for let not that man supposed that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man and unstable in all his ways. Welcome to Mind Matters with Dr. J.A. Jones. Dr. Jones is the head pastor of the Faith Community Church of God in Orange Park, Florida. Relationships, finances, our spiritual life, whatever it is, our problems start within in our minds. Dr. Jones explores mental wellness through the application of God's Word in our lives. It's just what the doctor ordered. Let's join him now and dig into Mind Matters because your mind matters to God. Welcome back to Mind Matters with myself and I'm excited. I'm Dr. Jones. I'm hosting the show today. Today we're going to get into the principles that normally and should shape our lives and guide our decisions every day. Today we're going to talk about an important topic. It is actually the dangers of a double mind part two. We're going to be drawing from the wisdom of the book of James and specifically James chapter 1 verses 5 through 8 because this passage was written by James, the half brother of Jesus, a leader of the early Christian church. And what he does for us as believers and people that want to know God and live for God and do better in life, he gives us profound insights into the consequences of having a double mind. I have a special guest with me today, Cindy. And thank you for being with me. Good to be here, Dr. Jones. Glad you're here. How are things going with you today? Well, how things have been going? Well, it's been a busy lifestyle. I have a lot going on, a lot on my plate. Who doesn't? Who doesn't? Right. Right. What are some of the things on your plate? Well, I have an upcoming women's conference on September the 14th and 15th that I'm preparing for. Also, it's called the WOW Conference, I believe. Yes. Women of worth. Absolutely. Yes. Also, got caregiving going on. Have, oh, wow. Just the regular church services on Sundays. Yes. Bible studies on Wednesdays with women. And I got a younger daughter that's about to have wisdom, deep surgery. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. Good stuff. Because, you know, life presents us opportunities. And I think it's a great opportunity. And no, but I'm glad you're with me today. We're going to definitely get into this important topic. I think everybody can relate to and hopefully understand. And my goals today are objective is to give people what they need to know so they can get better and grow and grow mentally, grow spiritually, grow emotionally grow in every aspect of their life. And I think that's so important because as we talk about the dangers of a double mind, it's dealing with a two sold attitude, right? That's what James means when he said a double mind. And I think he coined this phrase because I don't think it's nowhere else in the Bible. Because he understood a double mind, you know, versus being a single mind. So James chapter one, verse five says this. If any of you lack wisdom, let them ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach. And it will be given to him, but let him ask in faith, not doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the seed 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 and unstable in all his ways. Wow. Now that's a profound scripture. Now I like the latter part and we're going to get into this and do a quick review. But the scripture says unstable in all his ways, relationships, unstable, financial matters, unstable, spiritual matters, unstable, health, unstable, friends, unstable, because when a person is oscillating, going back and forth, being fickle, uncertain, they're going to find their life going down a path that they don't want to go. So today we're going to help people get on the right path and how they think, because this is what we all about. Mind matters helping people to think from a different perspective. And we're going to get into that in a moment. So a quick review is this. Last week, we talked about the importance of asking in faith. Okay. Very, very important, based on that scripture, right? Right. The second thing we just talked about is the unstable nature of doubt, because doubt creates instability and inconsistency, making it difficult to stay on course. It makes us unsteady in our walk of faith. The third thing we address was the consequences of unanswered prayers, because doubt disrupts our connection with God and keeps us from receiving his best. I don't know of anybody that does not want to have God's best and live what their best life. Right. Because I have this saying, I've made so many bad choices. Now I want to make better choices. Yes. Now I go from yes. It's important to grow. Absolutely. And that's what we're talking about, helping people to understand. Learn from our mistakes. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I go from bad choices. I'm pretty sure our audience can resonate with that. Amen. For that. I've done that and been there and trying to change that perspective and change that path. But I'm making better choices. Good. But I want to get to the best choice. There's always bad, better and best. So we're going to help you as an audience. Thank you for tuning in to Mind Matters with myself, Dr. Jones, my wife, Cindy Jones. We've been together 46 years, Cindy. You know that? Isn't that something? It's amazing how time flies when you what? Having fun. Correct. Absolutely. It's an adventure. Absolutely. Every day. Every day. It's never boring. That is for sure. So the fourth thing today, and it's going to take up most of our show today, I'm pretty sure the call to stability and a single-mindedness. Because James calls us to be single-minded and stable in our faith. Because this involves committing fully to God and his promises. I remember scripture says that all of his promises, they're what? Yes. Amen. And amen. That means it's going to happen. Yes, and so be it. Right. We got to stand on those promises. Correct. One scripture said in Psalms 86 verse 11, "Teach me your way, O Lord. I will walk in your truth. You night my heart to fear your name." My goodness. So what we want our audience to know today is relates to the call to stability and a single-mindedness is this. When we walk in truth, it frees us to trust and not doubt. Because when you are single-minded, your focus is on one thing. That's important. And we need to do that especially nowadays because there's so many distractions. Absolutely. It's hard. You see it so much now where people find it difficult to focus. Yes. Think about one thing. Like even when you're driving. