FAITH IN ACTION

James 2: 14 – 26
Memory Verse: “Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16  and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17  blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18  In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”.’’ Genesis 22: 16 – 18

What people call faith is merely presumption. You have to get to a level of waking with God that your faith or belief in Him becomes absolute. Abraham was called God’s friend because of the depth of his relationship with God, to the extent that he heard directly from God. In fact, God communicated daily with him and their relationship grew to the point that Abraham puts into action whatever God told him. He could not have gotten to this state of absolute confidence in God if he did not have deep and close relationship with Him and therefore was able to put action to his faith. The Bible says in James 2:17 that “Faith by itself, if not accompanied by action is dead.” A dead thing is useless and of no value to the one who owns it. Abraham’s faith emanated from his personal experience with God. In Genesis 17:19 “God told Abraham that Sarah his wife will bear a son, and you will call him Isaac.” Indeed, Sarah bore Abraham a son in his old age. Sarah at Ninety, whose body was accounted for dead, bore a son! Thereafter in Genesis 22: 1 – 18, God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his covenant son Isaac to him. Abraham did not waiver but went ahead in obedience to obey God’s instructions; believing that God who gave Isaac to him in his old age, was able to provide him with a replacement. This is absolute faith in action!

The Bible later in James 2:24, recorded that “A person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.” It is time we all begin a personal walk with God so that our faith in Him will be deep and personal, which will inform our actions (acts of obedience). You can’t claim to be righteous if your faith is in men, who you go to for prophecy and to see vision for you. You should get to a point in your walk of faith with Gid that you are able to receive instructions directly from God. This will enable you to put your faith into action, which will be accounted to you as righteousness. As Anne Cetas said in her write up in Our Daily Bread Devotional of 22 nd November 2022, “God doesn’t need our good deeds, but our faith is proven by our actions’’.

May the Lord bless and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you, May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace, now and forevermore. Amen.

Prayer: O God, please help me to have a deep and personal faith in you that I will always put into action, and as I enter into the month of December, let songs of joy and acts of faith permeate my life in everything I do, in Jesus’ name Amen.

©Bola Olowe, Grace Leadership Foundation. Thursday 1, December 2022.

Glory be to our God for making us see yet another month of December; the end of the year 2022. I pray that the month will usher you and all yours into a season of Thanksgiving and Praises to Him that will be launch you gloriously into another great year. I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New year in advance. Remain blessed.