Sticky Situation

Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. James 1:8 (NIV)

Double-sided tape is straight from the pit of hell! 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried working with it on various projects only for it to go everywhere and get stuck on everything but the intended project! I’m often left with a sticky mess and must start all

over again.

Not productive! 

Meanwhile, the project is left vulnerable to destruction while I figure out how to get the tape, which is now of no use to me, to play nicely with others. 

Being double-minded when we pray is like that straight-from-the-pit-of-hell tape – we are of no good use because we’re all over the place.   

We’re back and forth between praying and believing God will answer us and praying and wondering if He will answer us.  

We sometimes even pray doubting that He will answer us. 

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. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. James 1:6-7

Just like the project I mentioned above, when we pray double-minded we are left vulnerable to destruction. Remember, our enemy Satan is just waiting for his chance to devour us (1 Peter 5:8).

In addition to being vulnerable to Satan's attacks, James boldly states that a double-minded person is unstable in ALL they do. 

For a small, three-letter word, "all" is carrying a lot of weight in this verse and there is no room for misinterpretation! 

Trust me, I know.

In August of 2023, I went to what I thought was going to be a typical follow-up appointment with my neurologist. It turned out to be anything but typical. 

As I was being handed THREE referrals to different specialists, I felt like I was on the Oprah Winfrey Show. 

“You get to see a cardiologist!  You also get to see a retina specialist and a nephrologist!”  

However, I wasn’t as happy as Oprah’s audience members were when she doled out gifts.  

I was paralyzed with fear and I battled being double-minded when I prayed. So much so that I was convinced that God couldn't make all the suspected issues I was having turn out to be non-issues.  

I mean, come on, these were three major issues! Surely, at least one of them would prove to be true. 

Turns out James knew what he was talking about when he said that the one who is double-minded will be like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  

In my case, the wind was any new symptom I thought I was having and it would toss me around like a dinghy in a Category 5 hurricane.  

My mind would race with such terrifying thoughts that there was no comforting me nor convincing me that I was being irrational. 

I truly believed that my situation was bigger than God.

Spoiler alert: It wasn't. 

Our God is a loving, patient God and he lovingly and patiently put things in my path to gently remind me of who He is.

Because I was no longer convinced that my situation was bigger than God, I was able to trust God completely with the outcomes of all three specialists and I prayed BELIEVING. 

Praying believing that God heard me, that He knew my situation and my fears, that He has good planned

for me, and that He is a good God allowed me to live peacefully in the unknown. 

Friend, when you pray are you believing that God sees and hears you?

Do you believe that He is good even when our circumstances aren't?

It is so easy for doubt to creep into our prayer life, but we can take that doubt captive when we remember to whom it is we are praying.

Will you commit to believing when you pray and sticking to it?