How to Overcome Doubt with Specific Prayer

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Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, October 14th. Do you have a need on your heart today? Today’s podcast offers encouragement to rely fully on God. Bring your requests to Him and trust His response.

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In James, the very first chapter, in verse 5, he says, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. What he’s really saying here, if you’ll notice in the verse before, he’s talking about needs, and he says, Let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Then he says, But if you lack wisdom, here’s what you do. The truth is what he’s saying is, if you lack anything, Here’s what you do, no matter what it is. If there’s a need in your life, he says, this is the way to approach that need. And his first word of instruction is to bring your need to God in prayer. That’s what he’s saying. Notice, if any of you lacks wisdom or lacks anything, let him ask of God who gives to all men generously. Now, I believe one of the specific primary problems in a lot of people’s praying is this. They never ask specifically. If somebody is going to pray for you and you have a particular need, do you want them to pray, Lord, would you just bless him? Or do you want them to pray specifically that God would meet your need? in these two words of instruction his first is simply this first of all that you and i come to him with a specific request and address that need to god look if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of god who gives to all men liberally we’re to bring these requests to the father but notice the second thing he says first of all he says we are to make our requests to god secondly Here is a warning, verse six, he says, but let him ask in faith without any doubting now, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. He says, for let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Now I wonder how many requests we make of God that we make in faith. Now listen, get this, are we making the request in faith anticipating God specifically answering our prayer, or are we simply just telling God about something we’re feeling? Expressing my feeling to you about something is one thing. Making a specific request that you do something for me is entirely different. That’s why you can’t put wishing and faith together. They’re not the same. And much of what we think is an expression of faith is simply just telling God about it, but not backed up by anticipation, expectation that God is going to answer our prayer based, listen, not on how well I pray, how long I pray, how intense my prayers are, but based on what? Based on the very character of God, the faithfulness of God, the power of God to do what He said. That’s why you cannot separate the Word of God and praying and praying with faith. You cannot separate those two. The winning combination is that you and I come to God making our request specifically, listen, trusting and anticipating God to do what He said because what? Our anticipation is not based on our prayers but based on our faith in God and ultimately based on our understanding and knowledge of who God is. Now, one of our problems is our ignorance. And then we wonder, well, now, God, why don’t you do thus and so? I see you answering her prayer. Why don’t you answer my prayer? Lord, I’m just as good as they are. That’s not the right kind of conversation to carry on with God, by the way. That won’t get you anything. What you have to ask is, Lord, what are you trying to say to me? That is, why are my prayers not being answered? And one of the primary reasons is they’re not specific. And secondly… You’re not looking for, anticipating, expecting God to specifically answer what you requested of Him. Now, let me tell you what we do sometimes. Sometimes we are deceived even in our praying. Not to be critical, but we get deceived. We come to God. We make a request. Not sure that God is going to answer our prayer. And so what do we do? We set about to manipulate the circumstances to be sure we get it done. Sometimes our manipulation frustrates the will and plan of God. There’s some things that you and I are going to bring to God and His response is going to be step one for you. And so we go and do certain things. Sometimes we’re going to bring requests to God. We’re not going to know what to do. We’re absolutely helpless before Him. Sometimes we come to Him. We know that God’s will has been very clear to us. We know that. And nothing happens. Does that mean that God isn’t working just because He’s quiet? Does it mean He’s still because He’s silent? God is working. But you see, the better we understand Him, His delays won’t bother us. The more we understand the ways of God, God’s silence won’t confuse us. We know that He’s working because He’s God. We know that He’s working because of His faithfulness. But you see, if my idea of God is that He’s up yonder somewhere and I know He’s holy and I know He’s powerful and I certainly hope He’s going to answer my prayer. No. We come to Him with expectation, anticipation, not trying to manipulate God into doing something that we think may possibly not be the will of the Father. Now, You see, if you and I are familiar with how God operates and we are in the Word of God and we are constantly searching and asking the Lord to speak through our heart, we’re going to begin to understand how God works and we’re going to understand how simply God makes all this. I want you to turn, if you will, to 2 Chronicles 6. And this is a beautiful passage. scripture here that certainly ought to affirm our faith in the Lord and how God operates. Sometimes He delays. Sometimes He doesn’t do things the way we think He ought to. Sometimes He doesn’t grant our request exactly the way we make the petition. But 2 Chronicles chapter 6 is a beautiful example of how God answers His prayer in His time, and I think the way it is described here is beautiful. Chapter 6, verse 1. Then Solomon said, the Lord said that he would dwell in the thick cloud. I have built thee a lofty house and a place for thy dwelling forever. Then the king faced about and blessed all the assembly of Israel while all the assembly of Israel was standing. And listen to what he said. And he said, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with his hands. Did you get that? Whatever God speaks, God’s going to do. Whatever God promises, God’s going to do. Skip down, if you will, to verse 7. Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless, you shall not build a house, but your son who shall be born to you, he shall build a house for my name. Look at verse 10. Now the Lord has fulfilled his word, which he spoke. For I have risen in the place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. Now the Lord spoke and the Lord fulfilled what he promised. He just didn’t do it in the way that was expected. Does that cause you to doubt God? Remember this, that nowhere does he promise he will answer our prayers specifically as we ask. That is, God has his ways of answering our prayer. And he answered David’s prayer in the fact that a house was built for God. God just chose to do it through his son. He chose to do it a different way. But as you read that passage, that’s one of those passages you should be able to look at and say, well, now, Lord, Are you using the same idea in my life at this particular time? Are you accomplishing something in my life, and it seems to be that you’re delaying it or that you’re not doing it, while all the time you have a different plan and a different design by which to accomplish your purpose in my life? You see, there’s so many things that we ask Him for that the answer is yes. But we doubt Him because He doesn’t follow our prescribed steps by which to answer the prayer. Back to James. Let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. Am I doubting because he doesn’t do it my way? Now look at what he says here about this doubting. First of all, he says, there’s going to be an intrusion of doubt into our lives at times. There’s no question about that. Everything you and I kneel to pray for the first time, we don’t always know in the beginning. So we’ve talked about how to find the will of God in a specific thing. But once you know the will of the Father, then doubt is out. Once you know this is what God wants you to do, doubt is out. Because doubt becomes a hindrance. It is a foreign intruder into my conversation and into my relationship with God in this specific request. Anytime doubt intrudes into what I’m thinking and what I’m talking to Him about, when I know it’s the will of God, then doubt has happened. intruded into my relationship, into my conversation, and it’s going to cause me trouble. I’m responsible. I can’t blame it on anybody else. He says, now the person who’s doubting, don’t let him think he’s going to receive anything from God. And you see, once we begin to understand the nature of doubt, then we understand why God oftentimes withholds the answer when we are doubting Him. Because what does doubt imply? Well, all of us would agree that the God of the Bible is God and the God whom we love and serve. If He’s really that God, why isn’t He doing more in your life and mine than He’s doing? Is it because we’re not asking Him? Is it because we think we’re too far down the road that God won’t or can’t anymore? What is this doubt? What’s causing this doubt? Back to the Bible. As you begin to search the scripture and you see how God operated in the past, it is the catalyst. It’s the motivation. It’s the something that stirs within us that God’s done it before. He’ll do it again. If that’s the way he worked in his life, will he work in my life the same? And the answer so many times is yes, he will. He’s just waiting to do it. If we’ll allow him to do it. If God says he’s going to do it, I don’t have any basis for doubting that. And my only basis for doubting is my feeling. I’m going by feelings or by my circumstances. Now, notice what he says. He says, let me explain this. He says, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the winds. He says, you’re like a 16-foot boat out in the middle of a stormy sea and you’re just going in every direction and nothing’s going on. Because he says, doubt short-circuits the faith. That is, doubt short-circuits the power of the prayer. He says, if you ask doubting, he says, forget it. Doubt’s out if the answer’s coming. Now notice what he says. He says, doubt is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. What kind of wind? Well, sometimes it’s the winds of false doctrine, as Paul says. Everything coming and going down the pike today says you ought to believe this, you ought to believe that, you shouldn’t believe this. God does everything. You put God in the box. There’s so many things that people are talking about today that people have a right, I guess, to wonder what they believe. That’s why you need to get in the book. That’s why you need to get in a church somewhere. Somebody’s teaching the Word of God so you know that you know what God says about certain things. Haven’t you had maybe somebody who’s a real friend to come to you? I mean, this person thinks they’re a real friend, they say. Now, I hear what you’re asking God to do, but you don’t want to get disappointed. You don’t want to ask anything too big of God. Why not? You see, if you only keep your request private, I’m not sure that’s in a real faith. I don’t mean to get out there foolishly, but I mean, if you know the will of God about something, then you not only ought to be willing to ask Him and to anticipate it, but be willing to share it with a friend. Here’s what I’m asking God to do. And the devil’s going to say, yeah, and suppose he doesn’t do it. Then you tell the devil, I reject that. I choose death to everything you have to say. I’m believing God, not the devil. You see, sometimes the devil slips in. We start believing what he says rather than what God says. And you see, what I want you to get a hold of is this. Do you understand the absolute, unbelievable potential that is within you if you would just start believing God for what you know is His will? What in this world God will do with your life? We get blown off course by false doctrine. We get blown off course by other people’s opinions. And we get blown off course by looking at the difficulty. We bring the petition God-centered and not problem or need-centered. Our conversation is to Him and about Him. And what we’re really doing is just sort of mixing in with Him what our particular need is. But if you look at the need and say, Lord, and you begin to spend most of your time talking about the need, here’s what will happen. Faith goes down, doubt rises. When you begin to major on who God is in your praying, what happens? Faith rises, doubt descends. He says, in simple language, doubt is out for those who come to God expecting and anticipating Him to do what He says. Now listen. He says, like the surf of the sea, driven, what? He says, driven by the winds and tossed. Doubt destroys my faith. And it fouls up what God wants to do in my life. And so I have to deal with doubt. How do I deal with doubt? Well, I’ve said it over and over and over again on purpose. How do I deal with doubt? Well, I want to add something to it. First of all, I said, if you want God to build your faith and you want to understand the ways of God you get in the book, you find out what He’s doing. You say, well, listen, I read the Bible. I pray. But somehow God doesn’t seem to be answering my prayers in spite of all the prayers that I offer Him. And I read the Bible. Well, I can understand how that would be a problem with some people. Some people don’t know how to read the Bible. Some people really can’t, don’t know how to apply the Scripture to their own life. But I want to add one facet of that. If you’re struggling in your prayer life, and you do believe that you should bring your specific petitions to Him, you understand all of that. But you’re still struggling with doubt. Let me make a good suggestion that’ll work. Not only must you be in the Word of God, searching for those passages that relate to something that you’re having to deal with. But then add one more thing to that. Find yourself a friend that is a prayer partner in whom you have confidence in their prayers. That something happens when two people get together and they begin to make the same request. You get on your knees with someone and you begin to make a request that And you begin to hear that other person say, that’s right, Lord. Amen. I’ve walked in prayer meetings at times so heavy hearted. Well, the group of deacons, a group of fellows begin to pour out my heart. Sometime we and they pick up on that. And I’m here to tell you. There is nothing money could ever buy that can strengthen the heart, lift the spirit, strengthen the faith, build confidence. Like hearing your friend cry for God in your behalf. I don’t know what kind of friends you have, but I can tell you this. If you don’t have a praying friend, you’re missing something. I can’t imagine… going all the way through life and not having a prayer partner. Do you know the folks that I feel the most sorry for, the people who’ve lived 50 or 60 years, who’ve missed out on so many of God’s blessings because you never learned to pray, never learned to believe God, never had anybody you could kneel and pray with? And I want to say something to you, my friend. If you’re married, you can’t give your marriage partner any greater gift than than to give them a praying husband or a praying wife. You can’t give them anything greater than that. You can’t give your children any greater heritage than a praying dad or a praying mom. I can still hear my mom call my name and some very specific things that she would ask for me down by the bed, by my bedside, when I was a teenager. I can still hear it. That’s a heritage that can never be taken from me. And I want to ask you today, do you have anybody that you can point to and say, when the going gets rough, we get together. Somehow, when we begin to pray, God begins to do something. You see, the truth is that by prayer and faith, when you put that combination together, here’s what happens. When I’m willing to reach out to God in prayer and faith, I can reach out to the solution in any need that I have. I can touch anybody anywhere in the world. My inadequacy can be transformed into godly adequacy. And what appears to be so humanly impossible gets converted into the most possible thing.

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That’s when you and I begin to pray seriously, trusting, anticipating, expecting God to do what He says He’ll do because He is who He says He is.

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Thank you for listening to part two of A Winning Combination in Time of Need. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24-7 station. And if you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.