A doubtful mind

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6 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. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.      Jas 1:6–8  ESV.

He saith to me; ‘Remove from thyself a doubtful mind and doubt not at all whether to ask of God, saying within thyself, “How can I ask a thing of the Lord and receive it, seeing that I have committed so many sins against Him?”

2 Reason not thus, but turn to the Lord with thy whole heart, and ask of Him nothing wavering, and thou shalt know His exceeding compassion, that He will surely not abandon thee, but will fulfil the petition of thy soul. 3 For God is not as men who bear a grudge, but Himself is without malice and hath compassion on His creatures.

4 Do thou therefore cleanse thy heart from all the vanities of this life, and from the things mentioned before; and ask of the Lord, and thou shalt receive all things, and shalt lack nothing of all thy petitions, if thou ask of the Lord nothing wavering.

5 But if thou waver in thy heart, thou shalt surely receive none of thy petitions. For they that waver towards God, these are the doubtful-minded, and they never obtain any of their petitions. 6 But they that are complete in the faith make all their petitions trusting in the Lord, and they receive, because they ask without wavering, nothing doubting; for every doubtful-minded man, if he repent not, shall hardly be saved.

Lightfoot, J. B., & Harmer, J. R. (1891). The Apostolic Fathers (pp. 431–432). London: Macmillan and Co.

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