How To Stop Doubting
Download MP3In today's podcast we will talk about what leads to doubting God and how to stop it.
Let’s go back to our text that we’ve been on the last few podcast. I want to remind you that this portion of scripture is talking about how to ask for wisdom but it’s actually a lesson on how to ask for any need we have and it’s using asking for wisdom as an example.
James 1
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 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. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
We’ve talked about we are invited to come to our Heavenly Father to ask.
Now let me add something here. Have you heard people say, “If God wants me to have it, I’ll have it.” How does that line of thought line up with what we are being taught in the Word? It doesn’t.
If we have a lack, we are to ask and when we ask it must be in faith.
How are we to ask in faith. Again, Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing the Word of God, the message of Christ.
So if we are to ask in faith, what we are asking for and how we are asking must be connected and lined up with the Word.
Now I want to focus on doubting.
Doubting is a verb. It’s something you do. It’s not just a thought you may have.
Let’s look at the text again, “6 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. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
I want you to hear it from the Amplified Bible version.
8 [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].
A man of two minds. Why? Because his mind is not focused. It’s not only on one thing.
That person, according to verse 7, shouldn’t even think he will receive anything from
God.
So before you can believe God and expect to receive, you must determine to be singularly minded.
Let’s look at one of the best examples of that that I know of. It’s Abraham.
Abraham had a promise from God to have a son with his wife Sarah. The problem was, both of them were old. What Abraham chose to do was not to consider the age of his or his wife’s body. He decided to only consider the promise of God. He was singularly minded.
Romans 4
19 Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God,
Now I want to make this point clear. Abraham didn’t deny the age or condition of his and his wife’s body. He just didn’t consider it. It’s not what his thoughts were on. He chose to have his mind on and only on what God had said.
That’s how he not only stayed in faith but grew stronger in faith.
Doubting is considering other things that contradict the Word of God. Doubting is when you start trying to decide whether God’s promises are true or not when there is evidence to the contrary.
Listen, we can choose to consider God’s Word only. That’s what Scripture teaches us to do when we are believing God for answers to our prayers.
Again, we are not called to deny what we see but we are called to believe according to the Word and not the circumstances. That’s faith. That’s honoring God and his Word.
This is how you move forward in receiving from God.
Blessings,
Tim Dumas
www.hopeforhealingfaithforliving.com
James 1
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 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. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
We’ve talked about we are invited to come to our Heavenly Father to ask.
Now let me add something here. Have you heard people say, “If God wants me to have it, I’ll have it.” How does that line of thought line up with what we are being taught in the Word? It doesn’t.
If we have a lack, we are to ask and when we ask it must be in faith.
How are we to ask in faith. Again, Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing the Word of God, the message of Christ.
So if we are to ask in faith, what we are asking for and how we are asking must be connected and lined up with the Word.
Now I want to focus on doubting.
Doubting is a verb. It’s something you do. It’s not just a thought you may have.
Let’s look at the text again, “6 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. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
I want you to hear it from the Amplified Bible version.
8 [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].
A man of two minds. Why? Because his mind is not focused. It’s not only on one thing.
That person, according to verse 7, shouldn’t even think he will receive anything from
God.
So before you can believe God and expect to receive, you must determine to be singularly minded.
Let’s look at one of the best examples of that that I know of. It’s Abraham.
Abraham had a promise from God to have a son with his wife Sarah. The problem was, both of them were old. What Abraham chose to do was not to consider the age of his or his wife’s body. He decided to only consider the promise of God. He was singularly minded.
Romans 4
19 Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God,
Now I want to make this point clear. Abraham didn’t deny the age or condition of his and his wife’s body. He just didn’t consider it. It’s not what his thoughts were on. He chose to have his mind on and only on what God had said.
That’s how he not only stayed in faith but grew stronger in faith.
Doubting is considering other things that contradict the Word of God. Doubting is when you start trying to decide whether God’s promises are true or not when there is evidence to the contrary.
Listen, we can choose to consider God’s Word only. That’s what Scripture teaches us to do when we are believing God for answers to our prayers.
Again, we are not called to deny what we see but we are called to believe according to the Word and not the circumstances. That’s faith. That’s honoring God and his Word.
This is how you move forward in receiving from God.
Blessings,
Tim Dumas
www.hopeforhealingfaithforliving.com
