How often do we believe God for something and because we expect, in fact are so confident, that He will come through for us we decide to fold our arms and wait for Him to act.
Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with waiting on God. The bible encourages us to do so, Psalm 27 verse 14 says:
“Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart. Wait for the Lord”.
There is however a problem with waiting inactively. That would amount to laziness. (Who would be inclined to help someone who does not show any signs of wanting to help himself?). Besides, it is the quickest route to discouragement.
I like to look at the act of waiting as equivalent to watching – watching to see how God’s Hand will turn the situation around. With this perspective, then, take a look at the following verse:
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation”
- Matthew 26:42
There’s something about the verse above that suggests engaging oneself actively while waiting. Praying, in this case, is the active side of waiting. Prayer is work. (Try waking up at 2 a.m to pray, having been through an exacting day earlier). Prayer also demands work: God could respond with an instruction when we pray. (Whenever the Israelites were proving difficult and Moses had to run to God in prayer, God usually would not respond with: “Alright, I’ll talk to them”. Instead His response would often come in the form of another instruction for Moses to carry out). Faith is like gunpowder and our actions are like the spark required to ignite it to produce the desired effect. Note that no matter how much gunpowder you have, it is only by applying a spark to it that you get an explosion.
If you desire a faith that works, be prepared to put that faith to work.
ACT ON IT.
“… his faith was made perfect through his actions”.
- James 2:22
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