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--February 22 2017--

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Actionless Faith Is Dead





I was reading ‘Understanding The Endtimes’ by RBC Ministries and I came across this:

“…some people who specialize in Bible prophecy show little real devotion to Christ and rarely try to lead anyone to the Lord Jesus. Their minds are full of information but their hearts are empty. They aren’t gaining anything of spiritual value from their searching of the Scriptures.” Pages 69-70


We should study Scripture not focusing on any one part but on the whole book knowing the reason for the Bible is to share God's plan for our salvation. Sadly, I know those who studied Scripture and dug in deep trying to understand it and in so doing have lost their faith and hence forth their salvation. They dug into studying but were not active in applying it to their lives and allowing the Holy Spirit to come alive in them. They focused on only one part of Scripture and didn't see the whole picture and didn't allow the Holy Spirit to conform them.

Satan knows Scripture very well, so well that he quoted it to Jesus and will use it to slip us up in our walk. The traps he lays for us are the ones that we cannot see like digging in trying to make human sense of the Bible and the prophecies that lie within only to walk away with more questions and confusion or with an empty, cold heart. 

I am saddened to the point of tears and crying out to my Father in intercession for the lost and the hard hearts, for those I love deeply by a love that is fueled by the passion of Holy Spirit and a deep desire to see the sinner set free from the chains of slavery and the jaws of Satan. 

James 2:14-26 NIV

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 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. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
 

James sums it up well in v 2  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Standing in the gap and praying for those who have walked away and those who just don't believe.
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8 comments:

  1. That's so true. The ones bent on gaining just the information and don't "draw nigh unto Him" miss the whole point of it; to point to the leading of His Holy Spirit. No wonder the enemy uses his pawns to misquote scripture trying to pervert it.

    I appreciate your heart. Keep it up, sister. The outcome is up to our Father.

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    1. Hi Floyd,

      Thanks for the reminder that the outcome of salvation is up to Father. Sometimes I grieve so for the lost, it is good to keep things in the right perspective. :)

      Blessings brother,
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    1. Bless your heart Lauren! It is so wonderful to be surrounded by so many intercessors. :)

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  3. This verse in James: "You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did." was a key verse for me many years ago, as the Lord showed my that lists and compartmentalization was not the formula, but action out of faith in relationship ... working together was real. Not that I was destroying my faith by going about it int he wrong direction (with the method that things work by earning them). It was a "rookie" mistake out of ignorance and misunderstanding, and I believe that the Lord sometimes allows us the privilege of learning by "trial & error" in order to unfulfilling experience the "spinning of my wheels". When I get by the obstacle of myself, then the Father can teach me truths, like "you don't work to get saved; you work because you are saved." May the eyes of the spiritually blind be opened, starting with me. Show me more Father God. Thank you Child of God for this self-reflecting post.

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    1. Hi Brian,
      Thank you for sharing that.
      I love how Father allows us to learn. How He doesn't enforce His way on us even though He knows His way is better. Through experience the learning becomes real and meaningful.

      Blessings brother, may my spiritually blind eyes be opened too.
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  4. Hi Child of God,

    Been listening to Voddie Baucham recently (sermon audio has over 100 of his sermons). His preaching on total depravity helped me to have a better grasp of just how amazing God's grace is, and why it is that we cannot do that for ourselves through a decision or a "sinner's prayer" or any other means of trying to manipulate God into giving His grace to us. His grace is given on His terms in His time to those He chooses. I still do not fully understand it, probably because I'm not God, but I do know that God is perfect in all of His ways, and I am not, and neither is anyone else on this planet. I am saved by grace not by works. I am saved from the wrath that is to come, the judgment reserved for the devil and "his angels" and all who follow the devil and this world. It seems harsh, and yet, not when we remember that we all deserve hell, and that we do not all get what we all deserve. Mind boggling? Yes.

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  5. Hi Susan,
    Yes, mind boggling! How can our finite minds understand God's infinite mind? We can't, we just need to trust in Him and His Word that He surly does know what He is doing and that He is completely just and fair.

    God's grace and invitation is open to all yet in His perfection He knows who will accept it. To some, that is very difficult to understand and without the Holy Spirit ministering to us we too wouldn't not get it. How can worldly wisdom measure up to heavenly wisdom? It cannot not. It is like trying to understand the customs in another culture without being instructed by one who is knowing the customs. In order to understand God and His way we need His Spirit.

    Thanks for visiting Susan.

    Blessings,
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