Make Up Your Mind – The Key To Receive God’s Wisdom

I am studying the book of James and will be blogging down my reflections and insights to share with the rest of you. I pray you will be blessed and encouraged in the Lord. - Andrew

JAS 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

The quality of your life is dependent on the quality of your decisions. Therefore, living a victorious or successful life is about making the right decisions. God did not create us to be like robots that can only follow His commands. He gave us the power to choose but we have to face the consequences of the decisions we make. The problem is that many of us either cannot make wise choices or cannot make up our minds (indecision).

James mentioned that whenever we are caught in difficult situations and we need wisdom to make wise decisions, we should ask God for it. God is pleased when we come to Him for wisdom rather than trying to invent our own wisdom or seeking wisdom from secular or evil sources. However, there is one requirement – we must ask in faith. If we doubt the value of God's wisdom or His willingness to give it, then we are likely to grow impatient as we wait for His wisdom. An impatient person is more likely to seek wisdom elsewhere and become lost in the variety of opinions. God is very displeased with doubt, and will generally not grant specific wisdom to those who have not decided whether they will do what God tells them or not.

Indecision causes:
1) Unstable emotions – lack of self-confidence
2) Unstable relationships – lack of commitment
3) Unstable spiritual life – lack of power in prayer life (you don’t know what you want)

Solution:
We need God’s wisdom to overcome indecision. (Read on...)

How then can we get wisdom from God?
1) Admit our need for God’s wisdom. We need to humble ourselves before God as pride blocks wisdom.
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2)

Knowledge is information.
Wisdom is what to do with the information.
God’s wisdom is seeing life from Gods’ perspective.

2) Ask for it from God (and not from other sources)
“For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” (Prov 2:6)
James 1: 5 tells us that God is eager to give us wisdom when we ask of Him.
God is a God of how much more. God can give beyond what we can ask or imagine. When King Solomon asked for wisdom, God gave him wealth and health as well.

3) Anticipate it
We must ask in the right way i.e. in faith

God’s Promise:
And James 1: 5 promises that God gives wisdom:
1) continually – ‘give’ in Greek is in the continuous tense
2) generously – It is God’s nature to give (God has unlimited resources)
3) without finding fault – cheerfully, with pleasure

Application
1. Do you need the wisdom of God in any area (ministry, finance, relationship, family, career, studies, etc) of your life right now?
2. God is ever ready to give you His wisdom when you ask in faith and make up your mind to follow His ways. Are you ready to receive His wisdom?


Andrew Koh