I do not want my faith to be D.O.A.
I had a friend that suffered loss a while back that left him in a bit of a bind. I prayed for him, but when I did the Lord had me give him a gift instead of just praying. I was thinking about this today and this scripture came to mind. I wonder how many times we are made aware of needs and pray a prayer of “faith” which we intend to meet that need but do not pray a prayer of “faith” that asks the Lord if we are to do something. I particularly like the wording from the Message paraphrase.
James 2:14-26 The Message
14 Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? 15 For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved 16 and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup – where does that get you? 17 Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? 18 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. 19 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? 20 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? 21 Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? 22 Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? 23 The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.” 24 Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works? 25 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn’t her action in hiding God’s spies and helping them escape – that seamless unity of believing and doing – what counted with God? 26 The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.
I especially like this last phrase:
“Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.”
He may tell me that prayer is what I need to do…
If so… I will be diligent in prayer that the need be met.
He may tell me to do something more than just pray.
May I always be listening to know when to do which one.
In His Service,
R. Duane Gryder
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R. Duane & Janet Gryder Motorcycle Chaplain
Assembly of God U.S. Missions Acct. # 2605988
PO Box 13383 Odessa, Texas 79768-3383
telephone: 432-366-0909 mobile: 432-557-8417
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A voice is calling,
”Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.”
……………………………………………………..Isaiah 40:3
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December 20th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Thanks, Duane and Janet for your faithfulness, graciousness, and charity. It means a lot to me. I am humbled.
Rich
BlogRodent
December 20th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Duane,
I really need to read The Message more. The phrase from your quote in James 2:25 that struck my imagination is: “That seamless unity of believing and doing.” A philosopher (I can’t remember who right now) once said, “For the man who does not cheat what he believes to be true must always determine what he does.” (Paraphrase)
I don’t know how one “cheats” at this. One’s lifestyle ALWAYS manifests what he believes. I know one can “act as if” for a little while, but ultimately what is on the inside will come out. On the other hand, isn’t true faith acting “as if”?
I remember a service where the pastor’s daughter had just come home from a really terrible situation – living in gross sin. I was playing the piano during the altar call and was praying so hard for her to be saved that the piano keys were wet with my tears. The Lord asked me, “What would you do if she got saved?” I answered that I would dance all over the platform. He told me to start dancing. Even though there was no change in her demeanour – she seemed to be harder than ever – I started dancing. In just a few minutes she was at the altar crying tears of repentance.
Every “by faith” (Greek instrumental case) in Hebrews 11 is followed by an action. Let’s “git ‘er done.”
Al
December 20th, 2006 at 8:34 pm
Al,
I think the philospher was Albert Camus (1913-1960).
He wrote: “The principle can be established that for a man who does not cheat what he believes to be true must determine his action.” In this he is speaking of the inclination of men being in harmony with themselves. He also wrote: “Always go too far, because that’s where you’ll find the truth.” He went too far and died in a car crash three years after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1957.
As Christians who truly believe, we should go “too far” in the “doing” of His Word instead of seeing how little we can get by with.
Duane
December 26th, 2006 at 7:58 pm
Duane,
Thanks for the info. About going too far: my definition of balance is: equally extreme in all directions. Many people put truth somewhere between two extremes thinking two-dimensionally, when actually truth is an extreme when one thinks three-dimensionally, Another existentialist (of the Christian variety) said, “Pure undistorted truth burns up the world.” (Nikolai Berdyaev) That is extreme!
Always good to interact with you.
Al
December 26th, 2006 at 11:15 pm
1 Corinthians 14: NASB
33for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
40But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.
These 3 scriptures are definitely admonishments to use a spirit led self control spiritual actions in Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians and are intertwined within the teachings of the proper order in the church of prophecy, interpretation of tongues, and other external edifications of the church. I believe that many Pentecostal type churches we become confused about attenuating faith James 2:14-26 and the action of edification of the church. In other words we confuse the action of blessing others with our means and moving of the Holy Spirit in the church. Now just to clarify I am not diminishing the story told by the “Great Holy One” Al Reovor (my pastor emeritus), but simply I am explaining my view the passage being debated. Thus my point is that the actions outside of the church must go beyond the actions inside. For us to pray for someone in need is considered an insult if they can observe we are capable of meeting this need.
When I did street ministry in Dallas me and my friends started Pierce from SAGU, and we saw a lot of this. In fact Kenneth Copeland sent out his cronies to bless everyone, and preach prosperity. Soon these individuals found that prosperity was no where near these street people and they retreated to their suburbs. Others preached hell, fire, and brimstone until they found themselves out of breathe. We came preaching handing out coats, food, and paying for their stay in the local Salvation Army. Ten years later Pierce is still ministering to these needs in Deep Ellum. So it had nothing to do with being extreme and over doing it, but rather being practical and committing to the mission.
The edification of the church is meant for the church not to spread confusion in the world, but our actions are to be measured and practical in our interactions with the world. I believe the death that is spoke of in James is not of the spirit of the Christian, but speaks of the damnation of the sinner by an inactive and ineffective Christian that is unwilling to meet needs.
John 14:12 NASB “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and (R)greater works than these he will do; because (S)I go to the Father.
Feed the five thousand when you preach!
April 16th, 2007 at 5:06 am
Keep up the great work!