James 1:5-8 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (6) But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. (7) For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; (8) he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
In this section we want to discuss the fact that there is such a thing as the prayer of doubt, and that there are two main areas of doubt that affect the prayer life of saints. It may sound strange but there is such a thing as the prayer of doubt, for in the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle James describes one who asks while doubting; and he tells us that the one who asks while doubting can be assured that they will not receive anything from the Lord. And so whereas we have seen that the prayer of faith will always be answered, in this passage we see that the prayer of doubt will never be answered. So how do the saints know if they are praying in doubt or not? When someone asks while doubting, they normally doubt in one of two areas. Either they are in doubt as to whether they are praying according to the will of God, or they are in doubt as to whether God is able to answer their prayers.
Romans 14:1-23 “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. (2) For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. … (5) One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. … (22) Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. (23) But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.”
The first and most common area of doubt occurs when the saint is not fully convinced that they are praying according to the will of God. And so unlike the prayer of hope, where the express will of God is not known, in this case the express will of God is known but the saint is not fully convinced in their minds that God’s will is applicable to them. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul teaches us this concept using the example of Christians eating certain foods. In this example, the saint hears that God considers all foods to be clean and they observe other believers eating those foods, nevertheless they are not fully convinced in their minds that those foods are clean. Paul states that if those saints ate the food in question, they would condemn themselves, because they would not be acting in faith. That same principle can be applied to the prayer life of the saint. For example, the saint may have heard that it is God’s will to heal the sick and they may have heard others testifying as to how God healed them, but they are not fully convinced in their minds that it is God’s will to heal them. And so if they were to pray for their healing, because they would be praying with an element of doubt, they would not receive from God. How many times have you heard the following statement included in the prayers of Christians, “Lord if it be Your will”. Saints that are not fully convinced in their minds about God’s will, very often include that statement in their prayers. It is impossible for Christians to pray the prayer of faith and at the same time include the statement in their prayer, “if it be Your will”.
Luke 5:12-13 “And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." (13) Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately the leprosy left him.”
So what about the above quoted prayer? For clearly in this instance the leper prayed “Lord if it be Your will” and he received his healing, so why can’t we pray the same way? In this example the leper did not know the express will of God for his situation. Clearly he believed that Jesus could heal him; he just wasn’t sure whether Jesus was willing to heal him. The Lord answered his question by telling him that He was willing to heal him, which He then also did. God has no favourites; and so if it was the will of the Lord to heal the leper, then it is His will to heal all His children. In other words our Lord has made His express will known to us regarding healing, for He has explicitly stated that He is willing to heal us. Therefore for saints to now ask Him to heal them “if He is willing”, is to doubt what He has already stated in His word. And so that prayer will go unanswered. This principle applies to every request that we make known to God. If God has already made His will known regarding that which we are praying about, then we cannot pray “Lord if You are willing”, for that is to doubt what He has already said on the subject and those prayers will go unanswered. And so we see that in order for us to be able to pray the prayer of faith, we must be fully convinced in our minds that what we are asking for is according the express will of God for our lives.
Psalms 78:19-42 “Yes, they spoke against God: They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? (20) Behold, He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?" (21) Therefore, the Lord heard this and was furious; so, a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, (22) because they did not believe in God and did not trust in His salvation. … (40) How often they provoked Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! (41) Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. (42) They did not remember His power: The day when He redeemed them from the enemy.”
The second area of doubt is when the person praying is not convinced that God is able to perform that which He says in His word. Quite simply, this is just plain unbelief. In most instances when a Christian prays in this manner, it more of a complaint than a prayer. An example of this type of prayer would be, “Lord if you can really heal then why don’t you heal me?” In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit describes how the children of Israel limited the Lord, simply because they refused to believe Him. Even though they had seen His mighty miracles in the past, they still refused to believe that He could take care of them in the wilderness. And so we see from this passage that unbelief has the effect of preventing God’s power from being made manifest, thus limiting Him in what He can do for the individual. Saints who pray in this manner are quite often praying out of curiosity to see if God’s power is real or not. Clearly, the saint who prays in this manner will receive nothing from the Lord.
Mark 6:5-6 “Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. (6) And He marveled because of their unbelief.”
In the example quoted above the Lord Jesus had preached in His hometown of Nazareth for the first time. If you read the account you will see that He took the text from Isaiah to teach them that God had anointed Him to heal the sick. After our Lord finished teaching, He invited those needing healing to come forward so that He could lay His hands on them to heal them. Numerous individuals went forward and allowed Jesus to lay His hands on them for healing. But the result was that those needing a miraculous healing, such as having blind eyes opened for example, received nothing, for the scripture says that Jesus could do no mighty work there. Jesus only managed to get a few healed and those individuals had no serious illnesses, otherwise the Holy Spirit would not have recorded that Jesus could do no mighty work there. The reason that the sick in Jesus’ hometown received nothing from the Lord was because they did not believe that He could do what He said He could, i.e. heal the sick. For the scripture says that Jesus marvelled at their unbelief. And so we see that people who pray in this manner normally pray out of curiosity to see if anything will happen, and because their prayers are full of doubt and unbelief, nothing happens. Again we see that in order for us to be able to pray the prayer of faith, we must be fully convinced in our minds that God is well able to perform that which He says in His word.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments