Prayer’s Stance
James 1:6-8 KJV 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. (7) For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. (8) A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
I remember the exercise I brought home from my first guitar lesson. It was a few notes hand written on a music staff by my teacher. I had played songs taught to me by my Dad for some time, but now I was learning to associate the notes on a staff with the frets on the guitar’s fingerboard. Although there wasn’t a great deal of music that could come from those first simple notes, I took them very seriously and did my best to perfect their performance. This didn’t mean that perfection came on the first pass by any means, as my vision of perfection kept me going back to each note with a persistence that would not allow me to stop until I was satisfied with what I heard. This became a stance in my relationship with the guitar that has made is possible for me to continue playing scales and exercises in addition to pieces throughout my life. Though perfection is still a passion, there is a need to repeat the process of practice and repetition with a belief that what will come as a result will be worth every less than perfect effort. While a popular definition of insanity is doing something over and over while expecting something different, this ‘insanity’ has been a necessity in any progress that has taken place in musical development. If at any time there is a wavering from belief in the process that will bring the desired result, this process will be abandoned and failure thus guaranteed.
There is a perfection that has been placed within each of us that will inevitably result in a completed work of fulfilled purpose. This capacity is but in need of patience that produces faithfulness to the process of prayer, confession and obedience to the Word. While there is no end to the possibilities and the incredible performance of God’s life in and through us, there can be no expectation of this where the stance of faith has been abandoned due to the constant pressures of discouragement and apparent failure. Where it may seem that too much time has passed with a number of failed attempts coming ever closer to the ‘sanity’ quota, it can yet be that a foundation upon the promises of God himself will establish within us an immovable stance of faith in prayer. Rather than losing all hope and expectation for good, there can be an unwavering persistence that will disallow any failure-ensuring vacillations.