The Test of Your Faith
In the first article I wrote regarding patience, James 1:3 says: Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
A big part of our faith is when we pray to God the Father. When we pray, we usually are asking God for something. Let's look at what James says in verses 5-8.
James 1:5
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
James 1:6
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
James 1:7
For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
James 1:8
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
First, let's take a look at what is wisdom. It is basically the right use or exercise of knowledge. If you are faced with a situation and are lacking wisdom in what to do, the Bible tells us to ask God. It also tells us that God gives to all men liberally. Liberally means freely. Reading on in verse 5, it says that God upbraideth not. Upbraideth means charged with something wrong or disgraceful; reproached or reproved. So the Bible tells us that He doesn't reprove any who ask Him for wisdom. The last part of the verse simply states "...it shall be given him".
God has given His promise to us in verse 5. God does not lie and if He says something, He will do it. However, we must read on, as there is a condition to the promise.
Verse 6 tells us we must ask God in faith, nothing wavering. When we ask God for wisdom, we must not have a shred of doubt that He will do it. If you doubt, you are like a wave that rises one minute and sinks the next. You believe one moment and the next moment you don't believe.
Verse 7 is telling us that if you doubt that God will answer your prayer for wisdom, then you can be certain that you will not get your answer.
Verse 8 tells us that the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. That man is not steady, not stable, not fixed in anything.
Now, these few verses are very powerful. There have been many times I've been like that double-minded man. It made me realize that if we are pursuing God on a daily, minute-by-minute basis regarding all aspects of our life, we can't help but become more stable and fixed in our ways. Our faith will continue to grow also.
Let me give an example. In my early Christian life, I didn't read the Bible on a daily basis. On Sundays, I thought about God, went to church, and enjoyed it. Then Monday morning rolls around and I went to work. The world closed in on me. I tried to handle everything myself. Ha! It never worked! My temper would get the best of me. If I really got out of control, my language wasn't very nice. By the end of the week, I was as worldly a person as the next sinner. Sunday morning came and I felt guilty.
Can you see what a roller coaster ride I was on? How could I be a witness to sinners if I was acting just like them? If I had tried, they would have laughed and scorned me. Because a sinner knows that a Christian is suppose to be different than them.
Our Christian faith should be knowing without a doubt that God will do as He says He will do. Let's look at some other Scriptures where God says what He will do.
Matt 9:29
Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
Matt 17:20
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Matt 21:22
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
Mark 9:23
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mark 11:22
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Mark 11:23
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Mark 11:24
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Luke 8:25
And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.
Rom 1:8
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
1 Cor 2:5
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1 Cor 15:14
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
1 Cor 15:17
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
1 Peter 1:7
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Again, I strongly recommend that you read each of these verses along with the entire chapter as you will find much more information to help you grow in your faith. This is by no means a complete study of faith. There are so many wonderful people and their faith mentioned in the Bible. Please read some of their accounts and notice that God always answered those people of faith.
I want to leave you with these verses to remind you that God is no respecter of persons.
Acts 10:34
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
Rom 2:11
For there is no respect of persons with God.
Eph 6:9
And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
Col 3:25
But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.
1 Peter 1:17
And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
A big part of our faith is when we pray to God the Father. When we pray, we usually are asking God for something. Let's look at what James says in verses 5-8.
James 1:5
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
James 1:6
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
James 1:7
For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
James 1:8
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
First, let's take a look at what is wisdom. It is basically the right use or exercise of knowledge. If you are faced with a situation and are lacking wisdom in what to do, the Bible tells us to ask God. It also tells us that God gives to all men liberally. Liberally means freely. Reading on in verse 5, it says that God upbraideth not. Upbraideth means charged with something wrong or disgraceful; reproached or reproved. So the Bible tells us that He doesn't reprove any who ask Him for wisdom. The last part of the verse simply states "...it shall be given him".
God has given His promise to us in verse 5. God does not lie and if He says something, He will do it. However, we must read on, as there is a condition to the promise.
Verse 6 tells us we must ask God in faith, nothing wavering. When we ask God for wisdom, we must not have a shred of doubt that He will do it. If you doubt, you are like a wave that rises one minute and sinks the next. You believe one moment and the next moment you don't believe.
Verse 7 is telling us that if you doubt that God will answer your prayer for wisdom, then you can be certain that you will not get your answer.
Verse 8 tells us that the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. That man is not steady, not stable, not fixed in anything.
Now, these few verses are very powerful. There have been many times I've been like that double-minded man. It made me realize that if we are pursuing God on a daily, minute-by-minute basis regarding all aspects of our life, we can't help but become more stable and fixed in our ways. Our faith will continue to grow also.
Let me give an example. In my early Christian life, I didn't read the Bible on a daily basis. On Sundays, I thought about God, went to church, and enjoyed it. Then Monday morning rolls around and I went to work. The world closed in on me. I tried to handle everything myself. Ha! It never worked! My temper would get the best of me. If I really got out of control, my language wasn't very nice. By the end of the week, I was as worldly a person as the next sinner. Sunday morning came and I felt guilty.
Can you see what a roller coaster ride I was on? How could I be a witness to sinners if I was acting just like them? If I had tried, they would have laughed and scorned me. Because a sinner knows that a Christian is suppose to be different than them.
Our Christian faith should be knowing without a doubt that God will do as He says He will do. Let's look at some other Scriptures where God says what He will do.
Matt 9:29
Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
Matt 17:20
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Matt 21:22
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
Mark 9:23
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mark 11:22
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Mark 11:23
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Mark 11:24
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Luke 8:25
And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.
Rom 1:8
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
1 Cor 2:5
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1 Cor 15:14
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
1 Cor 15:17
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
1 Peter 1:7
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Again, I strongly recommend that you read each of these verses along with the entire chapter as you will find much more information to help you grow in your faith. This is by no means a complete study of faith. There are so many wonderful people and their faith mentioned in the Bible. Please read some of their accounts and notice that God always answered those people of faith.
I want to leave you with these verses to remind you that God is no respecter of persons.
Acts 10:34
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
Rom 2:11
For there is no respect of persons with God.
Eph 6:9
And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
Col 3:25
But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.
1 Peter 1:17
And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
3 Comments:
Wonderful scripture along with a great post!
Hebrews is one of my favorite books because of all the faith references.
I just love reading about the prophets and how they lived the life and believed God NO MATTER WHAT!
I needed this today!
Debbie,
It's so nice to hear that what God has urged me to post has helped someone.
May God bless you!
Great post. So very inspiring.
I love all the bible verses that you posted. I will either copy them or write them down and take more time to read through them and the bible more.
Thanks for sharing with us.
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