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Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." Romans 4:18-22

What does God look for in his children? I believe the thing that he loves to see the most is when we trust in him. Just look at this passage in Romans. Abraham was pre-Jesus, yet Abraham even though he was a sinner (like each one of us) was justified and made righteous through his faith in God. Today it’s our faith in Jesus – his death and resurrection – that makes us right before God. But we also need to live each day in faith, trusting in God’s words and promises and believing that God is who he says he is and has the power to do what he says he will.

The story can be found in Genesis. If we look at chapter 15:5-6 it says .

"He (God) took him (Abram) outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Abraham (God changed his name from Abram to Abraham, after this encounter) was a very old man and he had a very old wife. His wife had never given him children, the passage says her “womb was dead” and yet God told Abraham that his descendants would be so many it would be like counting the stars in the sky!!

How would you react to that promise? It’s not too hard to have the faith for something when you can see how it could happen, but it’s much harder to trust God’s word when every situation/circumstance screams at you that there’s no way (other than a miracle!)  it’s going to happen. Though all the circumstances seemed to say the opposite (“against all hope”), Abraham believed God’s word anyway and he was sure that somehow, someway God could and would do it. This faith pleased God so much that God "credited it to him as righteousness". That means that God made Abraham right with Himself. He no longer held Abraham’s sin against him, instead he removed it all and gave him a clean, holy new start! Amazing!

Now God didn’t fulfil his promise straight away and Abraham’s wife got a bit impatient and came up with a way to “make” God’s promise come true (which was not what God wanted). Yet in God’s timing he did give them a son, as He had promised, and although Abraham didn’t see his offspring numbering the stars in the sky in his own lifetime, he did get to see it from heaven because he had put his faith in God.

I just want to encourage you today to keep on putting your hope and your trust in God. You may feel that circumstances are against you, or that God is slow in keeping his promises, but God is powerful and He will do what He’s promised, in His own perfect timing. So trust in the Lord, in His power to do what He’s promised and with the knowledge that He won’t let you down. You will be so blessed and encouraged if you do!

Isaiah 40:25-31

25 "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

Putting God in a box is something we all do well! God according to our own point of view, God according our own limited experience, God according to our way of thinking. Yet God is God! He’s so much greater that we could ever imagine! We cannot compare him to anyone or anything on this earth. All things are created by God. How then can we attempt to compare God to anything we know? (v25)

We just have to look up at night and see the stars, knowing that God made each one and calls each one by name! This makes us realise how very very small we are and how very very big God is! (v26)

Yet we seem to think sometimes that God’s sole purpose is to make us happy. To answer every prayer, to take away our grumpiness, and that this “Christianity thing” is all about us and what it means for us. When we think like this we totally miss the point. Yes Jesus died for us – for our sins – so that we may be given the gift of eternal life, but he did this because he wanted to display his amazing love, to bring glory to God and to show how perfect he is (and how in need of a saviour we are!!) It’s all about God – so that we may give him the Praise and Glory he deserves! There’s nothing wrong with knowing the truth that God, the creator of the universe, loves you and me personally and wants to be in relationship with us, but we should never lose sight of what an awesome, eternal, powerful God we serve and the fear (respect) of God that this knowledge should bring us.

I have bad times and sometimes I ask God “why is this happening?” just like v27 where God’s people complain and say that God has disregarded them. But what I (we) need to realise is this…now brace yourself as this may come as a shock!… the world does not revolve around us!! God’s way are not our ways(1) He has a bigger purpose and a bigger plan than we could ever imagine! “His understanding no-one could fathom” – we’re not supposed to understand everything! Yet we spend so much time and energy trying to fathom God – wondering “why is God doing this?” Instead of simply trusting him because he is God! We should know that he has a plan for us (2) and that He is good (3) and He is faithful(4) and He is just (5) and He is loving(6). Therefore no matter what circumstances we are going through or however we feel about things, “God is the everlasting God” (v28) and it’s His Will that we should be honouring,(7) and it’s our faith that we should be exercising(8), rather than using all our energy trying to work out why!(9)

Our view of God effects how we live our lives. If our view is too small or if we do not trust his word, or believe him to be the faithful and just God he says he is, then this effects how easily we are shaken by the circumstances that we face and how “up and down” our relationship with God is. As we get a truer view of God, through his Word and through trusting what His word says, our view of our lives and circumstances also changes. We will slowly stop looking at our selves, and start looking up to our Creator. We will be at peace with not understanding everything, because we know that God is God, yet he loves each one of us and promises to be with us!(10)

How great is God—beyond our understanding! Job 36:26

1) Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

2) Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

3) Mark 10:18 "No one is good—except God alone.

4) Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands

5) Psalm 33:4-6 For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love

6) Psalm 145:13: The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made / John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. / Psalm 136:2: Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.

7) Just like Jesus prayed : “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." Luke 22:42

James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

9) Ecclesiastes 8:17 then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.

10) Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.

Jesus asked the boy’s father, "How long has he been like this?"

"From childhood," he answered. 22 "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."

23 " ‘If you can’?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."

24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"    Mark 9:21-24

Every Christian believes, we believe in God and we believe in Jesus for our salvation.  If we didn’t then we wouldn’t be Christians. Yet these key foundational beliefs don’t stop us from battling with unbelief in other areas of our faith.  Like this chap who said to Jesus "if you can…" don’t we all sometimes approach prayer/requests to God like that?

Perhaps we’re not as obvious as saying "if you can" to God. I think we often mask our unbelief behind "if it’s your will" or "in your timing Lord…" but quite often, when it boils down to it, we lack the belief that God will do what he says He will in His word when we trust in Him.

When faced with opportunities to step out for his glory or to believe a promise he has given us through his word, we often have the battle between our belief and our unbelief. The two things wage a mini war inside of us. It’s often easier to believe what we see/feel, rather than what God says is true.

For example, if we get the opportunity to pray for someone to be healed, and perhaps it’s a person with a serious disability… What do we think?

Option 1) God heals. Jesus healed & the disciples healed and Jesus has also given me authority to heal. I believe God’s word and I believe that when I lay my hands on this person they will be healed.

Option 2) Eeek, what will happen if God doesn’t show up?

I think most of us are probably somewhere in between; believing that God can and does heal, but not necessarily believing that he will heal on this particular occasion. That bit is the unbelief we need to tackle. The disciples didn’t start a prayer of healing with "dear God, if it’s your will please heal this person" they just went up to them and said "be healed in Jesus name." They were certain that it was God’s will to heal. That’s what Jesus had sent them to do. I know this really hard and it brings up so many difficult questions, and I can’t explain why some people get healed and others don’t, but I do think God wants us to believe that He will heal, each and every time we pray for someone. To not entertain the unbelief that God might not show up, or that the timing is wrong etc. as this is a slippery slope to more and more unbelief.

Therefore as a starting point I think we all need to acknowledge to God (and perhaps ourselves) that we do have unbelief  "I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief." Humbly admitting that it’s our problem, not God’s and to trust Jesus when he says  "everything is possible for those who believe".  I don’t think it’s about not having enough faith – faith is a gift from God and he’s given us all we need (we only need faith as big as mustard seed according to Jesus*). I think it’s more about still allowing unbelief to have its say.

"I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief." Such an honest, real prayer. It’s saying, "God I do believe in you, I do believe that you heal, but I know that mixed in with my belief is also unbelief. Therefore please help me deal with this unbelief so that I can overcome it”

Please understand that I’m not just talking about healing here, this basic principle covers so many areas of our walk with God. There are many more places where we allow unbelief to live alongside belief. Things like knowing who we are in Christ - We can believe our salvation, but sometimes not that we are totally new creations; this unbelief opens us up to falling back into our old ways of life. We believe that God is all powerful – but don’t quite believe that he’s won the victory over satan’s power, so we allow ourselves to fall back into believing that we haven’t got the victory over sin, and we fall into temptation, sin and fear through not standing firm on what Christ has already completed on our behalf. We believe the word which says that God is our provider - but do we believe he will provide for us when we’re at the end of our resources and we can’t see how He will do it? We believe that God has good plans for us because his word says so - but when things don’t happen in our timing, do we try to take over and make things happen ourselves, revealing our unbelief, thinking that perhaps God’s not going to come through for us on this one! Perhaps it’s something else, like believing we are saved but not quite believing we can be totally clean and righteous in God’s eyes. Believing we are loved, but that this is conditional on us doing this and not doing that… Putting our own small print on God’s word, on his promises and on who He says He is and who we are in Him.

Some of you could be thinking "that’s not me, I trust God totally for everything" and others may be saying "unbelief is just a part of life and we’re human so we’re always going to be like it" But I believe that God wants to challenge each one of us, and help us to identify and sift out those areas of unbelief in our lives, so that we can be more powerful and effective for him.

We all have growing to do and we all need to say to God "I believe, help me overcome my unbelief." If we settle for lives that are not trusting God 100% in all things, then we will give a lukewarm message about a moderately powerful, sometimes caring God to a world that so desperately needs to see the real Jesus!  If, however, we choose to trust what the bible says about who God is, who Jesus is and who we are in Christ, and ask God to help us in the areas where we still hold onto unbelief, then our message will be powerful! People will see God’s glory and love through his people, and we will see God’s kingdom come in our own lives, and in the lives of others.

