Faith without Works
James 2:18
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
If we profess faith, we should have works to support that which we have professed! It is easy for one to say “I have faith”, yet when faced with certain circumstances we are afraid to go forth, because we have allowed fear to hinder us. In this case the spirit of fear is greater than your faith. Having faith, means going forth in spite of what it may look like, because you trust God enough to know that he would let no harm come nigh unto you.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6). This scripture tells us that we cannot even please God without faith. We have to continually examine ourselves so we do not become liken unto the scribes and Pharisees who say but do not. When we are called to do a work for the lord, we must trust in Him and not ourselves. This is where many of us get it twisted (like the youth say); we forget that it is the Christ in us, and not ourselves.
I’ll use myself as an example, for I like everyone of us is still a work in progress. One of the things the Lord has called me to do is evangelize. One day I went out, and it was really hot out, and by the time myself and sisters and brother in Christ were done for that day, I was overcome by the heat and felt as if I would faint. Well they prayed for me and I was fine; I went home and had plenty of fluids and lay down for a bit so that my body could regenerate itself. I did not go to the hospital for I trusted in God that I would be well, and so I was. Now this is where it gets interesting…the following week, it was still very hot, and I then began to battle with whether I should go back out in the heat or not? Well the next thing you know three weeks had gone by, and I still hadn’t gone back out. The enemy tried to hinder the ministry the Lord entrusted me with, but I thank God, for my faith was restored and increased and the enemy did lose that battle. God showed me what the enemy was trying to do, and with the power of the Holy Spirit, that enemy was defeated. God has even sent another sister to go out and evangelize with us.
We cannot let fear stagnate our faith, or become an excuse to be slothful in our works. We have to exercise and increase our faith in every circumstance of our lives. We have to know that God is bigger than any problem that we are faced with. We have to know that faith is indeed “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”(Hebrews 11:1). And while we are exercising our faith, we should remember to “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (2 Timothy 2:3). In order to endure hardness, we have to have faith that God will keep us. My prayer today, Father I ask that in these last and evil days that our faith be renewed in you and we stand together in unity trusting and believing that in spite of how things may look or even seem, that you are a very present help in our time of need. I pray that our faith be increased continually in Jesus name, amen!
Set Apart 