Part 8 (1/2)

Lord Jesus, help me to overcome any wondering tendencies that keep me from moving forward in Your good plan. In Your name, I ask You to help me reach out in faith, boldly asking for what I need. Then help me to believe it and receive it. Amen.

45.

A Confused Mind If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving G.o.d [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord, [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].

-JAMES 1:5-8 My friend Eva received a summons for jury duty in a robbery trial. For two days, twelve citizens listened to the prosecuting attorney as he presented evidence to indicate that the accused had broken into a home and stolen many items. Eva was ready to convict him.

On the third day, the defense attorney presented the other side of the picture. The more Eva listened, the more confused she became. What had seemed very obvious at first now seemed ambiguous and contradictory.

Although the jury did convict the man, Eva said she struggled over making the right decision. Each attorney, when he was speaking, had seemed to be the most convincing.

Many Christians live much the same way day to day. They have become what James calls double-minded. They're sure of one thing until something else happens, and then they flip-flop to the opposite opinion.

In their double-mindedness, they flit from one opinion to the other. They're sure they know what to do, and then they switch again. The moment they feel sure they have made the decision they plan to stick with, they begin to wonder if it was the correct one. They continually doubt and question their reasoning.

This kind of behavior is not the same as being open-minded. To be open-minded means we're willing to hear all sides of an issue-like jurors should be at a trial. But eventually we have to sort through the evidence or the circ.u.mstances in life and say, ”This is what I'm going to do.”

That sounds good, but too many people have trouble being decisive. ”What if I make a mistake?” they ask. ”What If I choose the wrong thing?” Those are legitimate questions, but they are not meant to paralyze G.o.d's people and prevent them from acting. Too often, these are tools that Satan uses to distract and prevent Christians from taking action.

I'm an expert on this. For many years, I was that double-minded person James wrote about. I didn't like being that way. It took so much energy to keep rethinking the same problems. But I was so afraid of making a mistake that I didn't know how to make good decisions. It took a long time before I realized that the devil had declared war against me, and that my mind was his personal battlefield. At that moment of awareness, I felt totally confused about everything, and I didn't understand why.

So many of G.o.d's people are living exactly where I was then. They're reasonable people. That is, they have the ability to figure out causes and relations.h.i.+ps and reasons. They sincerely try to understand all the implications of a situation and then find the most sensible or logical solution by putting their reasoning ability to work.

Too often, this is where Satan sneaks in and steals the will of G.o.d from them. G.o.d may speak to them about doing a certain thing, and it may not always seem to be the most sensible course of action. This presents an opportunity for the devil to cause them to question-to become double-minded.

For example, sometimes I sense that G.o.d wants me to bless people by giving to them-often an item of jewelry or clothing. On occasion, G.o.d wants me to give away a new and fairly expensive dress that I've never worn. It doesn't make sense when I go through the natural reasoning process, but when I open myself to the Spirit of G.o.d, I have the a.s.surance that it is the right thing to do.

G.o.d's Spirit is always available to free you from natural reasoning that leaves you confused. Ask of the One who gives wisdom liberally, and He will free you of being indecisive and double-minded.

Dear Father, in the past, I've been double-minded and confused, giving Satan an advantage over me. Please forgive me. I ask You now, in faith, to give me the necessary wisdom to overcome all of Satan's confusion. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

46.

Just Obey But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of G.o.d, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them (of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them) because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated.

-1 CORINTHIANS 2:14 Many non-Christians don't really understand the gospel. This isn't a new thing that is unique to our day. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he pointed out that the Greeks thought it was foolish. And to the natural mind, it is. G.o.d sent Jesus, the sinless One, to earth for the express purpose of dying for wicked, sinful people. To unbelievers that is foolish. The natural man cannot understand the power of the gospel-it can only be ”spiritually discerned.”

This is just as true in daily living. Sometimes G.o.d speaks to us, and if we try to explain it to people who don't know Jesus, it doesn't make sense. For example, I remember one couple that went to Africa as missionaries. They had no denomination or large church behind them, providing support. They sold everything they owned, including their wedding rings.

”Their wedding rings?” a skeptical relative asked. ”You mean G.o.d wouldn't provide for you, so you had to do it yourself?”

The wife smiled. ”No, I think we had to decide if comfort and having things like everyone else was more important than serving Jesus.” The couple never doubted they were doing the right thing, but it never made sense to the skeptical relative.

