"Faith And Works"

"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." James 2:26

There are times when we are to "be still and know that I am God". It's in those times that there is nothing we can do but wait on the Lord- wait on Him to move, wait on Him to intervene, wait on Him for the answer. But more often than not, are the times when we should be putting some works to our faith. As was the case with the woman with the issue of blood.

This woman had faith. She had the faith to believe that Jesus would heal her. She knew in her heart that He was, not only the healer, but her healer. She had no doubt. But her faith alone did not bring healing to her body. It was her faith accompanied by her actions. Faith acts. She could have taken her faith and set down waiting for Jesus to do something- waiting for a miracle to happen. If so, she would not have been healed.

She believed, no doubt about it, but she had to act upon her faith and get up and press through the crowd and reach out and touch the hem of Jesus' garment- no sitting there waiting for some supernatural thing to happen just out of the blue. Can God move in our lives like that? Yes, He can. Will He move in our lives like that? At times He will. Does He need us in order to make it happen? No, He can do it without our help. But faith without works is dead, so there will be times we have to put some works- some feet, some movement, some stepping out- along with our faith. Peter had to step out of the boat, the lepers had to go show themselves to the priest, the man had to go wash in the pool, Abraham had to go to the mountain with his son. The Bible is full of examples of faith with works.

If you are standing in faith this morning for an answer, the first thing you need to find out is- is this a time to be still and wait on the Lord, or is this a time to put some works behind your faith. Like I already said, it will more often be the latter.

Have a great day. Faith requires some action some of the time.