”And if anyone longs to be wise, ask God for wisdom and he will give it! He won’t see your lack of wisdom as an opportunity to scold you over your failures but he will overwhelm your failures with his generous grace. Just make sure you ask empowered by confident faith without doubting that you will receive. For the ambivalent person believes one minute and doubts the next. Being undecided makes you become like the rough seas driven and tossed by the wind. You’re up one minute and tossed down the next. When you are half-hearted and wavering it leaves you unstable. Can you really expect to receive anything from the Lord when you’re in that condition?“
Isn’t that a beautiful picture of the way our Lord loves us? He overwhelms our failures with His generous grace. I love this passage because it reminds us that faith is our part. The Lord will give us wisdom when we ask for it. Jesus told us that He will give us whatever we ask for in His Name. It’s remaining strong and steady in our faith that’s our job. Faith is a mindset and a heart posture. Hebrews 11:1 reminds us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Not long ago we talked about the unwavering faith of Abraham to leave all of the familiar behind in search of the land the Lord promised to him. We’ve also talked about being disciplined in our thoughts -- not believing one minute and then falling into doubt and despair the next. A steady faith requires being completely convinced that God is absolutely good and that He hears our prayers. They may not seem to get answered on our timetable, but the testing of our faith is also part of the process of building endurance and strengthening our relationship with and devotion to the Lord. He is always faithful. Our part is to believe.
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