Have you ever been hiking and you come to a fork in the trail but there’s no directional sign to guide your way? This is a path you’ve never taken and not knowing which way to go is daunting. So you stop traveling.
Life is like this quite often. Everything you’re progressing toward is clear and constant. Then your path soon becomes confusing when there are unknown options ahead. So what do you do?
From our trail example, you’d probably pull out your map or iPhone and find your location, do a quick search and then you’re on your way. You trust those resources. You don’t doubt in the GPS or trail guide and fearlessly move on in your journey.
Do You Ask In Faith?
In life, it may not seem that easy. When confronted with a choice of which direction to take, we often don’t trust our resources we consult and don’t ask in faith. We’re skeptical and faithless depending on the situation. So we stand still and don’t progress. Why?
We’re not consulting the ultimate resource. Google can tell you everything about a particular subject, even a lot of falsehoods. But we jump to it because it seems concrete. It’s physical and quick to access. Therein lies the problem. Fast and easy solutions to life are never solid and do not last. But we often don’t accept that and hop from one thing to another.
How can we know that our decisions will guide us to a progression that’s finite and unwavering?
Related: What I Learned At The Best Of All Christian Women Conferences
When You Lack Wisdom
We need to go to the all knowing resource of our Heavenly Father. James chapter 1, verses 5 and 6 state: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” — James 1:5-6
Let’s break this down.
Do you lack wisdom on a regular basis? I do, all the time. And I don’t like it. I’m really good at researching things and finding out everything I feel I possibly can about something. But like me, do you often have a hard time asking our Father in Heaven about your lack of wisdom?
Why You Don’t Ask
I think that we do not go to our Father in prayer as often as we should because we don’t trust in our own faith. It’s not that we don’t trust him. I think it’s more a lack of self-confidence in our ability to accept the answer. We don’t have the patience to wait if that’s necessary. We don’t feel like praying is making progress because it’s not concrete.
But let’s continue through the scripture. James teaches that we must ask in faith with nothing wavering. That’s the solution to our lack of trust. We have to choose to not waver. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be driven back and tossed about like a wave of the sea. I want to be constant in my life and not waste time drifting. Do you want to be constant?
Related: How To Validate Feelings In Your Life
Becoming Unwavering
So how can you progress when you have a fork in the road of your life? We’ve touched on the steps already, but let’s lay them down clearly, now.
1 -) Distinguish between matters that should go to the Lord in your prayers. I’m not talking about simple and frivolous matters in your life that aren’t necessary to bring to the Lord. These are matters of deep importance to you, struggles that you’re going through, big decisions that you need to make for your family. You have things on your mind of heavy weight on a daily basis and those are the things Heavenly Father wants you to share with him.
2 -) Decide to bring those matters to the Lord in prayer. Before you kneel down to pray, consider what you’re going to share in your prayer. Heavenly Father already knows what you’re going to ask. But you have to physically do so or he can’t always provide the blessing and guidance that you seek.
3 -) Pour out your soul to the Lord. As you pray, share everything, hold nothing back, and ask for His help. Pray as if this was your only option. Do this with complete faith that he will provide. Remember, nothing wavering. You KNOW that he knows everything and can provide for whatever your need is. He is the ultimate source of wisdom and direction. Remember that if you feel your faith is lacking.
4 -) Pause when you’re done praying. I know sometimes before bed I’ll just immediately crawl right under the covers after my prayers because I’m so exhausted. I rationalize that the Lord will send me answers to my questions in his own time and way, and justify not pondering on the prayer that I just gave. This isn’t the right thing to do. Even if your answers and help doesn’t come directly after your prayer, showing your increased faith and devotion to the relationship and trust you have with Him increases his ability to bless you. It increases you ability to see those blessings and be humbled by them.
5 -) The last step is to go and do everything you righteously can to gain the wisdom that you seek. This isn’t a lack of trust and faith in your Father in Heaven. It’s showing your desire and determination to proceed in your life on a positive path. It’s providing ways for Him to show you solutions. But this must be done with your prayers in mind. It’s not just a check box to pray and then figure you’ll still have to do everything yourself. It’s the exact opposite. The Lord rewards those that earnestly search and work toward their desires when done with faith.
I’ve been reading a wonderful book called Hearing The Voice Of The Lord. When it comes to all the aspects of having personal revelation in my life, I never knew all the possibilities and factors that come into play. It’s taught me how to more fully recognize the things that I’m doing in my life that inhibits my faith and adds to my wavering. I don’t want to be that way anymore.
I’m taking these steps with you. You can apply them about any important thing you’re going through in your life, even getting ready for birth. Especially preparing for birth, I should say. Add your faithful petition of faith to your exuberant research and preparation.
>> Prepare For Birth With An Online Course <<
Some of my goals right now are to have greater faith, more earnest prayer, and better determination in creating what I seek. What are you doing to ask in faith and become unwavering in your life?
Don’t Miss:
- Hearing The Voice Of The Lord: Principles And Patterns Of Personal Revelation, because having all the guidance possible in your life is worth so much more than we give it credit for
Remember, you can do hard things.
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JeffWA says
Sarah,
That was an outstanding article concerning the need for having faith and believing in God throughout our lives.
Reading a recent article in Time magazine it has been proven that in essence the highest proportion of our population in the U.S. ever in history lack any type of faith. Religion has been put on the back burner within so many people’s lives.
We selfishly seek to fulfill our own needs instead of doing, as God hopes us all to do - serve not only Him but one another out of kindness.
Perhaps it is a reason why there currently is such a high level of chaos in the U.S., (never mind the rest of the world) with the amount of gun shootings and killings now on a weekly basis. In a way it is truly sad as so many have turned away from God.
The analogy of one’s consulting Google on a smart phone when hiking and lost as being the “quick” answer to a problem was so appropriate in today’s twitter 140 character world, Sarah. Too many of us seek quick answers to problems in our lives without really digging in and trying to truly understand what bothers are entire beings.
Praying, seeing to know God and what He can provide for us if we just have faith in Him is sorely missing today.
This truly was an inspiring and extremely well-written article Sarah. I know that a great many people need to read articles like this one and then take a long time to do a bit of introspective thinking about what is going on in their lives.
Too many of us do waver, and not having any faith often chose the wrong answers in seeking to solve the problems that we all face on a daily basis!
Jeff
Hi Jeff. Thank you for your kind words. I feel exactly the same way as you have expressed. That’s why I try to do all that I can every single day to keep my focus heavenward and recognize the humility I need in my life in order to live it to its fullest.
Every single year my family and I go to a Christian Women’s Conference and are filled so much spiritually. I wouldn’t take away my recognition of God and our divine roles for a second. Feel free to share this and hopefully we can make a difference for someone in today’s troubling world.
Hello,
Thank you for sharing! As a Christian woman I totally agree with you on the way you should look for wisdom. Indeed wisdom is the most desirable thing we should look for in this life for it is the source of life joy and wealth according to the Scripture. It’s refreshing to see more and more Christian websites with various topics involving your niche which is quite unusual! Thanks and good job!
You’re so kind, thank you!