Getting Things Settled in Our Hearts Dear Daily Devotional Reader, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 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. 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. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:1-8 Getting things settled in our spirit concerning what God wants us to do can sometimes require real work in prayer, fasting, and meditating on God's Word. The scriptures teach us in 1 Corinthians 14:33 that God is not the author of confusion: For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace... Confusion is like being double-minded, and if Satan can keep you double-minded, or confused about direction or the will of God, he can keep you from receiving healing, prosperity, or anything else that is promised to you in the Word of God that belongs to you in Christ Jesus. One of the biggest reasons an individual does not receive their healing is if that person does not become single-minded, but stays doubleminded. For instance, if a person is believing God for their healing, and if they are fully convinced one day that they're healed but the next day, they're doubting that they are, and wondering why they're not, Satan will take them out, especially if the trial is particularly severe. Double-mindedness comes when a person has not been accurately taught the Word of faith from God s Word. It can also happen as result of listening to too many dear ministers teaching the Word. These ministers usually
have a head knowledge of the Word, but it's not inside their heart. They, themselves, really don't know that they are that way, and there's nothing really that you can do to persuade or convince them that the faith message they heard and sat under is all in their head and not in their hearts. That is, until they get hit with a trial, and in almost every incident that I've ever witnessed, the person never did receive their healing. For whatever the reason may be, they never get the Word inside their heart. And if I may say this-- it has to do with many dear people who are talkers of the Word, but they're not doers of the Word. Confusion, on the other hand, is the result of a lack of prayer. The person has just not prayed enough to get it settled in their heart what they're to do. We've all been guilty of this in some area of our lives. To have confusion in one's heart, (actually, the confusion is in one's head, but it's affecting their heart) is when your mind is making so much noise that it makes it difficult to hear what you've got in your heart. It's where you've stepped out in faith for God because you believe God told you to do something, and all hell broke loose against you, whether you realize it or not. Your mind panics and loses control and all you can think is, "Get me out of this problem." That's usually the reason why people quit doing the will of God. The only way I know to cure double-mindedness is to meditate on God's Word and speak His Word day and night. For instance, if it is healing that you are believing God for, you would want to take a verse of scripture like 1 Peter 2:24 or Galatians 3:13 and just keep repeating it to yourself day and night and rebuking every thought that says, "You're not going to get healed." You do that by saying, "Satan, it is written, by His stripes I was healed." You'll find one scripture that really clicks with you--- that's the one you want to stay with. And when you can't sleep, you just keep saying that verse. Gradually, you'll get stronger and the voice will get weaker. To eliminate confusion, you just keep praying until it leaves. And having done all to stand, stand therefore. And, continually obey everything that God tells you to do, because to get Satan to flee, you've got to be in total obedience and submission to God. James 4:7 says, Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. This is something that you'll spend the rest of your life working on and maintaining, because Satan is going to do everything he can to
persuade you give up, quit, or to get you to where you are double-minded or totally confused. Abraham got his miracle from God, because he obeyed God, believed God, and was fully persuaded that what God said, God would do. As it says in James 1:7,8: For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. When we get hit with a test or trial, one of the first things it does is locate what we really believe. We have people in the body of Christ who believe in healing and are very vocal about it, but they have never had to believe God for healing to any great extent. Likewise, we have people in the body of Christ that believe in prosperity, but have really never had to believe God for prosperity. For instance, they've always been employed and never unemployed, and they've never been behind in their mortgage payments. These dear brothers and sisters who swear up and down that they're Word people (they've been to all the conventions, have all the books and tapes, and have the T-shirt) do not really realize that they're operating on head knowledge and not heart knowledge. They tell people stories and testimonies that don't belong to them, because they really don't have much of a testimony for themselves. Tests and trials, as bad as they may seem, really keep us in shape, spiritually. If they force us to pick up our Bible, shut off the TV, fast the dinner table and get on our knees and seek God for an answer, they help keep us in shape and our faith active and alive. I remember when I was in Bible School. I saw people who wrote one check to pay their full tuition for the whole year. Other people wrote one check and paid the rent on their apartment for the year. They had beautiful furnishings, a new car, plenty of groceries, and were able to eat out all the time. On the other hand, I had no groceries, except the bare necessities. I seemed to always be behind on my tuition, or my rent, or utilities. I rarely ever got to go to a restaurant, and I felt like the biggest failure with no faith at all. A lot of times, the only way that I could get my mind quieted so I could fall asleep was to walk up and down my apartment hallway, praising God and thanking God by faith, that my bills are paid.
Toward graduation, I heard an elder minister say, "I feel sorry for you students who came to school and wrote a check and paid your rent for the whole year and had plenty of groceries and never had to go to bed at night thanking God that you had groceries and laughing at the devil, because you never did learn anything about faith." I didn't understand what in the world he meant by that. I thought that great faith was having a lot of money, and with one check, paying your rent for the full year. Little did I realize then, that all the time that I spent walking my apartment floor praising God that my bills are paid, I was exercising and developing my faith to where I could believe God for even more later. As time went by, I would run across those people and the life and walk of faith were still foreign to them, and they were never able to get it to work for themselves. Faith has got to be tried and proven before it's even ever going to please God and move mountains. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:7: Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. 2 Corinthians 13: 5 Remember, God wishes above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers (3 John 2). Your Word of faith pastor, Pastor Jesse Rich Jesse Rich Ministries P.O. Box 237170 New York, NY 10023 TO BE REMOVED FROM THIS LIST CLICK BELOW & SEND EMAIL www.jesserichministries.com/contact.htm PHONE: (212) 501-7999 Website: www.jesserichministries.com