“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
James 1:5-7
James gives us a wonderful promise of wisdom for the asking. But he also provides a challenging warning about how we ask. What does it mean to “ask in faith, with no doubting”? It seems we are in perpetual danger of being like a wave of the sea, constantly blown and tossed by every wind of fear and doubt.
So often we are double-minded people: wanting wisdom and blessing from the Lord, but also wanting our own way and the pleasures of this world.
“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
James 4:1-4
James is telling us why so many of our prayers go unanswered. God will not give us our selfish demands that would take us away from Him. David makes a similar point 1,000 years earlier.
“Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! 2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. 7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!”
Psalm 37:1-7
Does this promise of “the desires of your heart,” mean God will give us whatever we want if we simply pray with sufficient faith and sincerity? The immediate context here rules out that interpretation even without the passages from James. Even verse four alone makes it clear that the promise here is not the selfish, worldly desires of our heart. Those God promises not to give us, but rather to war against as idols in our hearts. No. It is only when you “delight yourself in the Lord,” that He will grant your desires because you have already established God Himself as the desire of your heart.
And, of course, that is the exhortation of the whole Bible. Go back to the heart of the Law of Moses.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-6
Oh, to be single-minded; to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. That would solve all of our spiritual issues and, according to James, greatly increase the effectiveness of our prayers. Which is why Jesus places it where He does in the beatitudes.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Matthew 5:8
Who are the ones who will see God in all of His glory? Only those who are pure in heart. Only the single-minded. Not those who swing one way to partially love the world and then swing back the other way to partially love God.
Notice the connection made by Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones in his Studies in the Sermon on the Mount.
The only way to become more pure in heart is first to mourn over your sin. Only a life of daily repentance that sees the depths of your sin will eventually root out the idolatry and double-mindedness there. John the apostle makes this connection for us in his letter.
“If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:6-9
Lord Jesus, please cleanse us from all unrighteousness! Please remove our double-mindedness as you help us see our love for ourselves and this world and replace it with single-minded purity of heart that loves you above all and with all that we are.
Jesus alone is the fountain of living water. He alone can satisfy the desires of our hearts. But like Israel we turn away from the one true God and dig in this world, making empty wells that cannot help us at all.
“Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
Jeremiah 2:11-13
This Sunday (12/14/25) we will prayerfully review our Spiritual Life Worksheet and invite the Lord to show us how we can more wholeheartedly love, trust and worship Him. Do you want to see God more clearly? Humbly, with conviction over your sin and double-mindedness, ask the Lord to help you become more pure in heart!