James 1:5 says if any of you lacks wisdom, then you need to ask the Father and the Father will give it to you. Then it goes on to say that when you ask, you need to ask in faith without doubting, for he who doubts is like the waves of a sea, tossed and driven by the wind. You go to the Father and say, “Father, I need wisdom, and I’m asking You to give me wisdom for this situation.”

The Father then says, “I give you the grace to use My wisdom. I’m giving you My ability. Where your ability falls short, I’m giving you My ability that will take up the slack. You can think with the mind of Christ. You can think the way I think. I’m giving you grace in this situation.”

At this point you have a choice. You can say, “Well, I sure hope I have wisdom in this.” But when you speak statements of doubt, you have immediately proven you were not in faith. If God has said He will give you something (and the way He gives it to you is by His grace), then you have to believe He did (by faith). That means you have to believe, speak and act like you have it.

Pray something like this, “Father, in the name of Jesus, I humbly come before Your throne of grace. I have the right to, because I’ve been made righteous. I’ve got a decision to make this week. I don’t know what to do, because there are a lot of options. You said in Your Word You would give me wisdom and You would give it to me liberally. Liberally means more than enough, more than I even need. Well, that’s fine. I’m here. I’m asking. Please give it to me.”

At this time, the Father, by His grace, gives you the grace to use His ability and to have His ability work through you and take up the slack. When He gives you His grace to make a decision, if you believe you have the ability to make the wise decision, then you will make the wise decision.

Faith has to kick in. Faith says, “All right! Praise God! I’ve got that ability now. I can make that decision now because I’ve got the mind of Christ. God has given me wisdom. Praise the Lord!” Then when the situation you were praying about arises, you feel right about going one way or the other, so you make the decision.

Immediately, Satan will step in and try to make it look like you’ve made the wrong decision. Why? Because Satan knows sometimes we’re gullible and we might be pressured to go by what we see.

That’s why God tells us over and over in His Word to walk by faith, not by sight. If He told you He was going to give you wisdom and you believed He actually did give you wisdom; if you subsequently utilized wisdom in the situation and made a decision you felt good about in your spirit, then, at that point, you know you made the right decision.

“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. 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 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:5-8).

Afterward, if something happens that makes it look like it was the wrong decision, you cannot say, “I wonder if I made the right decision?” The minute you say that, you’ve stepped out of faith. You’re doubting. What you are doubting is whether God actually gave you the wisdom or not. If you say, “Maybe God didn’t give me the wisdom,” then you are calling God a liar. That’s not a wise thing to do – both Hebrews 6:18 and Titus 1:2 confirm that it’s impossible for God to lie.

We have no excuses…no excuse for gossiping, no excuse for losing our self-control, no excuse for worrying. Why? Because God’s ability (grace) takes up the slack where we fall short.

This is an excerpt from Larry Ollison’s book,
“Discover the Power of Grace in Righteousness”