Effective Prayer  The unstable man  After exhorting us to seek
wisdom, James moves to another of his principal themes—prayer
that gains results. He says that a man who petitions God for
wisdom must ask in faith. But as James expands upon the
necessity of faith, he clearly does not mean to limit his advice
to one kind of prayer, the prayer for wisdom. He expects us to
understand that faith is the condition for any successful
prayer, whatever it may seek. It is the key to unlock the
storehouse containing all of God’s benefits.  The Book of James
is rich in uncommon words and unusual figures of speech. We find
several examples here in the opening discussion of faith. He
contrasts faith with “wavering.” The word refers to a struggle
within the mind, arising when a man’s thoughts take both sides
in an internal debate. A debate over what? There are two
possibilities. Since James does not tell us which kind of
wavering he means, he likely means either one. It is wavering if
a man doubts whether God will in fact hear