James 2:18-20 “Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.” Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.”
Whew sis, it’s tight but it’s right! Nothing like starting the week strong 💪🏽 Yesterday, we dealt with our faith walk matching our talk, and today we are taking it a little deeper and dealing with our faith IN ACTION. And James assures us that there is no faith without action. Hand in glove – I love it! First of all, let’s define faith. It’s the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Substance and evidence sister! Evidence is defined as the AVAILABLE BODY of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid. What if WE are the evidence someone needs that faith exists? When we walk through a storm and should be tossed by its waves, but we stand because we are anchored – we are evidence! When we fall but get back up – we are evidence! When we receive a bad health report – but we hold on to faith for healing – we are evidence! When we walk through fiery trials and come out not smelling like smoke – we are evidence! Having faith doesn’t mean life will be perfect, it means that when it’s not we have God’s hand to hold to. You my sister, are evidence of Jesus! You are proof! If that doesn’t encourage your faith, i don’t know what will!
Consecration: Appearances
Have you ever met a real life chameleon? Maybe you’ve even been one. There is no shame here. Remember, we are on this journey together. Evidence, is proof, facts, truth…but one thing it’s not is false. In an early confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus quoted Isaiah 29:13 and said “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. You honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me.” Throughout scripture, God expresses His consistent frustration with religion. The appearance of faith without the fruit of faith is nothing more than a facade. Today, we are going to consecrate facades. We are going to be fiercely attentive to when, where and with whom we are tempted to inflate or deflate, exaggerate or belittle ourselves through speech or silence. When you get some time alone, discuss your observations with Jesus. Ask Him to help you understand why you are investing energy in illusions. Our reality doesn’t frustrate Jesus. Our hypocrisy does.
Declaration
No Comments