James 1:6-8 NKJV
Revelation 5:8 NKJV
Psalm 36:7 NKJV
James Series
James 1:6-8 immediately followed the promise that God will give wisdom when we ask for it.
In James 1:6-8 he wrote, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
So, verse five says when we need wisdom we ask, but verse six tells us we need to ask in faith. It seems like that could be somewhat difficult, but I don’t think it is difficult. I have studied and prayed about James 1:6-8 a lot and I came to a point of acceptance with what James said.
I believe he is saying, don’t doubt that God can and will give you wisdom. This is God after all. James is simply saying, don’t ask, then un-ask. Ask and wait.
If we ask then wonder if we want wisdom, or even wonder if God is capable of giving wisdom, we will be doing a back and forth doing a back and forth, “should I ask or shouldn’t I ask” dance.
As I pondered that, I remembered a time when I asked for wisdom and God gave wisdom. Knowing that God can and has given wisdom in the past helped. That means all I have to do is ask for it and wait. Faith grows as we use it.
It really is like planting a seed and waiting for it to grow into a plant. I remember in third grade my teacher did a lot of hands on learning projects, like planting seeds. I learned then that we cannot look in the dirt to see it sprout…we have to wait for it to break through the dirt. I remember learning to wait for the seed to sprout. It wasn’t easy, but since the seed did sprout, I believed the seed would sprout.
Waiting for the seed to sprout really is like giving a request to God. After all, He IS God.
The faith component is really more encompassing than just being relegated to asking for wisdom. When we ask for healing, we do it from a perspective of believing that God can and does heal. When I was Director of a healing service, there were times when the question of faith would come up. When people would ask me about having the faith, I remembered what my dad taught me when I was young. He told me God CAN do anything, after all, He IS God. He taught me about surrendering it TO God. He taught me to ask, then let go of it so God could do His part. He also taught me that God’s love for me is unconditional.
Once I let go and surrendered the ‘thing’ to God, I discovered I felt safe. Even now once I surrender, I feel like God has it. God received it.
Revelation 5:8 helped.
I’ve written about the golden bowl in Revelation 5:8, where all of our prayers are placed. The prayers are burned into incense which goes into the nostrils of God. So, once we speak a prayer we actually cannot retrieve it because it has been made into incense. Without even knowing it, we have actually surrendered it.
Knowing that my prayer is instantly made into incense, helped me with the faith component. I asked, and the request became part of the incense that went into the nostrils of God. I HAVE surrendered it to God.
Since my request has been made into incense, it’s already burned up and is part of God.
Scripture never contradicts itself, but it does built on itself. The Revelation of John was chronologically the last book written. James was martyred around the early 60’s. John received the revelation on the Island of Patmos before he died, around 100 A.D. in his mid-90’s (https://austindiocese.org/st-john-the-evangelist-the-apostle-the-beloved-disciple).
The golden bowl that contained the prayers of all the saints was revealed in the Revelation of John long after James died. We still give our requests to God, believing without doubting that the request went into the golden bowl.
We still surrender our requests to God.
We wait.
Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.”
We open our hands to receive God’s great love. We are covered by the shadow of His wings.
And so, Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Surrender one request to God
Know God loves you and the request goes into the Golden Bowl, is burned into incense, and God receives it into His nostrils. Then wait. Ask for wisdom as you wait, and know God will give you wisdom.
In God, Deborah
acrazyjourney.com
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