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Focus on driving. Well, no, they're going to focus on texting, combing their hair, eating their food, eating their lunch, changing their clothes. They're going to focus on so many other things, or at least do other things. I don't know if it's the right focus, obviously. It's just sometimes people are trying to continue to multitask even while driving as you just- It's very dangerous. ... eloquently stated. It's very dangerous. You put other people's lives in danger. It's not just yours, but others on the road with you. Yes. I agree. 100%. You know, Jesus says something in John chapter 8, verse 32, "When you know the truth, the truth will make you free." Correct. Most people are not free because they don't know the truth. We have what we call genosis and epigenosis as relates to knowledge, right? Having an awareness is so important in life. Awareness of being double-minded versus being single-minded. Most people don't even have that awareness. Like what you're saying now, people do a lot of things while they're driving that can distract them. Right. And they may have some intention. What I do believe, Cindy, every time we have an intention to do something, there will always be an opportunity for distraction. So with intention, distraction will follow. That's biblically, it's throughout scripture and it's out and it's throughout our lives from a day-to-day basis. Yeah, a common thing too is, you know, I hear from some people, old and young. Okay. They have the intentions of being at church or coming to church. For example. That's an example. Okay, go ahead. That's an example. But things come up and so when things come up, they lose that focus. And so they don't end up where they intended in the first place because they're not single-minded and they're not focused on accomplishing that. They're let those distractions take them away from what they intended to do. And you can't accomplish any goals when you let distractions and things that come up. Right. You cannot accomplish it. Right. Right. What goals are you going to accomplish in life if you let other things that pop up, which they are going to pop up because that's just part of life. Right. Take you from your focus or in accomplishing your goal. Absolutely. Life is going to happen. No. Absolutely. You're right. You're right on point because, again, with intention, always come distraction. Now, you talked about distraction. If someone says they're going to do something, we'll say whether they're coming to the church, whether they're going to pick you up. If they say they're not going to do this any longer, they're not going to participate in certain habits or they're not going to connect to certain people because of that. Right. And just like I said, when you're driving and you're trying to multitask and you're putting other people's lives in danger, we are not an island. So when things come up and you change your mind, that double-mindedness, it affects other people around you. They got to change their schedule, this or that or whatever the case may be because you changed your mind. Absolutely. Absolutely. You're not focused. You're not going to do what you said you're going to do. So now that affects somebody else and they got to change their schedule. They got to make all the adjustments because they was depending on you doing what you said you was going to do. Now they got to change everything around because now you're not going to do what you said you're going to do. No, absolutely. Absolutely. I think I know what's the problem. There's always a solution, right? So we want to give solutions today to problems. We want to give answers to questions that people have in life because, like you said, people really are not aware of their doubleness of their oscillating from one way to another way, from left to right, from right to left, from up and down because with intention always comes distraction. But we don't have to allow the distraction to deter us from our intention because that's the law of polarity. There's always to be up. There's going to be a down. If there's an end, there's going to be an out. If there's a left, there's a bad, there's a good, there's a bad. If there's a left, there's a right, you know, life is like a two sided coin. And it's very important for people to have an understanding because having a double mind is dangerous. Oh, yes. It's not healthy. It's not a way that I think especially Christians or anyone for that matter to live life because life should be lived to his fullest and the way life can be lived to his fullest is fully having faith in God, fully understanding the nature of doubt, fully understanding the consequences of an unanswered prayer because most people pray and most people understand the power of prayer because it's so important because prayer works. Prayer is important. It's like oxygen to the soul. It helps us to move forward, help us to get unstuck, help us to become aware of certain habits and certain things that we don't even know what