By Cindy Phillips
Did you know you can have dead faith? Many people think all they need is faith but James says otherwise.
…faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.’ James 2:17
In context, James asks, ‘What good is it…if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?… Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says… “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing…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’ (James 2:14-18).
A person can have great faith but that faith, without the appropriate action to follow it up, is nothing more than little, dead, useless faith. On the other hand, a little faith that is acted upon can produce great results (see Matthew 13:31-32). Action breathes life and power into your faith. The biblical prescription for faith is simple but potent:
(1) You decide to believe in God’s promise and His power to make it happen—leaving the “how and when” up to Him.
(2) You choose to act on what you believe before you see any evidence of the results.
(3) God responds to your faith by keeping His unbreakable promise.
God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Num 23:19). God goes to work, exercising His unlimited capacity to perform His Word. Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24).
Now, it’s up to you. Believe, then claim and act on His promise, with positive expectation He will back up His Word with action.