Are You Asking God or AI? How to Seek True Wisdom | James 1:6-12

We live surrounded by instant answers, endless opinions, and tools that promise clarity in seconds, but James 1:6–12 asks a harder question: when you need wisdom, do you actually trust God enough to wait for Him? I’m walking through verses that warn against doubt that pulls us like waves, and I’m getting honest about what double-mindedness looks like in real life when our loyalty gets divided between prayer and everyone else’s input. 

I share a childhood story that stayed with me for decades, a moment that taught me how fear of asking can lead to unnecessary pain. From there, we connect the dots to our spiritual lives: asking God for wisdom, believing He is willing to help, and resisting the urge to fill every quiet moment with more noise. We also talk about the AI-driven world we’re in now. As someone who works in tech, I see the value of tools like ChatGPT, but I also see the danger when technology becomes our first stop instead of our support. 

You’ll hear how discernment matters in high-stakes seasons, including the choice to avoid spiraling into worst-case scenarios online while still respecting medical expertise and asking the right questions. We close with practical ways to spend meaningful time with God each day: slow Bible study, journaling, comparing translations, and giving the Holy Spirit room to guide you. If you’re craving true wisdom, steady faith, and a calmer mind, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the devotional.

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Transcript

Welcome And Devotional Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, hello. You're listening to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast, episode 113. This week's devotional is titled, Are You Asking God or AI How to Seek True Wisdom? James 1, 6 through 12. Let's go. Hi, I'm Jesse Morgan. I used to just share home decor and renovation tips on social media, but now I'm sharing something even closer to my heart. My journey in love for Jesus Christ, my Savior. Welcome to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Hawk Podcast. This is a weekly devotional I started back in May 2024, but the inspiration for it came much earlier. It was rooted in a faith journey that began when my daughter was born four months early in 2023. Through that challenging time, God worked in ways that truly amazed me. On this podcast, I share personal stories of faith woven together with Scripture to show just how incredible God's word can be in our everyday lives. My hope is that through these stories, you'll be encouraged, uplifted, and reminded of God's love and presence, no matter what you're going through. So I invite you to spend less than 15 minutes with me each week as we reflect on these devotionals together. Let's all pray within.

James On Asking In Faith

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Are you asking God or AI how to seek true wisdom? Focused passages is James 1, 6 through 12. So welcome back to the podcast. And today we're continuing our study of the book of James. We're taking the study little by little because there's just so much richness in these scriptures. I'm just so thankful for this study. And this week, looking at, like I said, James for James 1, 6 through 12. But I wanted to begin by focusing specifically on verses six through eight. Um, I'm going to be really teaching from the amplified Bible this time around. So James 1.6, it says, but he must, but he must ask for wisdom and faith without doubting God's willingness to help. For those who doubts is like billowing a surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind. Then in James 1.8, it describes this person as a double-minded man, unstable and restless in all his ways. So, really, this passage immediately made me think about the importance of asking questions and being careful about where we go for our answers. Have you ever been afraid to like ask a question? Maybe you were sitting in a meeting surrounded by people and you just didn't want to admit that you were confused. Maybe you were afraid of being embarrassed or worried that someone would make you feel as though you should already know the answer.

A First Grade Lesson On Questions

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Um, I want to take you way back to when I was in first grade. So bear with me here. I attended an elementary school that was connected to the University of Miami. It was considered one of the best schools in the area, and I love being there. I attended from kindergarten through fifth grade. When I entered the first, when I entered the first grade, um, there were two teachers, Mrs. Marcus's class and Mrs. Dominguez. Several parents told my mom, Rhonda, you need to request Mrs. Dominguez. Miss Marcus is very strict. My child, my other child had a hard time in her class. But my mom decided she wasn't going to demand that the school place me with a particular teacher. She believed that whichever classroom I was assigned to was where I was supposed to be. I was assigned to Mrs. Marcus. She was an older lady and she was definitely strict. She didn't play around, but I learned so much from her, and overall I had a wonderful experience in her classroom. But I remember one day, maybe two months into the school year, I desperately needed to use the bathroom. The bathroom was inside our classroom, and Mrs. Marcus had created a system to keep children from lining up outside the door. She had a little round hat that served as the bathroom pass. If that hat was on the table, the bathroom was available. You took the hat with you, and when you went and when you went outside, and and then when you went outside, you returned it, and that showed that you were finished. And it showed that the bathroom was open. So one day, I couldn't find that hat. It was not on the table. I sat in my chair waiting for it to reappear. I waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited. And probably for around 45 minutes, I waited. I needed to go so badly, but I was afraid to get up and ask Ms. Marcus about it. I remembered her being frustrated with another student repeatedly asking to use the bathroom while everyone else was already inside. Um, I didn't completely understand why she had been so upset. I only under I only like really remembered that she had been so upset with the student, and I was just terrified that she might yell at me too for asking, even though I didn't know the context of what that situation was. So I remained in my seat. Eventually, I had an accident right in my chair. A little, a few of the little boys that were so annoying noticed and began laughing. And someone said that it was apple juice. And somehow many of the kids actually believed that explanation. Thank you, Lord. The classroom was cleaned up. I went to the front office and they helped me get through the rest of the day. When my mother picked me up that day, we spoke to Mrs. Marcus about the situation. And Ms. Marcus looked at me and said, Jessica, it isn't healthy to hold it like that. You could hurt yourself. If you don't understand something or you need something, get up and ask me. You can always ask questions. I she explained that. Um she, you know, she explained that we don't, she also explained to me that when we don't ask questions, we don't receive the answers we need. We can suffer. And I don't know why, but that moment stayed with me. I'm 39 years old and that stayed with me. So I basically learned that when I'm too afraid to ask, I may end up suffering unnecessarily. I may misunderstand the situation, miss an important information, or fail to complete the assignment correctly simply because I was afraid to speak. That lesson followed me through school and into my professional career. I learned to ask questions, seek advice, and make sure I understood what was expected of me.

