Have your Bible handy in order to reference the scriptures used in this lesson. You can view the video of the lesson on YouTube under the same title.

(James 1:5-8)

This last part of lesson two will focus on the results of being double-minded. This passage tells us that being double-minded, being a person with divided loyalties, has a very negative effect on our prayer life. It essentially prevents our prayers from getting any results.

Remember what the original request is in James Chapter 1—wisdom. When we ask for wisdom, we need to look to God for that wisdom, not to the world. We talked about that in Part Two on Tuesday. Someone who asks God for wisdom and then tries to use the world’s wisdom is demonstrating a divided loyalty. He/She is relying on the world to suppliment the wisdom God gives, instead of relying on God alone.

It’s like saying to God, “Your wisdom isn’t enough, so I’ll rely on the world’s wisdom, too.” Folks, this is going to sound harsh, but that is committing spiritual adultery. It is on the same level of rebellion as idolatry.

No wonder James refers to a person who does this as unstable in all their ways. Spy novels and movies often include as one of their characters a double agent, someone who works for both sides of a governmental struggle. A double agent is usually a deceiver, a back-stabber to someone else in the story, an individual that the story reveals is not trustworthy.

Such is a person who tries to mix loyalties between God and the world. At some point, a double minded person will betray those they have been deceiving. At some point, they will choose the evil side, instead of the good side. At some point they will bring harm to those being deceived.

James tells us that people with divided loyalties should not expect to receive anything from God. In spy movies, the double agents usually don’t come out to the good in the end. Divided loyalties usually don’t result in receiving lasting rewards. God wants us to trust Him in every aspect of our lives, and He blesses us in many different ways when we do that. We need to trust Him alone when it comes to acquiring wisdom. Our prayers are answered when we do that.

Let us pray today that we rely on God’s wisdom alone. Let us pray today to be single minded in our allegiance to God’s wisdom. Let us pray today that we would seek to be guided by God’s wisdom and not the world’s wisdom so that our prayers for the right kind of wisdom would be answered.