James 2:17
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
James:2:20-23
Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
Yesterday we talked about faith, in the aspect that we must believe. We must believe in order to be saved. Today we are going to take that a step further and start acting on that faith. Faith when it comes to following Christ is an action word, yes we must first believe and confess then we must walk with Christ, all the days of our lives. We must have faith in who He is, and trust Him with our lives. We must put all of our faith in Him, knowing that He will do all that He said He was going to do in our lives. This looks like obeying His word, living by His word, and listening when He tells us to go. One of the prime examples of this is Abraham. We all know the story of Abraham and Sarah who had a child way past childbearing age. They were old, very old. But God promised that they would have a son, and they stood on that promise. We see parts of the story when they decided to do it their way but it didn’t work. See the thing about having faith in God is that we cannot decide to do things our way when we decide God is taking too long. We must stand on His promise even when it looks like it’s not coming through, trust me He will always come through. The only way life will work is God’s way, and the more we pour ourselves into Him the more evident that truth becomes. Abraham had a child but it was not the the promised child, the child God had promised was to come from Abraham and Sarah not Abraham and Hagar.
The turning point in this story is when Abraham and Sarah finally had Isaac (the promised son), God tells Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice. Without hesitation Abraham goes to do it. Now many may think, why would Abraham voluntarily kill his son? The simple answer is because God told Him to, as gruesome as it sounds. I think Abraham knew something that we take a while to grasp and understand. He knew that whatever God was doing it was so much greater than what He could ever imagine. Abraham knew that God gave Him Isaac and if God wanted Him back then He would have to send Him. Sometimes God’s plan doesn’t make sense to us, but it is some much greater than what we could ever think. I cannot say that Abraham was happy-go-lucky to do this. It does not say how he felt about this, but I can imagine that he was a bit troubled. The thing is, Abraham had faith in God’s plan whatever it may have been. “But what about the promise, he waited so long to have this child and then he’s just going to give him up that easy.” It poses the question, do we have faith in His promises or faith in Him? Are we putting our faith in the things that God says He’s going to do, are we putting our trust in His promises or are we putting our faith and trust in Him? I believe that Abraham’s faith was in God, not in the promise of a child because even when the promise was fulfilled He was willing to give it up because His faith in God was stronger. Abraham’s faith was more than words it was active, that’s the type of faith God calling us to have.
Reflection/Prayer Time
There’s a two part question we must ask ourselves, one being do we really have faith in God, do we trust Him with everything? The second question being are we trusting in the promise, or are we trusting in a God who makes and fulfills promises? Allow your answers to those questions guide your prayer, talk to God about it. Have a conversation with Him about your faith, ask Him to search your heart and teach you to have faith in Him.
I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 301!
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