Bringing Big Questions To God

SPEAKER_00 6:25

But as I've grown older, especially during the past eight years, I've also learned to bring more of my questions to God. The more I ask God, the more I seek Him and study His Word, the deeper my relationship with Him becomes. That became especially important after my daughter was born at 23 weeks. I needed a stronger relationship with God to, you know, endure that season. I needed his strength so I could function, make you know, make difficult decisions, support my daughter, and still represent Jesus Christ through one of the hardest, you know, experiences of my life and my husband's life. I had to ask God for wisdom. I had to believe he would give me the guidance I needed in this in his perfect timing. And James teaches us that we can ask God for wisdom. But when we ask, we must ask in faith. That doesn't mean we will never experience fear or have another question. It just means that our confidence remains, you know, anchored in the character of God, in the word of God. And we believe that God hears us, we believe he is willing to help us, we believe his wisdom is greater than ours, and we believe he can guide us even when the answer doesn't come immediately. The problem, honestly, really begins when we ask God for direction, but then become consumed by dozens of competing voices and opinions. We ask God, but then we also ask everybody around us. We search online, we consult social media, read countless opinions, Reddit, you name it, and we repeatedly ask the same question because we are desperate to find an answer that feels certain or an answer that matches um what we already want to do. Before long, we aren't clear, we are even more confused, and before long, we're more confused than we were when we started, basically.

AI As Tool Not Authority

SPEAKER_00 8:24

We live in an AI-driven world now, and I work in tech, so I understand that AI can be an incredible helpful tool. There are prompts and techniques that can help us receive faster and more useful information, but AI is still a tool, it's not God. It can organize information, explain a concept, or help us consider, you know, different um outcomes or possibilities, but it cannot replace prayer, it cannot replace scripture, it cannot become our spiritual authority, and it cannot provide the kind of wisdom that comes from a genuine relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. The danger, I feel, comes when we, you know, bring every question to technology before we bring it to God, or when we trust an immediate answer simply because it arrived quickly. Thanks, Chat GPT. And I've done it myself. I'm guilty. I've I have prayed about something and then immediately searched for more answers. I've asked too many people, considered too many options, and confused myself because I didn't give myself the space to hear what God was saying to me. And sometimes we ask God for guidance, but we don't want to wait for his answer. We want an answer right away. And in Joyce Meyer's book, Battlefield of the Mind, she discusses. Um, I love that book, by the way. She discusses in that book the chaos that can occur in our thoughts. And that really resonated with me. And, you know, you may sit down, remember, she said something like, you may sit down and pray, read the Bible, or focus on one responsibility, and then suddenly your mind is pulled in five different directions. Distractions basically can keep us from focusing on what God has placed right in front of us. And we often celebrate, you know, society celebrates multitasking, but it isn't, but when it's not, I basically when it's not managed well, it becomes constant switching. We jump from one task to another without finishing anything. The same thing can happen spiritually. We jump from God's word to someone else's opinion, and then we then a search engine and then social media and then perplexity and then chat GPT Claude, you name it, and then back to God. Eventually, we don't know which voice we're following. And that is why James, the book of James, warns us about um when he describes a double-minded person to be unstable. Being double-minded doesn't mean you have never experienced a moment of doubt. It really means it just means your loyalty, trust, and direction are divided. You are pulling back and forth because you just haven't decided what your foundation will

NICU Discernment Without Panic

SPEAKER_00 11:11

be. You know, and I remember when I when my daughter was in the NICU, my husband and I made an important decision. We were not going to search for every frightening possibility associated with my baby being born at 23 weeks. We knew that if we fell into the endless hole of worst-case scenarios on the internet, fear could quickly overwhelm us and make the situation worse. Um, so we decided to listen carefully to the doctors, ask necessary questions, pray over every situation, and ask God to give us discernment. We prayed that he would surround our daughter with the right medical professionals and help them make the right decisions for her. If something didn't feel right, we would speak up and ask more questions. We weren't ignoring medical wisdom. We believe God could work through the medical team while giving us discernment as her parents. And I remember we prayed something like, Lord, help us, help the medical team make the right decisions for our daughter, cover her and protect her, Lord, give every doctor and nurse wisdom as they care for her. We believe you're involved in every detail, Lord. We believe she's healed, she's coming home, she's going to be a healthy little girl. Thank you for caring her and carrying us and the medical team. And after praying that, we had to trust. You know, we couldn't ask God for help and then spend every moment searching for reasons to believe he wouldn't help us. He had to listen, we had to listen to the doctors, ask appropriate questions, have respect, use discernment, and then place what we couldn't control in God's hands. That trust carried us through an incredible difficult season. And today I want to encourage you to examine where you seek your wisdom. Are you asking God? Are you allowing Him to answer? Are you filling the silence with some with so many outside voices that you can no longer recognize God's direction?

