What is faith without action?

Today, I come to you with this post. I do not intend so much as to educate you today, but just to provoke thoughts, which will, in turn, allow you to make your own judgements on this topic and ultimately strengthen your faith in the Lord your God.

 “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” – James 2:17

The passage above from scripture is one which is so commonly misinterpreted, especially when read out of context. James is saying here in his letter, that if we have true faith in Jesus, then that faith causes a change in our behaviour.

James goes on to say, “you believe that there is one God. Good!”, well “even the demons” and Satan believe in God. Christians believe in God, not as to his existence, but who he is; Christians believe in God’s grace, which is only possible as a result of Jesus’ death and resurrection. That is faith, and it is only by such faith that we are made righteous with God.

We must remember, through our belief in Jesus as the Son of God, and in his death and resurrection, we are made one with God and can have a relationship with our heavenly father. Our righteousness with God is not a reward for our earthly actions.

Jesus came to Earth to teach us that it is not through keeping the rules and regulations of the law, that we are accepted by God. God’s grace is a gift to all and not doing these actions does not make you any less righteous.

You are not alone…

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes will be saved” – Mark 16:15-16

As Christians, we should have a passion to spread the good news of everlasting life in heaven, with the living God to all people. But I’m not here to preach to you about what you should be spending your time doing; who am I to do that? Today we will look into scripture to reveal what it says about how we are never alone on our mission to be game changers in this 21st century world.

The ascension isn’t about the absence of Jesus, but of his eternal presence on Earth. When Jesus left his disciples, he left them the Holy Spirit. An angel spoke about it and said, ‘”The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.’ Ephesians 3:17-19 tells of the true power of God.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, you will have the power to go about and spread the news of the gospel and change the world; just like the disciples. I have thought of various ways the Holy Spirit helps us in what we are called to do.

What life was like, living as a refugee

“We are simply killed if we believe in Jesus. When I was eleven, I witnessed the public execution of a Christian. I was so sick, I nearly died. We have not received enough water for five days. The insurgents burnt Christian homes. They emptied churches and destroyed all furniture and equipment. The IS fighters look them in the eyes, but don’t see a human being. The Muslims in the village wanted to kill me; one day, they came to do just that. They surrounded my home and pelted stones on our roof. They wanted us to convert to Islam, but we refused.”

The quote above comes from a number of different refugees around the world, who’s names and identities cannot be revealed due to safety reasons. You hear a lot about refugees, migrants and IDPs in the news, but do you truly know about the life of these people; our neighbours. I discovered, with the help of Open Doors, who work with refugees in 60+ countries worldwide, what life is like, as a refugee.

But first, we must understand what the Bible says about refugees. “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner… must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord you God.” – Leviticus 19:33-34 The world is on the move. Our neighbours are in need. Our family are calling out for help. Will you stand with them? Will you live like a refugee? 

Persevere to success

What is success? When and how, do you reach that success? – As with all runners, dancers, youth leaders, doctors and a myriad of other occupations and sports – perseverance is required to become the best! And rightfully so; however there are as many methods of reaching that end goal as there are people. But in God’s eyes, there is just one. To discover what this is and how we are told to live like Jesus did, including the answers to the first questions, continue reading.

Perseverance – ‘persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay’