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The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

There are over 700 mentions of the heart in the bible. We are commanded to love God with "all our hearts" (Deuteronomy 6:5), we are warned to "guard our hearts as they are the wellspring of life" (Proverbs 4:23) and we are told that "where our treasure is, our hearts will be also" (Matthew 6:21).  Jeremiah 17:9 claims that "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" and Matthew 15:19 says "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander" which doesn’t paint a very hopeful picture of us being able to get our hearts in the right place with God at all! We’re going to need some help…!

So what can we learn from what the bible says, and how do we put this into practice?

Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God.

Psalm 139 says the following:
²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

That’s a good place to start – asking God to reveal our hearts to us. Sometimes we can presume our hearts are in the right place, but actually rather than having hearts fully after God, we find out that often our hearts are divided or our motivations are not right. Just because our hearts are telling us something, doesn’t mean it’s automatically going to be right.

One way the bible tells us of finding our where our heart is, is to look at where we invest (what’s our treasure?) Matthew 6:21 : "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Where do we choose to spend our available time and money?  What do we choose to invest our energy or finances in? What do we spend much of our time thinking about? If the answers are  not "God / Jesus / God’s kingdom / loving the Lord & our neighbours" then we’re investing in the wrong things, and our hearts are not aligned to God.

God knows well that we often follow our hearts, and sometimes we follow our heads, but actually neither of these are the right things to follow!! That’s why there are so many warnings in the bible, and verses telling us to set our hearts on God and on his laws. Instead of following our hearts (or our heads) we should be following God’s word, and the Holy Spirit living in us, seeking God for his will and his plans for our lives. Like the request in the psalm above we should be praying "lead me in the way everlasting" We cannot walk on the right path without asking and following God… our hearts will lead us astray.

Psalm 86:11 says "Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." I think it’s key that we realise a lot of the time our hearts can be divided. We want to live for God and trust God fully, but although perhaps a good percentage of our hearts are willing, there’s often another part of our hearts that cannot fully let go and trust God. Because we don’t always get what we want, our hearts try to trick us into believing that perhaps our way is actually better than God’s!! We cannot be divided! James 1:6-8 says a double-minded man is "unstable in all he does." We must ask God continually to help us with our divided hearts, so that we can learn to have hearts that are sold out for Him and prepared to walk in all his ways, not just the ones that suit us.

Proverbs has a lot to say about man’s heart, including this "Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails" Proverbs 19:21. Therefore, what we need to do is learn to align our hearts with God’s, so that God’s plans are our plans! If not, our plans are not going to get us far!  Proverbs also says  "trust in the LORD with all your  heart and lean not on your own understanding" Proverbs 3:5.

There’s a passage in the bible that’s quoted quite a lot : Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart". A really lovely passage, but what we need to be careful of is that we don’t skip over the first bit of this passage “delight yourself in the Lord” and rush straight into the getting the desires of our heart bit!! It’s when our hearts are totally after God, when we love to be in his presence and are so thankful to him for all he has done, that our hearts become aligned to God’s own heart. We start to get glimpses of his heart for us, and for others, and our selfishness and our own desires get put back in their place. That’s when we start to desire the things that God desires and our hearts stop leading us astray.

So in Summary: Don’t trust your heart!! It can be very deceitful! Do love God with all your heart and you can’t go far wrong! Ask God to test your heart and be willing to work on anything he reveals to you. Look for yourself at where you spend your time and money to get an idea of if your heart’s currently focused on the right things. Trust The Lord with all your heart, and don’t be divided – He’s the only one who is faithful. Pray for God to help you to do this so that you can love and serve him fully. Delight yourself in God, and your heart will become aligned to his, then he will be pleased to give you the desires of your heart!

Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God.  1 Chronicles 22:19

..be holy, because I am holy.  Leviticus 11:45

I’ve had a song in my heart this week, its the worship song that goes “I want to be Holy, set apart for you Lord Jesus, ready to do your will“. While I was painting wood in the garden this week I started pondering on the words and whether I really meant what I was singing.

Do I really want to be holy, above all else? Do I really want to be set apart – not of the world – choosing not to follow worldly desires and what culture tells me I should act like?  To live my life totally as God wants me to? Am I ready to do God’s will, rather than my own? Am I prepared to make the sacrifice of being holy; of obeying Christ in all things; of giving up my selfish, sinful ways for holy and selfless living?

I thought about this for a while and searched my heart and I found that actually yes, in my heart, I do desire to be holy and obedient to God’s will. This is not because of me, it is because God has done a work in me by His Spirit, and changed my sinful heart.  Yet in practice this is not so simple! As you will know well, there’s still a real daily battle with the flesh and the world, pulling us away from actually doing what our hearts wants to do! (Read Romans 7:18-25, Paul comments on this very thing!)

