Of Exercise, Faith and Deeds

This morning I felt led to read from James again. This morning's verses and meditations are from James 2:14-18, 22-24, 26 NIV:

[14] "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? [15] Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. [16] 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? [17] In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

[18] 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.

[22] You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. [23] 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. [24] You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

[26] As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

These verses remind me of something that Randy Clark and Bill Johnson talk about when praying for healing, they ask people to activate their faith, by trying out the movement that they couldn't previously do, after they have been prayed for. They say that about half the people who they pray for don't feel anything, but when they try to move the part find they are healed and sometimes are healed only when they move the part.

In light of these scriptures, if I applied them to healing, that makes perfect sense. As James says in verse 26, "faith without deeds is dead.". The Greek word here translated deeds, is Ergon, related to the word which is the root of Ergonomics, study of movement. Ergon means work, deeds, employment , moving for a reason and purpose. In the case of prayer for healing the request to "move" the part f the body that was just prayed for makes perfect sense.

In other areas of our life, I think Lord wants to highlight this as well. We could rephrase these verses into simply - 'if we say we believe something, then our actions must support our statement, otherwise we don't really believe that something'. If I say I care about the homeless but do nothing to show that, then I am only saying I like the idea of caring about the homeless, but personally don't believe in it. James's statement is really an equation that works both ways - faith and deeds/works are mutually dependent on each other. Faith requires deeds to stay alive, deeds without faith becomes self-serving.

Recently the Lord is encouraging me to look at my life, and see what I really believe, by proof of my actions. He is not leading me down this path to make me feel bad, and to beat me for disobedience, but rather to help me grow my faith. There is much I believe intellectually, that is kept barely alive by the limited actions associated with that belief. He wants to see my faith grow, and is showing me the path forward. He is like a strength training coach, who is describing the process of building muscle and it requires movement, or work. If I want to grow the muscles in my arms, leg exercises won't help, I must exercise/move the parts that I want to grow.

So putting this into simple terms, if I want grow in faith for healing than I need to start praying for people who need healing. If I want to grow in my faith and knowledge of the Word, I need to study the Word, and seek out teachers who know the Word. If I want to grow in my faith in my ability to represent the Kingdom of God, then I need to be in conversations with people who aren't in the Kingdom, helping them to see the difference Jesus makes in my life. If I want to grow in my faith and knowledge of the ways of God, in knowing what He is like and what He will do, I need to study His words and actions (scripture) and listen to others who know Him better than I do. If I say I want to grow in my faith, than I need to allow the Lord to put me in places that require greater faith.

Finally, our actions should be with purpose driven by a desire to grow in our faith, not just because someone else is doing them. When we do works and deeds without a faith connection, we are often times doing them for recognition or some other self-serving reason. When I first got involved with a retreat ministry, I served really well, setting up and tearing down chairs, moving tables, packing, unpacking, all without complaining or anyone asking me to help. From the outside it looked like I was an exemplary humble servant, on the inside, I was doing it to convince people of my maturity, and was hiding from having to talk to anyone about anything important. I was motivated by fear, fear that they would see my actual immaturity and fear of man, those I didn't know. I wasn't doing the work, because of my desire to grow in faith in my ability to show mercy and compassion, or service to others.

If we want to grow in our faith in an area, that is excellent, because that desire ultimately was birthed in God's heart for us. We should ask Him how to grow in that particular area. If we go to a gym and want to start exercising, we should probably talk to someone to show us how to use the machines, how to maintain proper form, and even build a plan that will help us grow, without injuring ourselves. In the same way, God will help us grow and mature. He doesn't want us to flame out and fail, but rather wants to grow us and mature us with optimal results. If I go to the gym and try to lift 500lbs the first day I will likely fail, and may not come back to the gym. In the same way if I want to grow in faith for healing, and the first person I pray for has cancer and doesn't get healed, I may never pray for another person, and my faith, that little bit of faith that I had for healing will dry up.

Also, deeds by themselves won't make our faith grow. I had a friend who wanted to grow in his faith for healing, and one day while driving down the road, he threw his glasses out the window. His thought was that by wearing glasses he was showing he didn't have faith, and so was trying to exercise his faith, or create faith for healing by tossing his glasses. His heart was in the right place, but his approach might not have been what the Lord wanted, nor what He was telling him to do. He was trying to lift 500lbs, thus creating faith and didn't succeed. Ultimately he had to go back to wearing glasses, and his faith in healing was probably weakened. I know the Lord can heal eyes, I have personally seen Him restore sight to a blind man through prayers, so it wasn't that the Lord wasn't able to heal him. The Lord does want us all to grow in our faith for all this, and He will guide us and grow us. He also doesn't mind or discourage us from trying to lift the 500lbs, but He doesn't want us to stop believing because we can't.

His charge for us all is the same as the charge He gave the Apostles, "As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ [8] Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give." Matt. 10:7-8

So my encouragement this morning is to allow the Lord to guide me to the areas of faith that need to grow. I then need to allow Him to show me how, expecting Him to be better than the best athletic trainer, because He knows everything about me. I know He wants me to grow in my faith, and He will give me plenty of ways to exercise my faith through movement/exercise, works and deeds.

Amen Lord, let's do this!