Organizing the Inside – Day 340 Consider Your Actions

August 8, 2012 at 2:30 pm · Filed under Encouragement, Faith, Wisdom, Women's Ministry and tagged: Faith, Faith Without Works, James, Prayer

21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”and he was called God’s friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. James 2:21-24 (NIV)

Prayer requires faith, but not always in the way you may think. Perhaps you have prayed for God to do something in your life and you have waited and waited, and in fact you are still waiting, but it seems your prayers are not being answered. There is one question you may want to consider asking yourself. Have I added the correct action to my faith? …Faith without works is dead. James 2:26b (KJV) Working on the wrong action is just a mess. It is imperative to find out what action is required for what you have waited for. This is by no means meant to be a solution for all the unanswered prayers.  There are many reasons why prayers are not answered; to compile such a list would likely require a very large book and many reasons would still not be addressed. This is only one I want you to consider.

Have you obeyed or are you too busy, waiting and crying out? (Exodus 14:15) There must be a point of specific action. This is action beyond prayer and preparation. Be bold; discover where your faith is and act upon it.

Receive direction. (Proverbs 2:6-11)
Prepare to do. (Luke 12:47)
Follow through and do. (James 2:18)

Keep your focus and don’t get off track. Watch out for things that are by no means related to what God originally told you to do or what you are praying and believing Him for. Some things are common sense, but in this busy world we live in there are many distractions. Be aware; the enemy is crafty when it comes to deception. You may end up planting Christmas trees instead of vegetables when what you need is food to eat. KEEP focused and ACT according to your faith.  If your family needs food, do you just pray and wait at home for the food to come? (If that’s where your faith is… go ahead open the door and wait) Most of us aren’t there and that course of action may not be God’s will. Actions must be according to God’s will and according to faith. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. Matthew 9:28, 29 (KJV)

If you don’t know, ASK for definite direction.  God will not hide the answers you need. 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. James 1:5 (NIV) One may plant a vegetable garden, another may ask the church for help, another may go to the local food pantry, and another may stay home and keep crying out to God about how hungry they are. If you are like the one who has cried out to God for something and you can’t understand why your prayers have not been answered, (when you know your prayers are according to His will) consider your actions. Do your actions line up with your faith? Does your faith line up with His will?

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