AN UNWAVERING SPIRIT

Series: PrayerLesson #5

Jas. 1:5 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.

Jas. 1:6 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.

Jas. 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.

Jas. 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

I. Backsliding Is Losing Our Vision.

1. Not just a vision of what we are supposed to do, but a vision of God Himself.

2. Seeing God, knowing God, delivers from all fear.

3. If I keep my relationship right with God, so that in every situation I can honestly say that Jesus is with me, then I have no reason to fear.

4. Jesus said, “…I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). In backsliding we leave Him. We lose our vision of God.

5. The process of getting back isn’t always easy, but you can get back.

6. The fact that God said, “…nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Mat. 17:20), implies in no uncertain terms that you are going to meet with situations in this spiritual life that looks totally and absolutely impossible.

7. That’s not so. Looks are deceiving. Nothing shall be impossible unto you that walk with God.

II. It Requires A Dedication, A Determination That Says, “I’m Not Going To Turn Loose Until I Have The Victory.”

1. The ability to hold on is the inner commitment to the war and prayer. It characterizes those that the Bible said, “…the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Mat. 11:12).

2. That ability has been lost in most of the church.

3. If God doesn’t come running with the answer the first few minutes they are praying, then they forget about it, leave it, and look for another source of help.

4. The power of a new consecration is “praying through” until once more God is real to me; until I see God.

5. Every revival in history has come when somebody caught a new vision of Jesus.

6. Revival has been lost from the minds of men when they codify their beliefs, put a period behind what they think and God is no longer a progressive revelation.

7. Revival always comes through people whose thinking is not bracketed or hindered by religious rules and thinking.

8. The most difficult thing for anybody to do is think outside of their own environment.

9. It’s difficult for a Baptist to think anything but Baptist. It’s hard for a Roman Catholic to think anything but Roman Catholicism. It’s difficult for a Pentecostal to think beyond the barriers that have been set by his particular church or organization.

III. Revival Has Always Come Through People That Can Break Out Of Their Religious Molds.

1. When God was ready to bring about The Reformation, He arrested and caught the attention of a monk named Martin Luther. He brought to the perusal (examination) of those epistles of Paul, a mind that could think independently of the Roman Catholic dogma.

2. When He found that mind, revival came.

3. That what happens when we “pray through.” It is the meaning of the phrase, “pray through.”

IV. Our Text Found In James 1:6-8, “But Let Him (That Is You And I), Ask In Faith, Nothing Wavering, For He That Wavereth Is Like A Wave Of The Sea Driven With The Wind And Tossed. For Let Not That Man Think That He (Or She) Shall Receive Anything From The Lord. A Double Minded Man Is Unstable In All His Ways.”

1. James, by the Holy Spirit, said a double minded man was unstable.

2. You have met people who can never make a decision. They are always uncertain of life.

3. Indecision and uncertainty are always linked with failure.

4. I don’t care what you are doing, if it’s being a housewife, or a husband working on a job, running a business or really doing business with God, indecision and uncertainty are always linked with failure.

5. In this lesson, I want to show you that there are some things that have to be solidified in your mind if you are going to get on with God.

6. A builder or a carpenter must understand that there are certain principles that cannot be violated if you are going to build a house that stands.

7. We must know that there can be no indecision or uncertainty on our part when it comes to seeking God.

V. When Elijah Came On The Scene, There Was A Mixture Of Baalism And Judaism.

1. After three years of drought, when Israel has been brought to her knees, the man of God reappears. On Carmel he challenges the priests and the prophets of Baal with these words, “…and the God that answers by fire, let Him be God” (1Kgs. 18:24).

2. The prophet was saying, quit vacillating, make up your mind. If God is God, then serve God. If Baal is God, follow Baal. But you can’t follow both.

3. That is what God is saying to you and I. You can’t serve God and the world.

4. You have to make up your mind. If you want to go to hell, you can go to hell. If you want to go to heaven, you can go to heaven. But you cannot go to both places.

5. Set the course, walk with God, get your heart fixed, let nothing deter you.

6. That is the message of God; an unwavering spirit.

VI. People Come To Be Healed. They Get In A Great Service, The Shout Is High, The Message Is Real, And They Believe They Are Healed.

1. I have seen that so many times. I have watched in great revival meetings, the Spirit was high, people come through the line, and the man of God lays hands on them. They testify to being healed, sometimes the testimony is carried on television. But the next morning the shout is not there, they are all alone and the devil assails them. They are not sure whether they are healed or not. Such a person will never get anything from God.

2. We cannot be governed by circumstances. Whether you are up or down, rich or poor, cold or hot, you must be governed entirely by what God says.

3. Paul can sing and shout at Philippi locked in jail, as well as he can in Jerusalem.

4. Paul’s testimony was, “…for I have learned in whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content” (Phil. 4:11). Do you know why?

5. He was content with Jesus. He didn’t have to have things. He didn’t have to be rich. He didn’t have to have someone telling him how great he was. Jesus was everything. Paul was impressed by a man called Jesus.

