“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims
to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?” In the same
way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But
someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith
without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. James 2:14,17,18, 26 NIV)
If we claim to have faith, but never do anything with it. what is the point of the proclamation?
I have presented my perspective on this subject previously, but it warrants a second look.
For the person who says, "I will lose 50 pounds this year" and never changes their dietary habits or physical exercise, how are they going to lose weight? They won't and then they'll complain about being overweight.
The same is true for the person who excitedly says they're going to get a promotion on their job, but they never do anything beyond their current job requirements--they take no initiative to do anything, and sit twiddling their thumbs when they have finished doing their work.
How
about the person who is confident of even getting a job because of
their faith and prayer life, but they never apply for a job?
We can proclaim a lot of things, but until we actually "do" something, we bind God's hands to move us forward.
Not too long ago, a person on Twitter (Bart) became upset with me and
my faith in thanking God for the 1 + million plus readers that I asked
for over a year ago. Those who follow me on Twitter know that I promote my books daily, I am constantly writing and uploading books as I am inspired.
I have written various genres ranging from Christian Living, Christian
Romance, Fantasy for kids, Contemporary Fiction, Informational texts,
poetry, and a murder/mystery. Why? I have faith in God--writing
is one of the gifts He has given me (teaching is the other) and I am
wearing it out--to His glory, to inspire, inform, and entertain in a
Godly manner.
And it is because I believe that He will do
what He said He would do--I keep writing and keep thanking Him for the 1
+ million plus readers. He is speaking to the hearts of people
and they are reading my books. Now, when I'll actually see the 1 +
million readers is on Him, not me. But I know, I it will
happen--on His timeline, not mine. Thank You, Lord for hearing and
answering prayer and making a way for all Your promises to be fulfilled.
Hallelujah!
So, if it takes
writing another fifty books before the 1 + million plus readers are
reading my books, then I guess I'm going to be pretty busy for the next five years or more to accomplish the goal that is set before me. I am doing, what I have faith to believe is going to happen. That's the only way, things happen. Our actions must match our faith and when it does, God honors our faith--for we know, without faith, we cannot please Him.
Part 7 tomorrow!
Showing posts with label Action. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Action. Show all posts
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Action Gets It Done!
"Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday." (Psalm 37:3-6 NASB)
I am who I am--an English teacher. When I look at certain passages of scripture, I always look for the subject-verb agreement. While teaching the parts of speech, I've often discovered that verb use is the most difficult one to teach. For some reason, even though people use verbs all the time, many fail to master the use. Verbs are words that describe action or state of being. Some are active and some are passive. In the above-noted scriptures, I see a great deal of action--on our parts and on God's.
Any time a sentence begins with a verb, the implied subject is "you," the reader. We see in this passage--trust, do, dwell, cultivate, delight, and commit--things for us to do. Then, after we do what we are asked to do, we see what He will do. If we "trust" Him and do good, live in the land and cultivate (practicing) faithfulness, delight (finding ways to please) in Him; He will give us the desires (those things we want, above our needs). If we commit our ways (allow Him to determine our plans and direction), to the Lord, trusting His way is better, He will get the job done. And when He is finished doing for us--He will allow others to see our good works and know who we serve.
Awesome--just awesome is our God.
However, the reason many do not know how awesome He is is because they have yet to do their part. When people say there is no God, they are certainly not going to do what He has asked them to do. If they won't do, He won't do and since they cannot see Him doing for them, or they discover they cannot manipulate God into getting what they want, they choose to ignore His existence. Then, there are some who think that with the acknowledgment of His existence (without living for Him), their lives should be perfect without any struggles at all.
Those of us who know God, intimately, know that with His love and His guidance, there are often storms and struggles, but because of Him, we can make it through victoriously, never defeated in spirit when we rely upon Him. We understand we must do in order to see Him do.
Awesome--just awesome is our God.
He is love and He loves us (in spite of our imperfections) enough to give us chance after chance to get living right for Him. We do and He does--all things well, for our benefit.
I am who I am--an English teacher. When I look at certain passages of scripture, I always look for the subject-verb agreement. While teaching the parts of speech, I've often discovered that verb use is the most difficult one to teach. For some reason, even though people use verbs all the time, many fail to master the use. Verbs are words that describe action or state of being. Some are active and some are passive. In the above-noted scriptures, I see a great deal of action--on our parts and on God's.
Any time a sentence begins with a verb, the implied subject is "you," the reader. We see in this passage--trust, do, dwell, cultivate, delight, and commit--things for us to do. Then, after we do what we are asked to do, we see what He will do. If we "trust" Him and do good, live in the land and cultivate (practicing) faithfulness, delight (finding ways to please) in Him; He will give us the desires (those things we want, above our needs). If we commit our ways (allow Him to determine our plans and direction), to the Lord, trusting His way is better, He will get the job done. And when He is finished doing for us--He will allow others to see our good works and know who we serve.
Awesome--just awesome is our God.
However, the reason many do not know how awesome He is is because they have yet to do their part. When people say there is no God, they are certainly not going to do what He has asked them to do. If they won't do, He won't do and since they cannot see Him doing for them, or they discover they cannot manipulate God into getting what they want, they choose to ignore His existence. Then, there are some who think that with the acknowledgment of His existence (without living for Him), their lives should be perfect without any struggles at all.
Those of us who know God, intimately, know that with His love and His guidance, there are often storms and struggles, but because of Him, we can make it through victoriously, never defeated in spirit when we rely upon Him. We understand we must do in order to see Him do.
Awesome--just awesome is our God.
He is love and He loves us (in spite of our imperfections) enough to give us chance after chance to get living right for Him. We do and He does--all things well, for our benefit.
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