Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
You probably never thought the day would come when you would feel that you’ve finally reached the finish line. You’ve gotten to the point where your faith in God is yielding tangible results, and you can actually see things coming together. There’s nothing quite like this, and it’s the finish line of faith we hear in the testimony of others. We’ve prayed about crossing the path of our beloved for so long, and when we began this journey, there were some places within that had been locked up for a while. You didn’t realize this until the finish line was in view. You didn’t realize that there was an unspoken truth that even you had avoided. You didn’t think you were spiritually ready for the blessing and feared God might not think so either.
James 2:26(NLT) tells us, “Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.” We need to catch a visual of this to allow this knowledge about faith to sink in. The heartbreak of loss has taught us a great deal about death. Until the Lord returns, death is final because the body of the person we once saw alive is without breath. This is precisely the state of our faith and believing when it is not met with the right action. Our faith is dead unless we revive it.
The good news is that God has given us the wisdom and empowered us with the ability to always back our faith with action, but even in this, we still have questions. We’re concerned that we might not be doing enough, or that we might not be doing the right things to back our faith. God didn’t leave us hanging. In James 2:25(NLT), He gives us an example. He said, “Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road.” In the Old Testament, Joshua sent two spies to scout the land, and they stayed at Rahab’s house overnight. Joshua 2:2-3 tells us that the king of Jericho found out they were staying there and demanded Rahab to hand them over. She hid Joshua’s messengers, and sent the king’s men on a goose chase. The men Joshua sent were on God’s mission, and because of Rahab’s heart to help and protect them, she performed the right actions. What right actions and good works will we preform because of the love of Christ in our hearts?
We’ve been in situations where we didn’t choose the right actions. Instead, we chose selfish indulgences. We chose to pleasure our flesh, and these are the wrong actions. They set us back, because even when we repent for our sins before God’s heavenly throne, we go back to that same sinful behavior. The right action is to understand that we must assume a posture of sacrifice and push away from some of the things we’ve made a habit in the past. We need to be on a permanent fast from some of those things so that we’re laying up treasures instead of exhausting them by continuing wrong actions.
Another queue from Rahab’s right action is that she furthered God’s plan. We must ask ourselves what we’re doing to further His plan as well. There are people He has ordained us to influence. There are those He has called us to minister to and help, but we’ve missed some of those opportunities. You must begin to sow the right things so that you harvest the right things. Your giving will never be in vein, and you must understand that giving from a heart of generosity will always position us to be blessed.
The unspoken truth is that when our actions do not line up with our faith, the end result is a lack of confidence. We simply won’t have it. Things will move at a snail’s pace and the finish line will be nowhere in sight. That’s not where any of us should want to be. And we don’t have to be in that position if we humble ourselves before God. We must recognize that we’re going to have to change some things in our lives to see movement. Our prayer lives must shift in high gear to meet our high expectations. Our confessions must always be aligned with the promises of God, and we must be exceedingly careful about what we do, so that we’re not tricked out of God’s blessing.
The right actions and diligent effort position us higher in faith. Ephesians 2:10(NKJV) says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” God created us for good works in Christ. Get motivated and activated in that. Everybody is talking about their love language. Make yours like Christ. Give and love like him and you will be rewarded. So, pray and walk in the Spirit every day, and your eyes will be opened to what God is revealing. He knows what He wants to give you, and if you faithfully love and serve Him, He will help you. When you follow through and do as He says, you’ll never question your success, because He’ll boost your confidence that you’ll make it to the finish line and receive what you have truly desired in your heart. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
English Standard Version (ESV), The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
“The Unspoken Truth”, written by Kim Times, edited by Fran Mack and K. Stephens for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!