Just Believe

The Scoop #2

 

My cat woke me up at 2:00 this morning and these words kept rolling over my mind. “Faith without works is dead.” I knew the verses in the book of James and started to meditate upon them and what kind of works I was mixing with my faith. We can be right in the middle of doing good works with faith when our motivation is love without realizing it. In fact, this can be a good habit to develop.

I believe it is important not to compare others works with your works. How can the hands compare to the feet? They are both important in the Kingdom of God. Be content with who God has formed you to be.

As I write in my own words, James warns against praying without faith when he says, “If you need wisdom, ask God for it because He is very generous and will give wisdom to you freely without any blame.”  

James continues to say, “When you pray, you must pray in faith believing without any wavering or doubt because when you pray wavering or doubting, you are like a wave of the sea driven and tossed about. Such a person ought not to think he will receive anything from the Lord.”

I ask you, why pray if you do not believe for what you have asked? We have a choice in how we pray. In doubt and unbelief or in love and faith.

James continues to say “that man, is double minded in all his ways. In every area this man is unstable.”  James 1:5-8

Our faith in our God grows by hearing His word. When I read or study God’s word, I hear His love talking to me. My soul becomes lighter and joyful, and I begin to think of ways I can love Him back. How? By believing His love for me is truth. I learn to move in faith and walk in His grace. His Holy Spirit and truth inside of me produces fruit and obedience. I begin to realize my biggest lifelong calling is to grow fruit in all situations and to love people right where they are in their life. If I am growing an abundance of fruit, I will be able to discern the temptations and trials that come my way. We are usually given situations where our faith will be tested, a our soul is tempered.

Our Father loves to bless us. I see His blessings every day. Nothing is ever too small or too large for Him. He cares what we care about and knows our requests before we ask. I expect Hm to talk to me and He does in so many ways. How, might you ask?

The Holy Spirit talks to me when I study His word. I can stand upon His promises that minister peace to my heart. Today’s media uses fear to rob you of His peace, but God’s word says:

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 kjv

God’s peace is already ours, but it is a fruit that we need to develop and grow. His fruit is grown under the power of His Holy Spirit in our lives by love.

Everyone is different in this walk, though we are one Body of Christ; we see things differently and think differently. At times we will bunt heads over our beliefs; but one thing most of us learn is not to ever hold a grudge or unforgiveness in our hearts. Sometimes, this is not an easy task.  We are all on different areas on our journey, and because of this we find ourselves going back a few miles to repair the cracks that we tried to jump over. There are no shortcuts in our walk.

One of the biggest fruit destroyers is fear, pride and unforgiveness.  Most arguments begin because of pride and after that unforgiveness manifests itself through a grudge. The only one who can deal with this habit is when we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit.   

I have developed an old saying that covers most of us treading on this narrow road:

“They [those who have offended you in your past] were where they were at, in that time in their lives; with what they had.”

In other words:   We all react differently in our walk when we are faced with offenses. We are going to respond with the amount of mature fruit we have grown inside of us at that time in our life.”

Understanding this helps us to continue with forgiveness.

Let’s pray:

 

Heavenly Father,

Your word says if we do not forgive those who have offended us that, You will not forgive us our sins. Soften our hearts, that we will forgive all offenses that has happened in our lives. [name them] We forgive by faith and love by faith those who have wounded our souls. Forgive us for holding grudges and being reckless in our words and attitudes. We yield our hearts to your will and ask that You make us more pliable in your hands, in our daily lives. Thank You for the freedom to pray. Thank You for your word. Thank You for your great love, your continual direction, your covering and covenant of promises. In Jesus we pray, amen.