So what is being holy? To put it simply, it means being like God in our hearts and in our actions. It means keeping ourselves “from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27) and above all, loving God and putting him first (Mark 12:30). It’s so important to God that He even called us to be holy & set us apart before the world was created! (1 Corinthians 1:2, Ephesians 1:4) He commands us to be holy because He Himself is holy (Leviticus 11:45)  and because when we live holy lives, we show Jesus to the world! Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14 ..Quite a challenging verse there from Hebrews.

How do we do it? I think Adam’s series on progressive sanctification is really helpful here! Go and read it if you haven’t done already! It’s a process, but loving and relying on God more and more is the only way we can truly live holy lives. We cannot do it just by willpower, as we will either fail miserably or, if we start to think we’re getting “good” at being holy, we become arrogant, prideful and can often start judging others – then (hopefully) we realise we are not being holy at all!!

I think the “ready to do God’s will” statement is also a thing is key. God would never ask us to do anything that was sinful, instead he points us in the direction of holiness, by the Holy Spirit living in us (and he always has the best plan for our lives!) Often God will prompt us on something that he wants us to change, so that we can be more holy, and sometimes we can be quite slow to respond. We try to justify it to ourselves, as it’s so hard to change ways of acting/living/thinking or even a relationship that is unhealthy, so we think it’s just never going to be possible or we come up with the age-old excuse that “now is not the right time”. Yet if God is prompting us, who are we to tell him he’s got the timing wrong, or he doesn’t’ realise how hard it is?! The sooner we obey, the sooner He can step in and give us the power to overcome! It’s a joint effort, but it starts with us being obedient to God’s will, no matter what we think the consequences/cost might be.

Father God I pray that you would help us to be holy.  Help us fight the temptations of the flesh and the ways of the world, in order to be set apart for you. I pray that we would be ready and willing to do your will as soon as you prompt us, so that we may become more holy and the world would see Jesus through us. Amen.

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16

Trouble & Trials our view vs God’s view

Our View

1. God is punishing me
2. God mustn’t be good after all, he’s not blessed me like he promised.
3. I didn’t sign up for all this suffering, wasn’t being a Christian supposed to make life easier?
4. Where is God when I’m going through this?

God’s View

1. Trials are not a punishment – they are a faith, character & hope building exercise! God tells us we should receive trials and even suffering with Joy..

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. James 1:2-4

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4

(Note, however, that God does discipline those he loves. Hebrews 12:5-7)

2. God has already blessed us with every Spiritual Blessing in Christ. He also promises to turn all things round for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

3. Jesus clearly told us that, in following him, we would face trouble, trials and suffering. Our faith is not about a nice ticket to heaven and an easy ride. Jesus said us we must deny ourselves and lay down our own lives (“take up your cross”) in order to follow him, just as he did for us.

And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. Luke 9:22-24

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.  John 16:33b

4. God has promised to always be with us in the trials, but not to take them away! We need to remember that Jesus has all authority and He is with us always! In our weakness – God is strong!

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  Isaiah 43:2

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.“ Matthew 28:18-20

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10

God’s word is truth. We need to ask God to help us align our views/feelings with the word of God so that we can live lives of freedom and truth. Lives that are pleasing to God and that give him all the glory!

“If you squeeze a lemon you should get lemon juice, if you squeeze an orange you should get orange juice. If you squeeze a Christian, you should get Christ”

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29

I don’t know about you, but if there’s one thing I have to constantly check myself on, it’s what I allow to come out of my mouth! I can so easily get into saying negative stuff or things that are not bringing glory to God or encouragement to others.

I learned that the word unwholesome could also mean rotten – like rotten fruit. The bible tells us that we are to bear good fruit, and that we will be recognised by the fruit that we produce, as this fruit comes from what’s in our hearts. (Read Luke 6:43-45 and Matthew 12:33-37).

We need to watch ourselves carefully as negative, dishonest, unkind or vulgar words are not coming from a heart that loves God and is in fellowship with him. James 3:10 says “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”

We are not told just to stop speaking bad stuff, but to replace it with good stuff! We are to be people who speak words of encouragement to others, words that will build people up in the faith and will help people to grow and be encouraged. We are to speak things which will “benefit those who listen”.

Proverbs 12:18 says that reckless words pierce like a sword but when we speak wise words these bring healing. Wouldn’t you like your words to bring healing into other people’s lives?

I encourage you to take notice of what comes our of your mouth, as it’s an overflow of what’s in your heart and it reflects your true relationship with God. You can do a health check on your heart just by listening to your words!

Let us strive to have hearts that are right with God so that we only speak words that produce good fruit! Ones that bring healing and encouragement to others, and praise and glory to God. As we seek God, and continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit, He will change our hearts and help us to speak out of the overflow of His love, His grace and His mercy in our lives! How then could we ever speak anything negative!?

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.

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!

