Enforcing You: Activating Your Kingdom Identity in Christഉദാഹരണം

“ …for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” 

James 1:6-8

The word “doubt” in Greek denotes the idea of being at variance with one’s self or to hesitate. It is often translated into the word, “waver,” which gives me the visual of something shifting back and forth. Hence the description of “a wave being tossed by the wind.” Ugh, I can relate to that!  When I am not firmly fixed, confident in what I believe in a moment; when my reality is screaming, “You should be afraid,” or “You’re not good enough” or “You’re too late” or “You’re too small.” The voice of my emotions, my thoughts, my circumstances, my past, my relationships become like the wind… blowing me this way and that! There is nothing worse than being unsure of what to think or believe. BUT just because your life is unstable doesn’t mean YOU have to be unstable! 

This same passage in The Passion Translation says it this way…

“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?” James 1:6-8

What an incredible translation that appropriately captures what I am trying to say. The word ambivalent means, “having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas.” Some synonyms are, “uncertain, unsure, indecisive, inconclusive, irresolute, unresolved…” there are several more, but one of them is the phrase, “in two minds.” WOW! Isn’t it true that we struggle with being in two minds… the mind of the flesh, and the mind of the Spirit?  

The tossing of the winds will always be present in our lives. You may not ever stop them from blowing upon you, but you can stop them from tossing you back and forth. It is God’s Word that anchors you and quiets the voices that toss us. Therefore, your daily declarations are powerful. Each day, you become more and more anchored as you fasten yourself to His Truths and speak His Word over the lies of the enemy.

Let’s declare His Word together. “God, I rejoice in Your voice and declare that as I fasten myself to Your Word, I am more stable. Today, I will find myself confident because of Your love for me.”