Walking Out The Faith We Talk
Last week one of the FAM members brought an awesome verse about faith to my attention that I hadn’t heard before, or at least didn’t remember, so I made up my mind to seriously “study” what the Bible teaches about faith, because it’s such an important principle when standing for marriage restoration. Since the word faith (in quotes) comes up 256 times in the NIV, it was a very extensive study and I learned quite a bit. Obviously, that’s a lot of material to cover, so instead of trying to cover it all at once, I’ll break it up and sprinkle it into my posts over the coming days and weeks.
One of the things that really struck me is how strongly the Bible tells us that if our actions and deeds don’t back up our faith, it’s dead or useless, which point is very strongly made in James 2:14-26, as the following verses reveal:
James 2:14
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
James 2:17
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
James 2:18
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
James 2:22
You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
James 2:24
You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
James 2:26
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Even though we know there is a definite connection between the words of faith we speak and the way we live our lives, it has a much stronger impact to see how many verses actually indicate how important it is for us to live and act in accordance with the faith we confess. And it obviously displeases the Lord when we fail to do that, as we see in the following verses where Jesus questioned the faith of His disciples because of their fear in the midst of a storm:
Mark 4:40
He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Luke 8:25
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
Not only is living in fear an indication of little faith, but it is an act of disobedience based on Isaiah 41:10, which says So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And as we see in 1 Corinthians 16:13, our faith in the Lord should make us strong and courageous, because it says Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. So when we are fearful and weak, we aren’t demonstrating much faith in the Lord, and our failure to live by faith actually keeps others from seeing God in us, as Romans 1:17 says, For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” So when we make Jesus the Lord of our lives, He lives in us and we are called to live our lives by faith in Him, as we see in Galatians 2:20, which says I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. In fact, the Lord is NOT pleased with us when we resist living by faith, according to Hebrews 10:38, which says But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” And Jesus actually rebuked His disciples for their lack of faith in Mark 16:14, which says Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
The verse I liked so much is 2 Thessalonians 1:11, which says With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. That means we can rely on God’s power to fulfill the acts prompted by our faith, which makes it pretty important for us to make sure the acts we’re prompting are the ones we want and not those we don’t want. And the following verses give us some guidelines and examples of how to live by faith and prompt the acts we want:
1 Timothy 5:8
If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
1 Timothy 4:12
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
Titus 2:2
Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
Hebrews 11:7
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
Hebrews 11:8
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
Hebrews 11:17-18
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”
Hebrews 11:29
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
The true test of faith is whether or not we believe and act on what Hebrews 11:1 tells us, which is Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. That’s the kind of faith all of the great men and women in the Bible demonstrated time after time, for which they ALWAYS received awesome blessings! So we have to persevere in standing firm in our faith for the restoration of our marriages, and when the tests, trials and temptations come, as they inevitably will, we have to remember James 1:2-8, which says Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. When our actions don’t line up with the faith we speak, we ARE double-minded, our faith is dead and useless, and we shouldn’t expect to receive anything from the Lord, and there’s NO doubt that marriage restoration is not possible without walking out the faith we talk!