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

I think this verse in Philippians is so key to our Christian walk. Our thought-life works out into our actions, our feelings and our faith in God. What we spend time thinking about affects our whole life. For example. If we think that we are useless, we believe we are useless and then we act as though we have already failed, even before we’ve begun. This is true of so many things. If we think wrong, negative / destructive thoughts, then we are going to end up being negative and destructive in the way we act towards others and even ourselves. Sounds simple, yet often we forget.

This verse advises us to think about whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. If we spent more time thinking about all of these things, and less time wallowing in the negative I really believe we would start to see a difference in the way we act and feel too. We would also view God more as we should, not blaming him when things go wrong or doubting that he will help us through, but instead trusting in the Truth of his Word, knowing that he is always right and always pure and always admirable and eternally praiseworthy!

God understands that it’s often a lot easier for us to believe the negative, rather than the positive. To dwell on what could go wrong, rather than what is going right. To focus on the faults of ourselves and everyone else, rather than remembering that we are all made in the image of God and we are all loved by God. That’s why we do need reminding to think about what is true and noble and right and pure and lovely and admirable, excellent and praiseworthy and that’s why we need the help of the Holy Spirit. To start with it really doesn’t come naturally to us because we live in a fallen world, but with some self-discipline and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can improve our thought-life and keep reminding ourselves of the things that God wants us to think about. Let us remember that just as focusing on negative things bring us down, thinking about good things will have an uplifting impact on our lives and on our feelings and our walk with God.

By doing this we can also protect ourselves from attack. When the enemy tries to sow seeds of doubt or to tell us that we are worthless (these are lies), instead we can choose to think about who God says we are (the truth) and the fact that Jesus loves us so much that He died for us. In time we will start to think less negative thoughts, and have more positive thoughts in their place. (check out: James 4:7-8: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.) As we resist those negative thoughts and choose instead to think about what God wants us to, our thought life will turn from darkness into light and our faith and relationship with God will mature in the process. Who’d have thought that thoughts could have such an impact!

Read the passage through again and try to remember the list of things that God would have you think about – it’ll help you kick out the negative thoughts before they have time to set root

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. James 1:19

The verse above was one of my memory verses last month. I decided that it would be a good verse to know by heart so that God could keep reminding me of it (and so I could remind myself too!) I know that I can often be quick to speak and slow to listen, so this verse has been a challenge to me.

Lets just be clear, learning this verse didn’t make me change!! I still talk too much and don’t listen enough! Learning it is no use unless I then apply it, so the next stage has been asking God to help me to be better at listening and slower at jumping in with my own opinions and thoughts, and to show me where I’m not doing this. Improving in this area, I have realised, is a process and it will take time, but God knows that I am willing and that I have learnt this verse for Him to be able to “prod” me with it when I’m talking to much or listening too little!

Learning this verse and being reminded of it (usually just after I’ve spent too much time putting across my own opinions!) has made me much more aware of my failure to live up to how God wants me to be, and to start off with it has felt worse rather than better. I felt so rubbish when yet again I realised that I’d messed up. Yet I know that in my weakness God is strong and he will help me to improve. I’m not doing it alone, I have God’s Holy Spirit living in me and helping me. I also know that I live under God’s wonderful grace and he is a “forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love”.(Nehemiah 9:17)

I’m sure that you too have come across challenging verses in the bible which you would like to be able to follow, but know that you are not yet there. Perhaps you could do the same as me – learn a verse by heart and ask God to keep reminding you of it in those times when you start to slip into your old ways. It could be around trusting God or loving others or many different things. Remember it may get harder before it gets easier, but it’ll be worth it in the end. With God on our side and the Holy Spirit in us, we can keep on growing and becoming more and more like Jesus, one step at a time!

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.

James 4: 7-8: So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.This verse shows that we need to continually be active in pursuing God and also in resisting the devil. But the great thing about it is that if we do choose to seek God in our lives more and more, we will know his presence there more and more (and as this happens we will then want to seek him more and more ..and so on!) However, the same thing applies to the devil. We could easily turn it around and say ‘draw close to the devil and he will draw close to you.’ The more we entertain sin in our lives, the more we want to sin and the more control it has over us. If we stand firm and resist the temptation to sin, the bible says that the devil will flee from us.

• Do you know in what areas your loyalty to God is divided between Him & the world/your own desires?
• Are there things/sins in your life that you do want to resist, but are just finding it too hard?
• Are there sins/things of the world that you are not yet prepared to resist – as actually you want to keep on doing them?
• Would you like to be closer to God?

Perhaps you could pray a prayer like the one below to ask God for His help:

Father God, please would you help me to draw close to you and help me deal with those things that are stopping me from coming close to you. Show me what these things are if I am not sure. Father, please would you help me to resist the devil and the temptation to sin, and to put you first before any of the things of the world. If I am struggling with things that I don’t want to change or give over to you, please help me to want to change these things. Help me to be active, not passive, in my walk with you. Thank you father that you love me as your child just as I am, but please help me to become more and more like Jesus. Thank you father, Amen