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"A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." James 1:8

To be double-minded, is a symptom of spiritual instability, when it comes to God and His Word. A firm foundation in what you believe, whom you believe in, and why you believe it, has not yet been set. This results in confusion and the Bible says Satan is the author of confusion. You must decide whom it is, you are going to follow. Instability is described by Jesus' disciple, James, as one who "is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed about" by every little thing (verse 6).

To be double-minded is to be inconsistent, vacillating, to be and act one way today, then to be and act some other way, tomorrow. When life is unstable, the mind is unsettled and lacks solid convictions. A person with a double mind, lives by a double standard, is two-faced, double-tongued, deceitful, and treacherous. People who are double minded are not sought out for service, in any capacity, because they aren't faithful and cannot be trusted. You cannot put confidence in a double minded man.

[b][c=BF0000]"Confidence in an unfaithful person in a time of trouble, is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint." Proverbs 25:19 [/c][/b]

In other words, undependable, untrustworthy/conniving. In time of trouble, you want someone you can depend on, someone who is solid and truthful in all their ways, and faithful. That "someone" is Jesus. He never lies nor breaks a promise and is always faithful. He will never abandon you.

Double mindedness is one of the key words in Proverbs 1:8 and 4:8. It means [b]half-hearted allegiance[/b].... an attempt to combine the service of God with a service of self, the world, or some other person or thing that you worship. We begin to have a double mind, when we turn to ungodly council, false teachers for life's answers, and we begin to doubt God. Proverbs 1:6

Spiritually speaking, one simply cannot delve into the dark things and lifestyles in this world, then love and follow Christ, at the same time. That is not full commitment to God. It is half-hearted commitment. Jesus said, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other." You cannot serve both God and mammon... Matthew 6:24. Mammon is the name of deity, given to material wealth. This also includes anything we worship besides God, bow down to, or depend on, like witchcraft, tarot cards, or horoscopes. That is double-mindedness. Jesus said, "For what fellowship, has Light with darkness?" The Light of God and His Word in our hearts, does not mix well with the things of this world that are not of God. We are either of a double mind or a single mind. We are to be, and should strive for, "singleness of heart" or mind. Acts 2:46, Ephesians 6:5, and Colossians 3:22.

Only when we have a single mind or heart in our service for God, can we seek and serve God with our whole heart and our whole being (Psalms 119:2, 10, 34, 58, 69, and 145.) "A double-minded man/person is unstable in all he does, and therefore should not think he will receive anything from the Lord."

[b][center]Signs You May Be Double-minded [/center][/b]
1. You doubt God, so you look for other things, or gods, to trust in. Your foundation is not solid in Christ. Jesus is trust-WORTHY. He never breaks His promises and He'll never abandon you. If He seems far away, it is not because He moved away from you. It is you, who has moved away from Him.

2. You are unstable and confused. When we stray from God and reading His Word, we move from His Light and wisdom that lights our spiritual path, to spiritual darkness...alone and confused, as we move away from Christ and our Father in heaven.

3. When we get caught up in sin and don't care. We cannot serve God and sin, at the same time. To be double-minded means accepting two sets of contrasting beliefs. As believers, we are called to live in the world, but not be "of it". That means we want to be sure that the false ideas of this world are not diluting the truth of God in our spirit and beliefs. In other words, this is a person who has two desires that conflict with each other. As Believers, we do not want to give in to the temptations of this world and then claim we believe in God. A good example of that would be someone who worships God one day a week and lives like the devil the other six days of the week. This does not work, spiritually, and is a sign of double mindedness. No real foundation in Christ.

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, our worldview is rooted in the truths of God. When we try to add to our belief in Christ, we become double minded. The Bible tells us that although we live in the world, we are not "of" this world. John 17:16. This means, we live here in this fallen world, but we should not allow the ungodly belief systems and ideas of this world, to dilute our faith and belief in Christ.

The foundation of our relationship with God, is the finished work of Christ on the cross. When we doubt what God can do, it's a sign we don't truly believe what He's already done. If we doubt God, it makes it extremely difficult to trust Him. And that's when we start placing our faith and things, outside of God. Our Spirit then wanders in the dark things in this world. However, when we turn to God in prayer and read His Word, this builds our faith and trust in God. When we pray, we should leave our prayers with Jesus and He promises to hear us and guide us. When we trust Him as we pray, this activates faith, and gives God permission to work on our prayers/behalf. We are acknowledging that we believe and trust in Him and what He says in His Word.

When we believe and trust in God, we receive; when we pray and doubt, faith goes out the door and we receive nothing. God will answer, as promised. Basically, when we pray and then doubt, we are telling God that we don't believe Him. We fight three things when we pray: our fleshly desires, our carnal mind, and the doubt that Satan whispers in our ears. He doesn't want us to believe and have our faith strengthened nor our prayers answered. Tune him out, turn away from his distractions and lies, resist him, then confirm to the Lord that you are going to trust Him, by leaving your cares with Him. God will reward your faith.

We all face the temptation to doubt God, but James reminds us that instead of looking inward to ourselves or outward to the world for answers, we can look up to God to help us...even with our doubt. I think of Thomas, who doubted and yet Jesus so graciously revealed hisself to Thomas, so that he too, would believe. (John 20:24-29)

When the truth of God is not our foundation, we start looking to this world for answers and trying to do things in our own strength, or else relying on others to do for us what only God can do. By doing so, we'll constantly find ourselves feeling inadequate, disappointed, and betrayed. This world and Satan, takes us from one thing to another, to seek fulfillment, and that never works. That is an unstable state of mind. We need to refocus our eyes back on God. When our focus is on Christ, we won't get tossed around by the ideologies of this world, but instead we'll find ourselves rooted and established in the truths of God. That is Solid Ground! Draw near to God and He will draw near to you and you will see that He is, in fact, worth it. I have known and trusted him for the last 50 years and I can vouch that that is true. Fulfillment in our spirit, will never be attained through endless scrolling on social media, only to consume deceitful and lying content that leaves you empty and wanting something more. Nothing in this world can substitute for Jesus. Nothing in this world can fulfill our Spirit, like Jesus.

When we are close to God, know Him and are filling our hearts and minds with His truths, we don't have space to fill ourselves with the lies of this world, that feed our desire to sin. When we stay in touch with God, pray and read His Word daily, this creates stability, trust, faithfulness and a firm foundation in Christ. When we don't, this creates the desire of our flesh to consume things of this world that were never meant for us, as believers. It is not the believer's desire, to tempt ourselves or God. He is enough and He will fulfill you, as you yield to the Holy Spirit, who leads and guides you in all truth. The truths of God set you free. Sin can no longer condemn you, as your sins have already been forgiven, and you live a new life in Christ...Transformed by the Holy Spirit of Promise! But just as you have to nourish your body with good, healthy food, it is even more important to nourish your spirit with spiritual food, God's Word, so that you can be strong in the Lord and withstand the temptations of the devil. We can't really love God, if our affections are divided.

[b][c=BF0000]Jonah 28 tells us: "Those who pay regard to vain idols, forsake their hope of steadfast love." (Jonah 2:8) God calls us to a devoted life, because He doesn't want us to waste our lives on the empty idols of this world. He wants the best for us, which is found in Him, and "religion", which is man-made philosophy, won't give it. A personal relationship with God....will. Jesus came to save each individual, no matter their denomination. He didn't come to save the religions of this world. He came to save you as an individual and anyone in this world who wishes to receive him as Savior. He turns no one away.[/c][/b]
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IM5688 · 61-69, M
Beautifully written Grace.