this says, “For that person must not suppose that
he will receive anything from the Lord,” I believe that includes salvation from
sin and eternal life with God. For other Scriptures teach us that if we walk
(in practice, in conduct) in sin, and not in holiness, and not in obedience to
our Lord, then we do not have eternal life with God. We are not saved from our
sins. And we will not enter the kingdom of heaven. For those who are in the
flesh, whose minds are set on the flesh, cannot please God, for they are
hostile to God, and they do not submit to God’s law (see Romans 8:1-8).
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
No comments:
Post a Comment