Want to know more? Check out a previous study of mine "What do you know" which talks about needing to know God’s word so that we can stand firm in his truth. This is key because if we don’t know God’s word, how do we know what to believe?

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength. Isaiah 30:15 (Amplified Bible)

This verse just jumped up and hit me. Okay, not literally, although if a verse could really do that, then this one would have !!!

Since becoming a Christian do you believe your walk has consisted of returning & resting in God, and your strength based on quietness and confidence in Him? Well I’m the first to admit that my walk has not been like that!

I don’t know about you but usually I feel more like I’m running and working in nosiness and worry. Why? Where have I missed the quiet resting place that God has for me? Usually I am just too busy rushing ahead of God rather than returning to him for rest.  I am too busy talking instead of taking the time to listen to that still small voice, I am too busy worrying instead of trusting God with it all, and putting my confidence in Him.

Sometimes (Okay a lot of the time…!) I need reminding that God can do perfectly well on his own. He includes me in his plan not because he needs me, but because he wants to share things with me and help me grow. He doesn’t need me at all. He doesn’t need me to be busy busy busy about His business. He’s got it all under control.

That’s why today he’s saying “return to me” Lindsay, don’t run on ahead. “rest in me” Lindsay, you don’t need to rush around all the time. He’s saying “hush…” quieten down your worries and all those thoughts in your head, put them to one side for a while and trust in me.  “Trust in me” he whispers again, and I will strengthen you. Then those worries will seem so small, because I am so big! Bigger than any concerns you may have, bigger than any jobs you have to do.  “Return and rest in me.”

Could God be saying the same to you today?

I think it’s time to step out of the whirlwind of life once again and to turn back to our father God..
And to rest.
And to trust.

In doing this we will be saved from thinking that the world revolves around us.
Saved from being sucked into “doing” rather than “being.”
Saved from being worn out and weary
Saved from losing sight of God in the busyness before us.

Thank you Lord that your ways are not our ways! Help us Lord to listen to your still small voice and to rest in you and return to you before doing anything else. Help us to follow your ways, instead of making up our own. Amen!

We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 1:3

When I read this passage it made me think about my motivation for doing things. We can all work, labour and endure to a certain extent, but when our motivations are in the wrong place then it’s all rather pointless.

“work produced by FAITH”

Each one of us goes to work with the faith that our employers will pay us, otherwise we wouldn’t go. Here the work spoken about isn’t worldly work, it’s Godly work, but the same sort of principle applies. We work for the Lord because of our faith in Jesus, we believe in His name. We know that Christ has already done everything required on the cross, taken all our sin and replaced it with his righteousness, so we do not work not to earn salvation or to try to please God. Our faith in Christ produces good works because we are eager to serve the Lord in whom we have put our trust. We also know that he has promised heavenly rewards for the works we do, rewards which are eternal.

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. Matthew 16:27

Are your works produced by faith alone, or do you still feel that you need to earn God / man’s approval? Ask God to show you what your motivation is for the good works you do.

“labor prompted by LOVE”
I see labour as something that takes a lot of energy and time, and we often ache quite a bit after we’ve laboured for a while! Like a woman giving birth, there can be a lot of pain and struggle involved, but it’s worth it because something amazing will come from it! Therefore labour prompted by love is the only way. If we labour for any other reason, we will get tired, de-motivated and probably quite bitter, we will wonder “why on earth am I putting all of this effort in?” Yet when we are prompted by love – mainly by God’s love for us (which shows us how to love Him and others in return) then we see that this labour of love is so worth it! Love should be our inspiration, our motivation and the reason behind why we “stick at” things and “press on” when others may just give up. Labour prompted by love causes us not to lose heart, as the love of Christ compels us to carry on, even when the going is tough.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 2 Corinthians 5:14

What do you see yourself labouring on at the moment? Is it a labour prompted by love?

“Endurance inspired by HOPE in our Lord Jesus Christ”
When the going gets tough! That’s when we need endurance. It’s easy to be “fair weather Christians” but when the storms of life come, it’s then that we see whether we do have our hope set in Christ. Our hope must be in Him or we will soon be shaken by the troubles of this world. Hope in anything else will cause us to wobble, because it does not and will not last.

Our hope is for now – Jesus is with us and will help us through any and every circumstance we face, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our hope is for the future – one day soon Jesus will return and we will see His glory in full, and we will be with Him.

