DOUBLE-MINDED

James 1:5-8 is another famous passage where reading "imagination" for "mind" might bring insight:

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

In the past, verse 6 has caused me no small amount of anxiety. How can one control whether he is doubting or not? 

I always thought of doubt as something that just sprang from inside a person - uninvited and ungovernable. 

But James says one who vacillates between belief and doubt is double-MINDED. 

Maybe I don't have any control over the appearance of a doubt in my mind, but I most certainly can exercise control over allowing it to feed my imagination. 

In the time between my prayer for wisdom and its fulfillment, which direction do I encourage my own imagination to lean? 

It will be either towards confidence in God's goodness or doubt in His power or presence. 

My spirit's anticipation of the future plays out in my imagination, forming my "reality" as I wait. 

James says if I allow doubt equal time in my imagination, I am destroying my ability to receive God's answer.