6. It wasn’t sensationalism. He didn’t have to have a great orchestra to get him in the mood. He was impressed with Christ, and wherever he was it was the same.

7. Locked in the jail at Philippi, with feet and arms in stocks, Paul calls out in the darkness, “Silas, let’s praise the Lord.”

8. That Spirit will win every time. That Spirit that holds on in spite of circumstances, in spite of what anybody says, in spite of what it looks like, it holds on, believes on until the answer comes and says, “Daniel, beloved of God, you were heard the first day.”

VII. The Spirit Must Never Waver.

1. A giant in the way must not turn my plow. I belong to God, God belongs to me.

2. Elijah said, “Quit marking time. If God is God, then serve Him, if Baal is God, go with him, but quit trying to serve both of them. What God said, God meant.”

3. Every word in the Bible is the word of God. Every word is a word the devil would bring a question mark against. No circumstance can alter God’s eternal word. {The promises of God are not yes and no. They are yes, yes, or no, no. It can’t be both of them.}

4. There is a story in the book of 1Kings 13 in which God sent a young prophet to prophesy against the altar of Jeroboam.

a. Jeroboam was king over Israel, and he did not want his people going down to the great altar in Jerusalem. So he built an altar in Judah where the people could worship. It was wrong. The great altar of God was in its right place.

b. Jeroboam had set up his own private worship, and God sent the young man to curse this false altar.

c. God’s message to the young man was, don’t eat or drink, don’t stop and talk along the way. Go in, give your prophecy, and leave. Don’t eat or drink, or confer with any man.

d. The young man came to the altar and prophesied against it. Jeroboam, the king, reached out for him. When he reached out his hand withered.

e. The king asked the prophet to pray that God would heal him. The prophet prayed and God restored his hand.

f. The king was grateful and offered the young man great rewards if he would come to his house. But the young prophet said to the king, “If you were to offer

me half your kingdom, I could not come.” Riches could not induce the prophet to disobey. Nothing the king offered could make him detour from what God had told him. He could not be bought.

g. Two young men who witnessed the scene, told their father, who was a backslidden prophet, what had transpired at the altar of Jeroboam.

h. The old prophet saddled his mule, caught up with the young man, and invited him to his house. The young man refused, telling the old man God’s instructions were not to eat nor drink, or to go home with anyone.

i. The devil’s biggest trick is to feign the supernatural. The old man said to the young prophet, “An angel appeared to me and changed the orders. He said for you to come to my house.”

j. Very few people can withstand such pressure. The young man gave in. He lost his life, because he violated the word of God. He wavered in his conviction.

5. Pseudo-evangelists know this. For example, you may receive a letter that says, “God told met to tell you to send me ‘X’ amount of money.” With the computers the letter can be very personal; “Dear Rose, Jesus came to me and said that you should sell your car and give me the money.” What a pressure that is.

IX. Paul Said, “If An Angel Comes Preaching Anything Other Gospel, Let Him Be Accursed” (Gal. 1:8). No Circumstance, Nothing, Nobody, Not An Angel From Heaven Can Altar The Eternal Word Of God.

1. James said, “Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering...” (Jas. 1:6).

2. If I am to be victorious, if I am to receive from God, there are some things that I must know, and there are some things you must know.

3. We are going to face some things in this end time that are worse than sickness. As we draw near to the coming of the Lord, there are all kinds of spirits that are going to come out of the woodwork.

4. Everything that can be shaken is going to be shaken. If you can be knocked out, you are going to be knocked out. If you can be lost, you are going to be lost.

5. God’s people perish for the lack of knowledge.

6. We need to know some things if we are going to be victorious in this Christian life.

7. We must also know that these things cannot, must not, be compromised.

8. Preachers have led themselves to believe they can compromise certain principles. They believe that the end justifies the means.

9. We look at some things that cannot be compromised.

X. First, We Must Know That The Ultimate Victory In The Things Of God Is By “Faith.”

1. There are many people that will say, “Well, we know that.” But you may not know what I am going to tell you. You may know that you get nothing from God except by faith, but you may not know what I am going to give you in this lesson. There is more to this truth than merely saying, “I take it by faith.”

2. Every life of achievement in the Bible is labeled with a single phrase as its keynote and that phrase is, “by faith.”

3. Read the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews. “By faith Enoch, by faith Noah, by faith Abraham, by faith Sarah.” They all walked by faith.

4. That is a principle of the Bible that cannot be violated.

5. Jesus put great emphasis on faith. He constantly told those He healed, “Thy faith has saved thee…” (Lk. 7:50), “Thy faith hath made thee whole” (Mat. 9:22), “According to your faith be it unto you” (Mat. 9:29), “If thou canst believe” (Mk. 9:23).

6. We would like to change that, so that it would say, “The Lord hath made thee whole.” We know that the Lord did make them whole, but the principle involved is, your faith procures (secures) the blessing of God. It cannot be violated.