We know that Christ came to earth to walk in our shoes and to face all the things that we face, but also he endured a horrifying death on the cross because of his love for us. Death, however, could not defeat him and he conquered death and rose again to give us this eternal hope in Him! Whatever we have to endure in this lifetime Jesus understands, he’s been there and he’s been through the worst thing imaginable, yet blessed those who were responsible – asking God to forgive them. This is such an inspiration for us; to faithfully endure when times are tough! Surely with this amazing role model, and the wonderful hope we have in Him, we can stand firm against anything that life throws at us, in full assurance of who we are in Christ and the battle He has already won on our behalf! And what a blessing we will receive when we meet him face to face having endured to the very end. What a hope we have in Jesus!

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12

What do you tend to put your hope in when things get tough? Who/what do you lean on? Is Jesus your rock? Do you have your hope set fully on Him? If not, ask God to help you give Jesus his rightful place at the centre of your life.

Isn’t it interesting that all God’s motivators are positive? God doesn’t motivate us using guilt, shame, threats or obligation (although others my try to put these things on us). He chooses instead to use things like Hope and Faith and above all, his wonderful Love, to steer us in the right direction!

We are so blessed to have such a loving heavenly father!

I thought I would write a short post on how to know God for yourself – this is for anyone who doesn’t yet have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

1st – Do you know that you have made mistakes in your life and have lived your life without God? –> God calls this “sin” and this is what seperates us from Him. The bible says it like this: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” –Romans 3:23 (NIV). God is perfect and has never sinned, and we learn in the bible that ultimately the punishment for sin is death – which is being cut off from God for eternity. “For the wages of sin is death.” –Romans 6:23 (NIV)

2nd - There is good news! John 3:16 says “for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” Jesus (God’s son) chose to die on a cross to take the punishment for all our sins. Then he rose again to conquer death once and for all, and to show that he really was the son of God.

3rd - YOU need to make a choice. To decide if you believe Jesus really is the son of God and really did die for your sins. If you’re not sure – perhaps go on an Alpha course or read the gospel of Mark or John in the bible (try a NIV or NLT version) to find out what God’s word says about Jesus. Then, if you want this gift of eternal life, you need to chose to ask for forgiveness from God for the sins you have committed, and chose to turn from them and try to walk God’s way (with God’s help of course). Welcome Jesus as Lord in your life and he’ll help you to do all this.

Here’s a prayer you can pray:

Father God, I am sorry for the things I have done wrong and for chosing to live my life apart from you. Thank you for sending Jesus to die for my sins and thank you that he rose again. I now choose to turn away from my sins and to live my life for you. I pray that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit to help me and guide me as I learn to live my life your way. Amen.

4th - Tell someone! It’s really important that you find another Christian to tell that you’ve made a choice to welcome Jesus into your heart. They can support you and help you find a friendly, welcoming church who pray, worship & teach the Word of God.  We can’t be Christians on our own – it’s not God’s plan

What next?

If you live near Swindon, come along to Gateway church & make sure you visit the welcome area at the end of the service! If not, do try to find a Jesus loving, bible teaching, spirit filled church who will help you in the next steps of your journey.

Pray. You’ve started with a prayer to ask God into your life, it’s not a one off prayer! God wants to have an ongoing relationship with you, so try to speak to him each day about anything and everything. Ask Him for help, thank him for all the good things in your life and generally start to build a realationship with your Father in heaven. If it’s hard – ask God to help you to pray!

Get hold of a modern translation of the bible too and start reading! Start with the New Testament – An NIV version is good, or try NLT which is a nice easy version to read. The Message is also very easy to read (although it’s not a proper word-for-word translation.) Check out my bible studies, to learn more about God, Jesus and all sorts of living God’s way type of topics!

Check out our friend Adam’s blog on Baptism too!

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. 1 John 3:14

(more…)

Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 (AMP)

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24

OK so this is a hard topic! I’m going to approach it on a very simple level and hope that I don’t upset anyone in the process. Please have lots of grace when you read my thoughts on this! This all started on Sunday morning with a conversation about healing and how we (as Christians) can totally believe God for our salvation, but can struggle to believe God for our healing.

My simplistic view is that God created the world and he created it perfect, therefore his plan was for us all to be in full health. Sin came into the world through us disobeying God… enter sickness and disease etc as part of the fallen world.

Enter Jesus. He came as a man and died for us to so that “whoever believes in him” shall not perish, but have eternal life.1) In Isaiah 53 the prophet wrote about the Messiah who was to come & take our sins, Isaiah says that Jesus “took up our infirmities” 2) and that “by his wounds we are healed” 3)

So if our sickness was also nailed to the cross, along with our sins, why do we not regularly see healing today like we saw in Jesus’ time? Jesus told us that anyone who had faith in Him will do “greater things” than he did 4) …and he did A LOT of healing!

