The Balancing Act – Faith vs Works

Happy New Year my brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray that you’ve made plans to live intentionally and with purpose this year. We’ve made it all the way through 2018 by God’s grace and mercy. I am truly excited about 2019 and everything that’s in store for the next 12 months. I have an upcoming series that will start 1/11/19 entitled, “Faith, Food, & Fitness.” You can anticipate tips, recipes, workouts, and scriptural reference every Friday beginning 1/11/19. As the body of Christ, it’s important that we are intentional about the body that God has given us. It’s not just something that we use every day; it’s also the place where the Holy Spirit lives. I’ll be discussing my own experiences along with my journey to becoming my healthiest in my mind, body, and spirit. I’m super excited about this series and can’t wait to blog about it.

As always, I pray that today’s post will inspire you to self-reflect and make adjustments as needed with the help of Yahweh. Blessings.

I was sitting at my desk this morning and the Lord dropped in my spirit, “Faith without Works is dead.” A familiar scripture that I’m sure most of you have heard or recited a time or two. He followed up with, “Never to compete with each other but to coexist.” I found this to be an interesting revelation. Whenever Yahweh drops something in my spirit I always stop to meditate on it. I think to myself, “He’s telling me this for a reason.” I typically follow up with a quick prayer that says, “Give me your insight, understanding, and the wisdom to apply it, Father.” Then I open my bible. If I’m not at home I open the YouVersion Bible app on my cellphone.

Sidenote: YouVersion provided me with a snapshot of my stats from last year. I was at a loss for words. I didn’t feel proud that I used the Bible app 362 days out of 365. I was humbled because I understood how many times I needed Yahweh. If it had not been for Him and His word I wouldn’t have made it through the obstacles or reached my blessings in 2018.

Back to the subject at hand. I then open my bible to read the chapter that references the subject or scripture He has given me. There is always a scriptural text that serves as the base of any revelation. After that I found myself thinking how many times has my Faith and Works competed?

Before I even address that thought it’s important that I lay a foundation of Faith and Works. Faith is defined as complete trust or confidence in someone or something. In Christian Theology, Works are defined as a person’s actions or deeds in contrast to inner qualities such as grace or faith. I know that internally I believe in Jesus Christ. I have Faith in His ability. There is nothing that He can’t do. The way that I show my Faith in Him is by my works which serve as the external expression of the Faith that I have in Him internally. That’s a mouthful, lol. What we do (our works) in this life should NOT be done separately from our Faith. Instead, it should be done due to our Faith. Our Faith is the inspiration for our works. So if we are INSPIRED in our Faith in God we ought to ASPIRE to be like Him in our actions aka our Works.

It’s not good enough to say we live for God then operate in disobedience. The same applies to other areas of our life. We can’t believe God to heal us from health issues then continue eating fast food. We can’t believe God to open the door for entrepreneurial success then go home and watch TV. We can’t believe Him to deliver us from alcoholism then keep drinking. There is Work associated with our Faith. They have to COEXIST for COMPLETION to take place. When that happens it says, “I have Faith in Christ and I show my Faith with what I do.” Our works are our ability to be obedient to the one we have Faith in, Jesus. It’s our ability to produce what the Father planted on the inside of us. My husband and I have Faith that Yahweh will bless us with natural children. Our works….. Well, you know how children come about. Lol. I have Faith that Yahweh is going to take “Mindful of Me Moments” and magnify it to the multitude. My works are shown by my diligence to create content, post blogs, network, and consistently hear from Yahweh for direction.

So when I think about the times my Faith competed with my Works I think about the times I believed in my own ability vs God’s ability. These were the times I put any and everything above Christ Jesus then expected Him to bless it. The nerve. Our Faith and Works should never compete. They go hand in hand. If you ever find that what you’re doing has taken over your Faith know that you’re working for nothing. Remember, apart from God we can do NOTHING. As the new year rolls out I challenge you to check what and who you’re working for. The only way you will ever be truly effective is when your Faith and Works are in God. Blessings.

Foundational Scripture

 ^“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?  Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, 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. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?  You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.  And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

James 2:14-26