Initially, I was planning to just take you through a time of prayers over the Easter season. However, there are some of you have requested that this prayer email should continue in order that you will continue to be encouraged and be blessed by the promises of Jesus Christ. So, I will continue for another season and prayerfully to be an encourager and at the same time to be blessed by the Almighty God.
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Let me start by telling you a story of a village hard hit by draught that I have heard several years ago. The river dried up and there is no water in the wells. On a Sunday church service, the pastor announced that there would be a special prayer service in the evening to pray for rain. When evening came, the church was packed with the villagers. Just before the pastor was about to start the service, a little girl came rushing in. “I am sorry I am late. I forgot my umbrella and went home to get it.” Impressed by the girl’s confession, the pastor asked the congregation who else had brought an umbrella. There was none. So he said, “All of us have faith to pray for rain, but only this little girl believe it will rain.”
How true. Does this story sum up your faith in Christ? Many believe in God, but few believe God.
James 2:17 stated that, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone”. What it means is that “Faith without Works is dead; Works without Faith is also dead.”
Lack of faith in action has an incredibly negative impact on a Christian’s life. Without faith in action, prayer has no power. James 1:5-8 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
The word “double minded” speaks of a condition where a person is emotionally divided, the condition that makes a person unstable and incapable of hearing from God or receiving His gifts.
Faith in action is really an issue of trust. Jesus said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matt 21:22). How ironical: We believe Jesus is our Lord & savor but we fail to believe His promises of abundance grace to meet every needs of our life. At time, we tend to trust a pharmacist whom we never meet, get medicine we have no clue, and swallow it. Where have we placed our trust - Friends, money, spouse, job, children or ourselves? Beside Jesus, it will surely lead to disappointment. Jesus once said that faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountain. So start to believe Jesus.
Our prayer this week will focus on ourselves to develop Faith in Action:
Try the above and see your life (and your family) will change right before your eyes. Faith in Action is believed God will do it for you.
God blessings are awaiting you.
Johnny