Need Wisdom?
Life is filled with choices. How we make our choices determines whether or not we get to enjoy the benefits we’ve been given in Christ. The benefits are already there, and ours in Christ. But the act of receiving what is already available is affected by our choices.
Faith can receive what has been secured by Christ, and it activates direction and the right course of action. Life will bring situations and circumstances into a believer’s life that will put their faith to the test.
James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
In the walk of faith, we believe something that is not yet seen but is just as real as if it were seen. So we are equipped with the patience to conduct ourselves as though it is already ours, and that changes how we conduct ourselves towards God and towards others. It results in living in the completeness provided to us in Christ. Living in completeness brings the reward of contentment.
To live in that completeness requires wisdom beyond ourselves. To receive that wisdom we need requires real faith. A pretend faith will never be able to receive what is so freely offered to us in Christ just for the asking.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
The first step to receiving wisdom is realizing our need for it. We do not ask for something we think we can obtain all on our own.
The second step to receiving God’s wisdom, which is the highest and best wisdom, is the realization that it is to be treasured above all other wisdom. There is no wisdom of earth that can compare to the wisdom of God.
The third step to receiving God’s wisdom is boldly asking Him for it from a place of believing that not only will He give it, but He will give it to you freely and generously without reprimanding you for why you asked for it to begin with. He is not going to chide you about how you came to the place of needing to seek His wisdom to start with. He is simply willing to offer you His wisdom. He will give you more wisdom than you asked for to start with too! Remember, according to James, this act of asking was precipitated by the trial of your faith.
But there’s something we all must understand if we are to get the wisdom we ask for. We must ask in faith. That means we ask with confidence that it is ours even before we can see it manifesting. We do not act as though God did not come through on His end just because things do not turn around in that instant. We apply what we sense is being revealed to us as the course of action on our part, and we stay the course with patience, knowing that the seed of wisdom sown so quietly and inconspicuously will spring forth in its proper time.
But be mindful and aware. A person who asks with a divided mind should not expect anything from the Lord, not because the Lord withheld it, but because that person is in no shape to receive it. Everything Christ has done for us and made available to us can only be received by faith. Doubt obstructs one’s ability to take advantage of what has been done. When faith asks, faith receives!