Waiting On God In A Fast World

SPEAKER_00 13:11

You know, the world is designed to give us quick answers. Um, everything is fast, efficient, and immediate. Look at Amazon. I mean, I'm part of the problem too. I mean, I know how many people really love Amazon, right? And how many options are on there. I mean, if something takes, I'll be, and I'll be this is me being real. If something takes five days to arrive, I start wondering why it's taking so long. I may see the same item at Target or Walmart, but if Amazon can deliver it tomorrow, that is that convenience is hard for me to resist. I mean, I bought pins on Amazon the other day versus going up to CVS because I just didn't have time. And then like the pins I wanted were on Amazon. They were also at Target, but I just didn't have the time because Target would have taken three days to get to my house, and Amazon was one was overnight and it was a little, it was like two dollars more, but it was worth it. I mean, like, that's how bad it is now in this society, and I'm guilty of it too. And we have become accustomed to instant results, but we struggle, and I'm part of it too. We struggle to wait patiently for a package. Imagine how difficult it can be to wait on God for an answer about our careers, our relationships, families, health, or our future. God is not Amazon, his wisdom does not operate according to same-day delivery. Sorry to tell you that. Sometimes he answers immediately, sometimes he asks us to wait, sometimes he reveals the answer gradually, and sometimes his response is different from the one we hoped for, and we the one we hope to receive. But his timing, his timing is not careless. His silence does not mean he has abandoned us. The more voices we invite into a situation, guys, the easier it becomes to lose the focus. The world offers endless opinions, possibilities, and predictions. Those voices can create so much confusion, increase our doubt, and make us even more impatient. And that's why we need a firm foundation. Ask God for mis wisdom, pray to God for what you need. Use the resources that He provides, which can be qualified professionals, a pastor, trustworthy information, and spiritual, you know, mature counsel. But do not allow those resources to replace him. Bring what you hear back to God, compare it with scripture, ask the Holy Spirit for discernment, then be willing to wait. Wait for what God wants to do with it. James 1 12 says, Blessed is the man who is steadfast under trial and preserves when tempted and perseveres when tempted. Faith isn't only demonstrated by asking God for wisdom. Faith is also demonstrated by remaining steadfast while we wait for his direction. If we want to recognize God's voice and become less dependent on the world's answers, we must spend time with him.

Simple Practices To Hear God

SPEAKER_00 16:11

That means more than praying for five minutes in the morning and then rushing into the rest of the day. We need time in God's word. That may look like following a devotional, joining a Bible study, using a Bible app, listening to scripture, or sitting quietly with a physical Bible in a notebook. Recently, I'll just tell you, I decided to go back to the old-fashioned way of studying. I bought a notebook from Barnes and Nobles, and each day I've been slowly working through James. I read only a few verses at a time, and when something resonates with me, I write about it. I copy the verses that stand out, compare translations, and research the meaning of important words in the original Greek language that it was written in. That process has helped me slow down and read and receive so much more from God's word. I know it can be difficult to create that time, especially when life feels so busy, but I encourage you to find something that helps you spend meaningful time with God every day. You don't have to read an entire book of the Bible in one sitting. Begin with a few verses. Write down your questions. Ask God for wisdom. Give Him time to answer. And remember, asking in faith doesn't mean you will understand everything immediately. It means that while you wait, your heart remains anchored in the one you asked, which is God.

Prayer And Final Encouragement

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for inviting us to come to you with our questions. Forgive us for the times we have allowed too many voices to create the confusion in our minds. Help us seek your wisdom, Lord, and trust you while we wait. Give us discernment, Lord, through the Holy Spirit when we receive advice and keep our hearts firmly rooted in your word. Help us to remain steadfast through every trial, knowing that you hear us, you love us, you will guide us. In Jesus' name, Amen. Thank you for joining today as we continue our study of James. I pray, you know, this message really encourages you. Till next time. Well that wraps up this week's episode. I hope these devotions help you draw closer to God each day. If this episode encouraged you, please share it with someone who might need the same message. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a weekly episode. Also, if you feek if you feel compelled, leaving a nice review would be so appreciated as well. For more information or to reach out, check the show notes or visit jessymorganhome.com or find me on Instagram at JessieMorganLi. Remember, God's timing is always perfect. Keep trusting him. Until next time, this is Jesse Morgan praying off.