It is difficult for many people to hear G.o.d speak and to obey without question. But Jesus did just that-and not only on the cross. John 4 relates the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. What most modern readers don't get is the introduction to the story: ”It was necessary for Him to go through Samaria” (John 4:4). Jesus had been in Jerusalem, and He wanted to go north to Galilee. The country of the Samaritans was in between, but Jesus didn't have to take the route that pa.s.sed that way. He could have taken another route and avoided going through Samaria. Most Jews avoided going through Samaria because they hated the Samaritans for mixing and marrying with people from other nations.

But Jesus went to Samaria, even though it wasn't what we would have called the normal or reasonable thing to do. He went because there was a woman-and eventually a whole village-that needed to hear the message that only He could deliver.

The natural people-those whose minds have not been enlightened by the Holy Spirit-scoff at us. What we do doesn't always make sense to them. But then, who says our actions have to make sense? The biblical principle is that the natural or carnal mind doesn't understand spiritual things. Too often, a thought comes to us that we push aside, saying, This doesn't make any sense, and we actually ignore divine guidance. It's true, of course, that the devil can flood our minds with wild thoughts, but if we pray and open ourselves to the Spirit, we soon know the difference.

Consider the story of Peter who had fished all night and caught nothing. Jesus, a carpenter, came along and told him, a professional fisherman, ”Put out into the deep [water], and lower your nets for a haul” (Luke 5:4).

Peter reasoned with Jesus, reminding Him that they had worked all night and caught nothing. But to his credit, Peter, exhausted from a long and unsuccessful night's work, heard the Lord. I'll say it again, Peter heard the Lord and said, ”But on the ground of Your word, I will lower the nets [again]” (v. 5). And Peter was not disappointed. They caught so many fish that the nets almost broke.

This is an important principle of obedience that we must grasp: obey instead of reasoning. Or as one of my friends calls it, ”The Nevertheless Principle.” She says that sometimes she feels G.o.d leading her to do things that don't always make a lot of sense. When she hears herself expressing that sentiment, she quickly adds, ”Nevertheless.” Then she obeys.

That is really all G.o.d asks of us: to obey instead of reasoning.

Wise and wonderful G.o.d, sometimes things don't make sense to me, but nevertheless, I want to be in Your will. Help me to develop spiritual discernment, and don't let me miss a divine opportunity to serve You. Teach me to trust You more, and help me to obey You quickly instead of trying to reason things out. Thank You for hearing me today. Amen.

47.

Doing the Word But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].

-JAMES 1:22 As a Christian, for a long time I didn't understand that believers could know what G.o.d wanted them to do and then deliberately say no. I'm not talking about those who turn their backs on Jesus and want nothing to do with His salvation. I'm talking about those who disobey in the seemingly little things and don't seem to be troubled by doing so.

In verses 23 and 24, James went on to say that if we only listen to the Word, but don't obey it, it's like looking at our reflection in a mirror and then going away and forgetting what we saw. But a doer of the Word, he says, is like one ”who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience)” (v. 25).

Whenever Christians are faced with G.o.d's Word, and it calls them to action but they refuse to obey, their own human reasoning is often the cause. They have deceived themselves into believing something other than the truth. It's as if they think they are smarter than G.o.d.

I've met people who seem to think that G.o.d always wants them to feel good, and if something happens to make them feel bad, they don't believe it is G.o.d's will for them. Or they dismiss what they read in the Bible by saying, ”That doesn't make sense.”

One woman, referring to Paul's instruction to ”be unceasing in prayer” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), said that verse kept coming to her every time she prayed.

”What do you think that means?” I asked her.

”Oh, I think it means that day in and day out, we are to pray when we feel a need or when we want something.”

Her words shocked me. ”What about fellows.h.i.+p with the Lord?” I asked. ”Isn't that a good reason? Or maybe G.o.d just wants you to spend time reading His Word and praying about what you read.”

”I have too many things to do,” she said. ”That's fine for people who like to sit and read and pray for hours every day, but that's not the way for me.”

In our brief conversation, I learned that her decisions about obeying G.o.d's Word depended on whether or not it was convenient for her lifestyle. When she read things in the Bible that didn't fit with the way she lived, she explained it to herself in such a way that she convinced herself G.o.d didn't expect her to do that.