7. God is not going to heal you because you look pitiful. He isn’t going to heal you because you have a need. It is your faith that will make you whole.

XI. The Second Is By Faith, Not Only Must I Know That God Is Almighty, But I Must Know That God Is Almighty In Me.

1. It breaks down here. Everybody knows there is a God. The devil knows there is a God, and believes God can do anything.

2. All who believe there is a God, believe He is Almighty. The sinner believes that God can do anything. Demons believe and tremble.

3. When Jesus was here on earth the devils always recognized Him, and would cry out saying, “…art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” (Mat. 8:29). The devil knew God was Almighty. The devil knew he had to obey Him.

4. The man with enough devils in him to drown 2,000 hogs said to Him, “…art thou come hither to torment us before the time? If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine” (Mat. 8:29-31).

5. The devil knows the almightiness of God.

6. Everybody out there that allows God, knows the almightiness of God.

7. If you are going to be victorious, you must go beyond that. You must know that God is Almighty in you.

8. This is where Moses had trouble. Unless I know that God will do what He promises in the Word, and that He will do it through me, I will waver, and in wavering I will lose.

9. Most people failed to get healed because they don’t see this.

XII. This Was Moses’ Controversy With God At The Burning Bush. This Is Where His Problem Was.

1. God said to Moses, “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people…” (Ex. 3:10). God did not say to Moses, “Go to Egypt and pray for Me to deliver the people.” He said, “You go, and you bring them out.”

2. We know it is God that delivers, but I must also know that God is in me. If you are born again, He is in you.

3. God said to Moses, I have come down, to send you to deliver My people. Moses said in effect, I believe you can do it God, but not through me.

4. God’s almightiness was not the point in question. The question was Moses’ appropriation and obedience to faith that hung in the balance.

5. Moses did go. Moses did deliver the people, and the Holy Ghost recorded that he did it “by faith.”

6. He did what God told him to do. He came to the realization that the almightiness of God was in him.

XIII.Many Of You Have Struggled.

1. You have problems in your home, in your marriage, in your body, and other difficulties. You have seen God work some things in your life, but you have run up against some things that seemingly won’t give.

2. If we trace our weakness in the exercise of authoritative faith to the source, we’ll find that our own spiritual vitality is sapped through failure to take a bold grasp of “Christ in you.”

3. No one has to go to heaven to bring Him down. He is not a billion miles away. He is in you.

4. Madam Guyon, in her search after God, came to a man of prayer. She asked him about finding God in a real and personal way. The man of God told her, “You are looking without, for Him who can only be found within.” He is in you if you are born of Him.

5. The weakness of our faith is our failure to boldly lay hold of the fact that Christ lives in me.

6. Whether I’m on an airplane, in a motel, in Africa, America, or Russia, Christ lives in me.

7. The power is in the acknowledgment of our inward union with Christ.

8. We speak of an unwavering spirit in the face of the troubles that come against you.

9. The ability to stand is the knowledge of an inward union with Christ.

XIV. He That Is Joined To The Lord, Paul Said, “Is One Spirit” (1Cor. 6:17).

1. Can anything describe actual union more realistically than that? He that is joined to a harlot is one. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

2. He that comes against me, if I’m in union with Christ, has come against Christ. I know nothing can overcome Christ, so I stand with my loins girt about with truth.

3. Pilate said, “What is truth?” (Jn. 18:38). Jesus said, “I am the Truth” (Jn. 14:6). That gives me the ability to stand and not waver in the face of the seemingly impossible.

4. When locked into situations that look hopeless, and you feel that you’ll never overcome, then stand.

5. Stand with your loins girt about with truth (Eph. 6:14), knowing that He stands with you.

6. It is this that gives me the ability to stand.

XV. “For He That Wavereth Is Like A Wave Of The Sea, Driven Of The Wind And Tossed” (Jas. 1:6).

1. Union with Christ means that we have His mind.

2. {The Bible makes this plain; the Holy Ghost in you is the mind of God in you.}

3. “Who knoweth the things of God, save the Spirit of God” (1Cor. 2:11). How do you know? You know with your mind.

4. We have God’s mind, hence, we have God’s ability.

5. If He healed the sick, we can heal the sick.

6. Since all power is in Him, and He is in us, then we have all power.

7. We must lay hold of that by faith.

8. I must come to know that in a bold declared way, that Christ is in me, and thus, all power of Christ is in me.

9. It is absolutely essential for you to recognize where Christ was when He made that statement, “…All power has been given unto Me in heaven and in earth” (Mat. 28:18).

a. He is about to go back to heaven. He is a glorified man, and He says, “…All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth” (Mat. 28:18). He was crucified, buried, resurrected.

b. There was a pre-ascension ascension.

c. He had presented Himself before the Father, as the firstborn from the dead, the firstborn of a whole new race, the federal head of a new race of which we are.

d. In that position He says, “…All power has been given unto Me...”

10. Christ is in His church, He is almighty. That almightiness is in us. This is the place where faith takes its stand. You must not waver.