Ask Without Double-Mindedness

He said to me, “Take double-mindedness away from yourself, and do not be of two minds at all about asking God for something. Do not say to yourself, ‘How can I ask the Lord for anything and receive it, when I have sinned so much against him?’ “Do not reason that way. Turn to the Lord with your whole heart and ask him without hesitating, and you will find out how deep his compassion is: he will never abandon you, but will fully grant what your soul asks for. For God is not like people, who hold grudges; he holds nothing against anyone, and he has pity on what he himself made. [a]

“So clean your heart out — of all the empty things of this age, and of the words you were told earlier — and ask the Lord, and you will get everything. You will not fall short in a single one of your requests, if you ask the Lord without hesitating. But if you hesitate in your heart, you will receive none of your requests. The people who hesitate toward God are the double-minded, and they get nothing at all of what they ask for. But those who are whole in the faith ask for everything, trusting the Lord, and they receive it, because they ask without hesitating and are not of two minds about anything. For every double-minded man, unless he repents, will barely be saved.

“So clean double-mindedness out of your heart and put faith on, because faith is strong. Trust God that you will receive every request you make of him. And if you have asked the Lord for something and are slow in getting it, do not become double-minded because you did not quickly get what your soul asked for. It is always because of some trial, or some offense of yours that you know nothing about, that you are slower in receiving your request. So do not leave off asking for what your soul asks; you will get it. But if you give up and go double-minded in your asking, blame yourself, and not the one who gives to you.

“Take a hard look at this double-mindedness. It is wicked and senseless, and it uproots many people from the faith — even people who are very faithful and very strong. For this double-mindedness is the devil’s daughter, and it does terrible harm to God’s servants. So look down on double-mindedness and get the upper hand over it in everything, clothing yourself with faith, which is strong and powerful. Faith promises everything and finishes everything; but double-mindedness has no real confidence even in itself, and fails at every piece of work it takes on.

“So you see,” he said, “that faith is from above, from the Lord, and has great power, while double-mindedness is an earthly spirit from the devil, and has no power at all. So serve the one that has power — faith — and keep away from double-mindedness, which has none, and you will live to God. And everyone whose mind is set on these things will live to God.”