James 1:5-8 (NIV) If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, Who gives GENEROUSLY to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive ANYTHING from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

When you walk, you take one foot and put it in front of the other and consistently follow that procedure. If you took one step forward and then one step backward, you wouldn’t make any progress. Faith is like filling your glass with water; doubt is like pouring it out. Believing something and then doubting that it is true, keeps you from making progress with God. You are being double-minded when you believe and trust Him one moment and then doubt and distrust Him the next.

God’s type of believing is the ability to find the truth about something and not let misinformation confuse you about it. We have already learned that we have to ask God for things or He won’t give them to us. Now we are learning that we have to have consistent faith with that prayer. God knows that we can’t have consistent faith on our own. So, it is time to pray; and, by us praying and asking for consistent faith, we are giving Him permission to produce it in us. Now we are getting from God another one of His requirements in the prayer process, consistent faith.

You are learning about and praying for being able to have a stable and constant trust in your heavenly Father. Just like everything else in Christianity, God isn’t expecting you to PRODUCE consistent faith; but, He IS wanting you to know consistent faith is vital for you getting your prayers answered. Once you understand that, He simply wants you to start “doing what it takes” for getting HIM to install it in you. If God didn’t exist or He wasn’t honest, Christianity couldn’t be based on God answering your prayers.

Heb 11:6 (NIV) And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe (1) that He exists and (2) that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. If faith were something you had to produce, then the above Scripture would cut us all off. When the Bible tells you that you must believe these two things, God is just letting you know how things work in REAL LIFE. God knows you wouldn’t be willing to pray to a god you didn’t believe existed. He also knows you wouldn’t pray to a god who wasn’t honest. But, how are you going to find out whether or not He exists or is honest, if you can’t interact with Him and experience Him for yourself?

Rom 1:18 (NIV) The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. If a person looks at the sky, the stars, and the mountains, they can see the beauty of all God created. If they look at the bugs, all the animals, reptiles, fish, and birds, they can see that there are huge gaps between EVERY TYPE of bug, animal, reptile, fish, and bird. In other words, evolution or any other godless explanation for all of creation would make one gradual change so that everything would all be connected from the first cell of life to the most complex being.

Rom 10:17 (NIV) Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. When someone presented the good news message to you, the ONLY way it made sense to you was because Jesus spoke through that message and produced faith in you. John 6:44 (NIV) No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Even before Jesus produced faith in you through the goodnews message, your heavenly Father drew you into faith. That helped you be able to listen to the message in the first place.

Anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists: This is God’s requirement; but, His creation’s incredible beauty, complexity, and powerful proof PRODUCES faith in us for believing in God’s existence. Anyone who comes to Him must believe...that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him: When you heard the good news message and Jesus spoke faith into you, you were able to believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. And, you were empowered to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (Rom 10:8-10). This proved to you that God rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Rom 1:20 (NIV) For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--His eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. If a person wants to, they can grow in faith in the existence of God just by looking at creation. God is saying that He will reveal His existence to anyone willing to look at it with honesty. He will speak through it and create faith in His existence to all who will sincerely examine it. This will satisfy the first part of Hebrews 11:6 in anyone’s life.

Rom 1:21 (NIV) For although they KNEW God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Once we start seeing God in His creation, we can see through it how wonderful, loving, and generous He is. Then once we pray The Lord’s Prayer and obey Romans 10:8-10, it is easy to see how great He is to us as a person. We are born again into being a child of God, a member of His family, and a citizen of His eternal Kingdom.

Rom 1:22 (NIV) Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. Some people base their importance and value on the crowd; they live their life based on what “most people” think. Even though their friends are suffering emotionally, getting addicted, getting divorced, having financial difficulties, having major relationship problems, and are failing in a lot of the areas of their life, they go ahead and pattern their life after them and their advice.

Just because people claim to be wise, claim to be experts, have degrees, or hold powerful positions doesn’t mean they aren’t foolish in their decisions. People of the world think that gaining, money, possessions, positions, power, prestige, popularity, pleasure, and accomplishments prove that they are wise, experts, and leaders. BUT, Mark 8:36 (NIV) What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

The results of the Christian life is far superior to the life found by the majority of the people around you who aren’t Christians. Consistent faith through taking a good look at God’s creation will give you a wisdom that will change your life for the good. He has done a beautiful job of providing you a world that is wonderful to live on. And He is leading you into relationships that are meaningful and awesome. You will find that loving people rather than loving things will transform your way of life.