I think maybe some of it has to do with our understanding, and thus our authority over sickness. We know in our hearts that by Jesus’ blood we have been saved. This word “saved” to most of us means that we have been forgiven our sins, washed clean, and are now able to approach God through Jesus’ righteousness. That when we die our sins won’t be counted against us, so we no longer have to face death, but are able to have eternal life in heaven. “Saved” to us relates to being forgiven of our sins, yet the Greek word “Sozo” means even more than this! It means being saved from our sins, plus things like “rescued” “delivered” “kept safe” “preserved” “healed.” It implies completeness, being made well in the full sense, not just our souls, our whole self.

So if we believe Jesus died for us and have accepted Him as Lord over our lives, then we will receive “Sozo” – forgiveness from our sins as well as complete wholeness in Christ. He didn’t do half a job on the cross, his death & resurrection changed everything. As it says in Isaiah 53 “He took up our infirmities, and carried our sorrows…. he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

You can be saved on a certain day when you gave your life to Christ, but wholeness is a process and something we have to receive everyday. Like when we go back to Jesus to say sorry again for the things we have done, we have to keep going back to Jesus to receive physical and emotional healing, we live in a fallen world and so we have to hold on to the promises of God and keep seeking him for the things he has promised us. Jesus is alive and with God right now, interceding for us so that we can be saved to the “uttermost.” 5) Jesus’ death on the cross has won the war, but whilst we are on the earth we are still fighting a battle against sin, sickness and the lies of the enemy (with Jesus’ help of course!)

I think what I am saying is that it’s not just “if I try hard enough to believe then God will heal me” The verse in Mark 11 could make us feel that it’s our fault and we just don’t believe enough. But perhaps it’s about a deeper knowledge and understanding of God’s word, which will then enable us to believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth). This thorough understanding of God’s word will help us claim what is rightfully ours, rather than ignoring our questions/doubts and “trying harder” to believe. If we knew that we were praying God’s will, and for things we have a right to through the blood of Jesus, then we would believe all the more that He will give us what we ask for. We beat ourselves up about our lack of faith, but I think it’s our lack of knowledge we should be more concerned about.

1) John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life

2) Isaiah 53:4 Surely he took up our infirmities, and carried our sorrows,

3) Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

4) John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

5) Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Does your faith lack life & energy? Feeling bored/fed up in your walk with God?

(Do I sound like a bad advert!?!)

James 2:14-24 Faith and Deeds

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder.

20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

This is quite a hard passage to talk about! So I hope I come across in love and you feel encouraged, not condemned!!

I believe that if we are not doing the things that Jesus told us to do, seeing people being saved and served, then we will get bored and dissatisfied and ultimately wander away from God. Without exercise, like muscles, our faith will wither and die. We need to be putting it to work helping, serving and loving others. Just see how alive you feel when you start “stepping out” and doing things for God!! Not only will your own problems feel much less significant, God will “grow” in your eyes and your faith will come alive as you see him working through the things that you do.

If we don’t have any motivation to help/serve others who are in need (spiritually or physically) then we need to question ourselves as to why? We are told that everything we do for others, we do for God and anything we choose not to do for others, we choose not to do for God.¹ If we do nothing to help those in need, then where is our love for God? Where’s our faith?

We know that it’s not by works that we are saved² (Jesus has already paid the highest price) but once saved we should desire to serve out of the overflow of thankfulness for what Jesus has done. God made us for this purpose and prepared good works for us to do³. If we don’t have this inner desire to be serving God, then have we really grasped what Jesus has done for us and are we really trusting in Him for our salvation? If we are not careful, there’s a danger of our faith being turned into a hobby that we tack onto the side of the rest of our lives. We can end up “boxing up” God to bring out on a Sunday morning/Thursday evening, or like a genie in a lamp, just call on him when we want something!

Lots of people are waiting for a “divine calling” (and some do get a specific calling) but shouldn’t we all just be getting on with what God has already told us to do? Jesus has given us a living example⁴ of what we should be doing and how we should be living! People will observe how we live and when we serve wholeheartedly, standing out as people who love others, serve others and do the things God has told us to do – they’ll have to acknowledge that it’s God working in and through us and that our faith is alive!⁵

Please don’t let your faith die – give it some exercise!!

1) Matthew 25: 40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ / Matthew 25: 45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

2) Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9not by works, so that no one can boast.

3) Ephesians 2:9 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

4) Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

5) Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. / 1 Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.