God calls us to be faithful to Him. This daily devotional looks at the opposite — when we are plagued with doubts and double mindedness.
Nuggets
- We are to ask for wisdom with confidence in our faith and not doubt.
- Moral of the story: when we doubt and are double minded, God can’t bless us.
Devotions in Living Out Our Faith series
Have you ever thought about exactly why God rewards faith? Why is it that God finds it acceptable?
Jortin asked and answered this question. He wrote, “If it be asked, Why so? the answer is, because it produceth many good moral effects; because it is the greatest honour which we can pay to God; and because it is one of the best proofs of a well-disposed mind.”
Resource
Faith produces character — specifically, an imitation of God’s character. We talked a long time ago in the Christian Virtues series about faith being the foundation of all other virtues.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Having a strong faith is more than just having a strong mindset. It is about confidence.
That gets into the flip side. What happens when we doubt?
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Bag the Doubts
“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” (Jas. 1: 6 ESV)
We are to ask for wisdom with confidence in our faith and not doubt.
God doesn’t want us to jump between belief and unbelief.
The part that talked to me is we are not supposed to jump back and forth between feeling worthy and unworthy. It is so easy to talk ourselves into thinking that is okay.
I mean, He is God — and we definitely are not. We were sinful before conversion — and we still sin.
So, wouldn’t that make us unworthy?
No. We are worthy because Jesus’ blood covers our sins and makes us worthy to approach God.
That is the prerequisite for asking in faith. We have to be a child of God. “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will” (Jn. 9: 31 ESV).
Glossary
Satan just loves to throw those doubts into our minds. He will do anything he can to take our focus off God.
That is what doubts really are, right? We take our eyes off God of the Possible and put them on Us of the Impossible.
It seems like — a lot of times — we aren’t saying God can’t do something. We just think He won’t do it for us.
But we still are doubting God’s promises when we do that. He has promised to provide for us in our trials.
Wavering does feel like being tossed around by the waves and the wind. That is one reason God asks us to stand firm.
If we don’t stand firm, we can get knock off of our track. We won’t get from Point A to a point B if we knocked over to Point 3. We are totally off the letter path.
So, we have to plant ourselves like a tree in God’s Will and endure the wind and the waves.
We do that by being consistent in our prayer life. We’re getting ahead of ourselves again, but James later says, “… The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect” (Jas. 5: 16 ESV).
We believe what we are asking. If we want God to work in us, we have to believe He can and will.
White said something interesting. He wrote, “We are to believe that whatsoever we ask of God in prayer is according to His will.
Resource
I don’t know. To me, this smacks too much as we want God to answer whatever our prayer is. We aren’t looking first to see if it is in His Will. We want Him to work in our will.
It isn’t going to happen that way.
We have to come to God as sinners saved by His grace. We are to submit to His plan. We are to acknowledge Him as Sovereign God.
Manton countered that by addressing how prayer is regulated. He wrote, “… prayer must be regulated by faith, and faith must not wander out of the limits of the word. If you have a promise, [you] may be confident that your requests will be heard, though in God’s season: you cannot put up a carnal desire in faith (1 John 5:14).”
Resource
Let’s make sure we hear that verse. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (I Jn. 5: 14 NIV).
Don’t be Double Minded
“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” (Jas. 1: 8 ESV)
Moral of the story: when we doubt and are double minded, God can’t bless us.
When we doubt, we set ourselves up for becoming double minded. Double mindedness is an indication of weakness as the person is divided in his spirit as to whether He will follow God or the worldview.
If we are doubting that the gift of salvation is good, relevant, and does what it says it will do, how are we going to gain from it?
To me, that smacks too much of entitlement. God, You need to give us all these good things because You made us breathing, rational creatures. So, no, it doesn’t matter what we do or don’t do, You have to fix this to our liking.
Arrogant, aren’t we?
What is your greatest desire? Well, it depends on what day it is. Sometimes, I want what God wants for me; sometimes, I don’t.
What is your opinion? Well, it depends on who I am with and what they think. Then I will hold it up to what God wants. If it matches, great! If not, free will.
That is not what God is wanting from us.
The on-again, off-again type of relationship of someone who is wavering hampers God from blessing them. They bring it on themselves.
Adam indicated why that is. He wrote, “Such a suppliant dishonours, insults God to His face, by doubting the truth of His Word, by treating Him as unworthy of confidence, by not drawing near in the way He has prescribed as that in which alone access can be had and benefits obtained. It unfits us for receiving, as well as hinders the Lord from giving.”
Resource
We can’t blame God not answering our prayers on Him. Remember, James said in verse 5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (Jas. 1: 5 ESV emphasis added).
See the discrepancy? God gives liberally while we are stingy in our worship of Him when we don’t totally submit. Double-minded people are hypocrites.
Matthew 6: 24 addresses this. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” Mt. 6: 24 ESV).
When we switch between what we stand for and with whom our allegiance lies, it shows we are weak, at best, or can’t make a decision, at worst.
For believers who are faithful? Nothing is too good for them. God will answer all prayers that are prayed within His Will.
Okay. Smalridge — I think — said something profound. But we have to dig to get at it. Elaine-speak.
- Our relationship with God has to be built on our love for Him. If we love Him, we will remain obedient to Him. If we don’t love Him, we will fall back into sin.
- If we are double-minded and fall back into sin, we will not gain perfection.
- When we knowingly, willfully sin, we are uncertain as to whether God really will forgive us.
- Perfection/Maturity is a condition of our salvation.
- Performing certain works that we think will gain us salvation even though we are double-minded will, in fact, not gain us salvation.
Resource
I can see where perfection/maturity is a condition of salvation. We come forward for salvation and are regenerated.
We still have to work out our salvation. This working it out leads us to maturity. We call it navigating the Sanctification Road.
If we don’t do the sanctification process, we don’t reach perfection. Perfection is needed for entrance into Heaven.
Making the Connections
To me, the opposite of double minded is being sober minded. Being sober minded is a character trait distinguished by self-control, genuineness, and sound moral judgment. It is a calm and temperate disposition.
We genuinely love God and want to follow His laws and commandments. Our sound judgment keeps us from waffling back and forth.
We need this self-control in our lives to stave off double mindedness.
How Do We Apply This?
- Consistently follow God and His laws and commandments.
- Stand firm when tempted.
- Understand why God has created us.
- Serve God.
- Turn away from worldly pleasures.
- Set our sights on things above.
- Follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Resource
To read a devotion in the On Things Above series, click on the button below.
Father God. We don’t want to be double minded. We want to be totally submitted and committed to You. Strengthen us to withstand the trials that test our faith in You. Amen.
What do you think?
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