James 1:6 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

But let him ask in faith; with confidence of God's hearing, grounded on the Divine attributes and promises, Mark 11:24 1 John 5:14. Nothing wavering; either not disputing God's power or promise; or rather, not doubting, not slandering through unbelief, Romans 4:20, where the same Greek word is used: so Acts 10:20, nothing doubting; and Mark 11:23, where it is opposed to believing. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed: this notes either the emptiness and unprofitableness of faithless prayer, when men's minds are thus at uncertainties, tossed to and fro; the confidence they sometimes seem to have, like waves, falls down and fails, and their prayers come to nothing: or, the disquiet and torment distrust works in the minds of such waverers, which are never settled till faith come and fix them, Isaiah 57:20.