we're doing. Just like if something is on your shoulder or crawling on your back, you don't see it. Oh, I say, oh, there's a bug on you or there's something on you. Yeah. And you're going to say after you flicker it off or after I come and get it off, what you're going to say? Thank you. Yes. Right. You're going to say thank you because you were not aware. So today, thank you for tuning in to Mind Matters with myself and Cindy, we're trying to help everyone that is tuning in to understand the dangers of a double mind. And that is so important as we go forward in life today. Now, what we discussed and what we're talking about is that it's so key to understand that. Dr. Jones is the pastor of Faith Community Church of God in Orange Park, reaching a hurting world with the love of Jesus. We thank you for listening to Mind Matters and we encourage you to show support for the many community outreach ministries that Dr. Jones and Faith Community Church tend to. You can give at Faith Community's website, faithccop.org or just text money sign and the amount you want to give to 833-435-8022. That's 833-435-8022. We are blessed to be a blessing. Now, let's get back to the program. Thank you again for tuning in to Mind Matters with myself, Dr. Jones and Cindy Jones. Now, we are definitely addressing the dangers of a double mind. Single-minded means you are determined when you're single-minded, you're determined, you're steadfast, you're focused, you are resolute, you're unwavering because your faith is in God, not situations or not people, because as James is giving us an understanding, these profound scriptures in James chapter 1, which is a powerful chapter in the Bible, it helps us to understand that the Bible says, and I think it's verse 1 that talks about count it all joy when you encounter various trials and temptation, knowing that the trying of your faith work is patience. Then it goes on to say, let patience have its perfect work that we may be complete and entire and lacking nothing. Now, as you're listening, God wants you, sir, man, to be complete and lacking nothing. I want you to hear that clearly. God wants you to be complete and lacking nothing. I love when the Psalmist said in Psalms 23, the Lord is my shepherd and I share not won't. What that word won't means lack, and that's God's plan for his creation, and it's so important because when you decide to stay the course, no matter how you feel, or what others are not doing, you're going to work out your own salvation with reverence of God. The word fear means to reverence God. How? In your marriage, in your money, with your children, your job, if you're single, in your singleness, in your work of the church, if you're working at the church, you're volunteering of your paid staff, because you are singly-minded and you're focused. I love the thought of when you decide versus making a choice in life, because when you make a choice, choice can mean pick an option or pick one. When you decide, the word decide comes from a Latin word, D means of or off, and side means to cut. So, said again? Okay. Oh, absolutely. So, you cut off everything except for what's important. Correct. You cut off people's opinion, because that can cause you to go down the wrong path when you go on through a trial or testing or a problem, right? You cut off some of that news, because most of that is not good news. The only good news is the gospel of Jesus Christ, right? You cut off certain attitudes, because the Bible says evil communications corrupt good morals. So, there are some associations you have to disassociate yourself from. Right. Because you got to set your priorities in order to accomplish your goals. Absolutely. And you know when you have to, where you got a goal set, just like going on a diet. Okay. You know, you want to lose 10 pounds, 15 pounds, whatever. Well, you know, you can't continue to eat everything that you like to eat, and you want to eat it, and so you got to decide. Yes. Yes. The healthy things. Yeah. Cut off the things you know that's going to cause you to gain weight versus lose the weight. Right. So, absolutely. Same thing with accomplishing goals, and building a closer relationship with the Lord. You know, there are some people, if you hang out with them, they're going to convince you to do things that you know you should not do. Right. And that means you're going to become double-minded. But go ahead. Yeah. So, you can't say, oh, well, I'm going to continue to do this here, but then I'm going to get closer to God too. That's going to clash. Right. Because you got to cut off what is not beneficial. As Paul said, all things may be good, but they may not be beneficial. Yeah, absolutely. So, you got to decide. Right. Absolutely. Which way are you going to go? Yeah. Can't do both. That's that double-mindedness. Well, again, that's a pattern. That's the circuit patterns and habits. That's kind of how I look at it. In our brain, we have circuit trees, neurons that fire together, wired together. So, it's a circuitry that has been built a neurological pathway in our brain, where it becomes a pattern. And if you do something over a period of time, it becomes a habit from that pattern way or consistent way. And habits can be hard to break. Absolutely. They all are hard to break. Hopefully, we're trying to break bad habits versus good habits. Right. Yeah. So, it takes time, a period of time to break a habit. Absolutely. And so, you got to stop, cut it off for a period of time in order for it to be broken. But that double-minded comes into play when you say, "Well, it ain't going to hurt this time. Oh, I can just do it this time." Right. No, because then you're still feeding it. Sure. And anything you feed is going to grow. Absolutely. And what you start, it's going to die. Absolutely. Because it's so important for us, I love what Colossians chapter 3 verse 2 says, "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." Correct. That means you've got to be singly-minded to live from heaven to earth, not earth to heaven per se. Understand because God has a plan. God has a blueprint for our life based on the Lord's prayer, a father which art in heaven. Most people know it. Halleluk, be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Because single-mindedness means there is only one life being lived here. That means living for God. In other words, God's life is freely coming forth from a person's heart and producing godly life actions in its soul. Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. Because this is the person for whom, for the moment, as you think about a person being single-mindedness, their spirit feel, and they're living the truth. In their words and their deeds, they match. They may call that integrity, integrous. When you integrate your words and your actions, and they look like one, not a double-minded person, not a fickle person, but they look one. Yeah, that's easier said than done. Especially when, as you grow in as a Christian, and if your prayer life, in your study time, in the Word of God, is not that strong. Well, we all aren't there yet. We don't get there until we get there. Absolutely. Not while we hear on earth, so there's a fight all the time. All the time, absolutely. But we're growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We're growing, we're becoming like a butterfly. Yeah, it's a process. We got to go through it and enjoy the process. And these are the things that help us to be single-minded. I want to do a quick understanding of where we are. Because we're talking about number four, the call to stability and single-mindedness. And it's so key for us to have that mindset. We got to walk in the truth, and the truth will make us free. We have to set our mind on things above and not on things on the earth. And that's so important. Also, being single-minded means we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto us. God is in the business of adding and multiplying in the world. And sometimes the enemy will try to subtract and divide our thinking and divide our mind that we can stay double-minded. That's not God's plan. Sir, ma'am, as you're listening to this message, I want you to know and I want to encourage you, you don't have to be a double-minded person. You don't have to be fickle. You don't have to be like Jekyll and Hyde. You don't have to be schizophrenic in the sense of how you're thinking. You can be stable and you can be single-mindedness. Because you don't have to have an undivided heart in mind, you can be fully dedicated to God's will and purpose. Because with this insight and understanding, this stability brings peace. When you're single-minded, you're going to have more peace. Joy. Yep. Righteousness and all of that, right? You're going to have more clarity. Who does not want to have clarity? Correct. And it's so important because once you do that, you're going to be able to navigate life challenges with confidence. Yeah. Because there's a work that God is doing in all of us. Yes. And you develop a stable life. Absolutely. Stability. You're not swayed by everything that comes your way when life happens. I always just say that that way. Okay. You know, because situation is in life is an adventure. Every day is different. You don't know what's going to happen that day. But spending time in prayer, you know, before you get the day started, that's good. Some people prefer to do it at night before they go to bed. And, you know, everybody have their time, you know. Absolutely. You're a night person. I'm a morning person. Right. Absolutely. I like to start my day off, you know, in prayer and spending time with the Lord. So because I don't know, I guess that's just to get me settled in. I guess you can say stabilized to face the day. Right. So to get you in, get me in tune with the Holy Spirit. What has got the, what, you know, with his voice? So I can hear it throughout the day. Absolutely. You know, but if I get going in the morning time and I haven't had any time to spend with the Lord in prayer and to just connect with him, then everything else may sound louder than him, because he has that still small voice. Yes. But if my spirit's not in tune, then, like I said, everything else is louder and it may sway me. Right. Absolutely. And my emotions and flesh me act up more. Right. Absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. And thank you audience for being with us today, because single-minded keeps us on the right path, moving steady toward our God-given goals. Yeah. I want to thank our audience for joining us today. Thank you, Cindy, for being with me. Pleasure. On my matter. So today we covered the dangers of a double mind and the importance of faith, stability, single-mindedness in our walk with God. But I want the audience to remember this. Doubt not only disrupts our prayers, but also creates instability in our lives by trusting fully in God's promises and committing to his ways. Guess what, Cindy? What? We can experience the peace and the direction that comes from a steady, unwavering faith. Tune in next time for more insight with myself, my matters, Dr. Jay Jones. Thanks for tuning into another episode of Mind Matters with Dr. Jay A. Jones. Be sure to tune in next Sunday at 5 p.m. right here on Praise 107.9. For more insightful discussion about how God's Word can get our minds right. You can also hear Dr. Jones preach in person Sundays at 11 a.m. at Faith Community Church of God at 1268 Gano Avenue in Orange Park, Florida 32073. Thanks again for listening. Stay mindful and keep striving for improvement because your mind matters to God.
