This is the third part in my series about unanswered prayers for healing. 

Prologue   Part One   Part Two 

It is important to realize that each of these posts is dealing with just one possible reason prayers go unanswered, and should not be deemed to be all-inclusive!  Remember, our foundation is that God is never wrong!  Therefore, if things aren’t working for us, it is either our fault, the devil’s fault or a bit of both.

The third reason prayers go unanswered is:

A Divided Mind

A few years ago, I was talking to God about something that was causing me grief.  I said, “Lord, one part of me thinks I should do it this way, yet another part of me says to do it differently.”  He spoke clearly, saying, “You need to get your ‘parts’ together, Tina!”   

James 1:6-8 (NLT) states:  “But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.  Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.  Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”

The word “double-minded” in the Greek is dipsychos and means:  wavering, uncertain, doubting and divided in interest.  The word “unstable” is akatastatos, meaning:  unstable, inconstant, inconsistent and restless.

Many times we say we want something but our actions and our words contradict the stated desire.  Remember the story about the man who sat by the Bethesda pool for 38 years waiting to be healed?  (John 5:1-9)  Part of him wanted to get well, so it seemed.  Yet another part of him did nothing to get healed.  He just sat there and blamed others because he couldn’t get into the pool.  Jesus asked the man, “Wilt thou be made whole?” (In other words, “Do you really want to get well?”)

A double-minded person lacks conviction in his beliefs.  This causes the choices he makes and the actions he takes to change depending upon circumstances, other people’s opinions, etc.  We cannot have half of our heart aligned with the Word and the other half aligned with the world.

I currently have an issue in my life in which I have been double-minded; it causes intense turmoil in the core of my being.  Part of me desires healing seemingly with ‘all my heart’, but another part of me obviously doesn’t want it because my actions counter what should be done to receive healing.  A counselor friend of mine, and even my doctor, told me, “You obviously don’t want it badly enough.  When you do, you will be healed.”  Ouch, that hurts!  (Truth usually does hurt, doesn’t it?)  So, what do I need to do to get healed?  I need to stop wavering, stop doubting and become undivided in my desire- and take corresponding action. 

How do we become undivided?  We spend time in the Word and make a deliberate choice to line up our thoughts, words and actions with what God says – no matter how we feel.  We choose to walk by faith, not by sight.  (2 Corinthians 5:7)  I am reminded of the song, sung as a military cadence, that my daughter and I used to sing:

                 I’m not moved by what I feel – only by the Word that’s real.

Another reason for a divided mind is that some people have been erroneously taught that God will sometimes bring sickness upon people to teach them something, or to draw them closer to Him.  When they get sick it is hard for them to believe He will heal them.  One part of them says, “I want to be healed and I know He can heal me”; while the other part says, “If God has me sick it must His will.”  They now have a divided mind, and the subsequent instability; thus, no answered prayer.   If one really and truly believes God wants them sick they should never pray to be healed or go to a doctor; that would be going against God’s will!

Jesus asks each of us, “Do you really want to be well?”  We need to choose to be not only hearers but also doers of what He tells us to do.   James 1:22

Part four to follow shortly.

Keep the faith!