We must pray for wisdom with faith because a double-minded person will not receive anything from the Lord. Here is how you can develop the necessary faith.
The most encouraging verse in the Bible about praying for wisdom is James 1:5. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (ESV).
However, it is immediately followed by a warning that might make you lose heart. “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:6–8)
Knowing that an answer to prayer depends on your faith can make you lose faith! If everything depends on God, we can be confident because we know he is reliable. But if something depends on us, we can despair because we know how far short we fall of perfection, especially perfect faith. And we know how our emotions can ride a roller coaster.
There is no way around it, though. If you want to learn how to pray for wisdom for everything that matters to you, you must learn to pray with faith.
And you can do it.
You can pray for wisdom with faith
Again, you can do it. God will help you if you will enter the school of faith. Depending on how strong or weak your faith is now, it may take a while to learn to pray for wisdom with faith, but you can and will learn if you depend on God and persevere.
Praying for wisdom is an outstanding exercise for developing the muscle of faith. You build faith by using it, by going through the ups and downs of having faith for a request but then losing it—but not giving up. You again press in to God’s promises to regain faith. And you may go through that cycle many times, but if you do not quit, if you do not give up in despair, if you come back to your senses—to the bedrock reality that God is absolutely faithful—and keep choosing to believe God’s Word, you will find that the episodes of doubt come less often and are weaker and weaker.
Meanwhile your foundation of faith gets deeper and deeper, stronger and stronger, to the point where faith dominates your soul. And finally you come to the place where, changing the metaphor, all the oxygen for doubt is gone. Doubt suffocates and dies. And the only thing left standing and breathing is indomitable faith.
That is your future, my friend, if you will enter into the school of regularly praying for wisdom and staying at it until wisdom enters your heart (Proverbs 2:10).
Day one is decisive
Daniel 10:12 shows one key principle of faith. In previous posts in this series we saw that an angel appeared to Daniel, who for three weeks had been earnestly inquiring of God for wisdom. The angel said:
“Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words” (Daniel 10:12).
There is a crucial principle about how to pray for wisdom with faith: believe that the moment you pray God has heard you. Notice the past tense: “From the first day…your words have been heard.”
That is not unique to this verse in Daniel. In the New Testament God promises this to all Christians as we pray according to his will. First John 5:14–15 says, “This is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” Again we see that the answer comes when we pray.
Jesus himself states this truth. “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24). In the past tense you received it, and in the future tense it will be yours. So God has heard your request and determined to give you the wisdom you seek, but he may not do so immediately, or even soon. You have to keep faith that God has heard you for as long as he in his wisdom requires.
You can do it with his help. He will give you grace, for he delights in your faith.
Your words are decisive
I love the last few words from the angel in Daniel 10:12: “your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.”
Do you recognize the weight of your own words? Do you realize how much attention God pays to your words, how much spiritual glory and power they have? And do you appreciate how decisive your words are in God’s sight?
Granted, some teachers, both Christian and non-Christian, have taken this to an extreme, but do not overreact to unbiblical extremes to the point that you lose the reality clearly taught in Scripture. Words that accord with the will of God are the currency of his kingdom. Pray for wisdom with faith that your words are heard in heaven—and it is done (James 1:5–8).
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)