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James 1:5 tells believers not to hesitate to ask God for wisdom and promises that He will freely give that wisdom without finding fault. The next verse contains a caveat. James 1:6 - But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. This instruction is easy to ignore, but Christians need to know that satan uses it to their detriment.
The devil knows how powerful the human mind is. It knows the importance of Proverbs 4:23 - Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts (GNT). As such, when a person prays for something, satan will encourage them to have doubts and question whether or not their petition can be or will be answered by God. It wants them to forget that God is able to do the impossible.
When the person accepts that seed of doubt and starts to meditate on it, that seed grows into a tree that produces evil fruits. One such fruit is that the person's prayer might not be answered, according to James 1:7 - That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Doubt can kill the fulfillment of our prayers, prayers that, if not detestable, God was going to answer if the person had stood firm in their faith.
Think of the discussion between the Savior and Martha after her brother, Lazarus, died. Jesus wanted the tombstone removed, but Martha's doubt appeared as logic when she said that her brother's corpse was likely stinking. John 11:40 - Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” Doubt could not factor into the coming miracle. Only faith could. And once doubt was discarded, Lazarus came out of the tomb.
Most of us are like Martha. Our doubt is often voiced in the form of logic. Unknown to us, this allows satan to stand against the very things we've asked for. Things God may already have given to angels to deliver. The devil goes into the courts of the Lord to accuse us of disobedience when we allow our doubt to kill the very faith we relied on to pray.
And if we continue with a pattern of doubt, we end up living in disobedience, ignoring Christ's instruction to "Have faith in God" from Mark 11:22. God cannot ignore unrepentant and continued sin. One consequence is that our prayers become less effective, leading to deferred and delayed blessings. This can cause a Christian to have frustrations, grievances, and resentments toward the Lord, give up on praying completely, and even turn away from Him.
And so satan uses doubt against believers to make them doubt God, think He is a liar, and walk away from Him. When this happens, the Christian is no longer a threshing tool to be used by the Kingdom of Heaven to destroy satan's operations. But, praise God for Jesus, who advocates for all. God won't stop reaching out to such a person, no matter how far they've gone, if they will repent and return to Him.
Today, God wants us to make the choice Martha made. He wants us to put our doubts aside and apply faith. The faith that God can answer our prayers exceedingly above what we could have even asked for or imagined, according to the spirit within us. And where that spirit is His Holy Spirit, then we need never be like the person James 1:7 warns about. A person who should not expect their prayer to be fulfilled because of their doubts.
As you await fellowship at Noon EST, consider reading the Altar Call below and the following previous P&P messages:
