James 2:18, 20-22 NIV: [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. [20] You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? [21] Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? [22] You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.2.18-22.NIV
I have read this passage of scripture many times and repeated those words many times, but somehow this time in my personal Bible study, it hits me differently. So, I’ll share some of my thoughts I believe the Holy Spirit was giving me understanding based on some thoughts I have been battling with and questions I have been asking.
First, let’s simply define faith as trust. So I would use them interchangeably.
Real faith leads to actions. When any faith-driven action takes place, it is clear, definitive, and calculated because of that faith. It is not done rashly or in haste even if at times it may seem like it is. Whether it is trust in yourself or trust in God or a higher power, any faith-drive action you ever took is resolute. Even, if later, doubts may creep it and slow you down or make you self-sabotage, but the moment where faith was prevailing, you were decisive and took action.
Faith-driven actions serve as more evidence of faith than when you say that you have faith because saying it without any actions to demonstrate that trust is unfruitful. This is why Paul is saying faith without work is dead and that he will show you his faith by showing his works. Non faith-driven actions can’t produce any good fruits because faith itself is a force. It’s dynamic, it’s power. Non-applied power can’t create anything, it can’t change the course of anything. It’s dead and useless. Whereas actions that are based on faith make it needless for someone to proclaim that he has faith because the actions show where his trust lies. For example: Abraham believed when God promised him to become a father of nations by giving him a son. And he believed when God told him it would be Isaac that would inherit him. So, if God is asking him to sacrifice the very person through whom he will become the father of nation, he maintains a trust in God and believed that he could raise him from the dead, the same way he resurrected his body and his wife’s body at an old age to even have a son. It shows his faith in God’s ability to resurrect, and also the trust in the nature of God as being loving and truthful. So regardless of what God was asking of him, He would keep his promise somehow. So the action he took was to just obey and brought Isaac as a sacrifice like God asked. That action demonstrates a trust that Abraham had in the integrity of God.
Another angle to this is, outside of coercion or some actual external pressure that is applied by someone or manipulation, could it be that every action you take is faith-based, consciously or unconsciously? Meaning, your actions demonstrate where your trust lies. If you take a careful look at how you act or decision you make in a moment, you will see that it reflects what you trust in that moment. If it is your fear that you trust, then you take action that aligns with that fear. For example, Abraham being afraid he may be killed because of Sarah made her omit the truth about being his wife. In that moment, it wasn’t the promise of becoming a great nation that was Abraham’s trust, but it was the fear of getting killed that he trusted. More practically, how many times, you forgo of pursuing something because you doubt that it would succeed. In the positive, you take on a complicated project because you trust in your ability to still succeed in it. So the good or bad actions we take has an underlying faith to it. If we believe we can do something, we are more likely to pursue that thing, and if we believe we can’t, we are likely to retreat as to protect our ego. Anything you ever attempt despite of being fearful is because there’s a part of you that still believe you can overcome that challenge somehow or there’s something good to be learned and you are willing to take that risk.
So outside of coercion or pressure from someone, our actions tend to be aligned with what we trust in in that very moment, either what we trust regarding God himself, or ourselves, or that situation, but never what we wish we trust in. That’s why we often take actions that are contrary to our faith in God. This misalignment between faith and action then causes internal conflict, even guilt and shame. In situation like this, it is what I called an incomplete faith. For example, in the Bible the story about the man who wanted his son to be healed and Jesus asked him if he believed, and he replied yes I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). There was a part of him that trusted that Jesus could heal his son. He certainly has heard of Jesus miracles to even ask for help in the first place. But there was another part that doubted either how quickly or complete it could be or if Jesus would grant him his request or some other reason that caused a lingering doubt. Most of us who are christians can relate to that. Most believers genuinely believe in the good and perfect nature of God and that He loves and cares for us, but there tend to be this doubt in certain situation you want God to intervene, you believe that He can but you never fully believe that He will. It is not His ability that you question, it is more His willingness towards you that you question for a specific situation and because of that lack of complete trust, you try to maintain certain level of control by taking actions or make decisions on your own or come up with plan B, C or D just in case He does not respond (even though it tends to be two things either you fail to understand his reply or guidance or He takes some time to reply when you want it faster, because regardless God always replies because even his silence means something that you must discern). Besides of the religious aspect, incomplete trust in yourself or someone or a circumstance also is evident in a lot of actions you take. You love just enough but not too much to protect your heart. You keep people at a certain distance just enough to have relationships but never deep connections. You put just enough work to succeed but not enough to express your full capacity because somewhere along the way you trust in some part of you but not completely.
The reality is whether it is complete trust in the right thing or the wrong thing or incomplete trust, your action in a given moment shows what you trust in that moment. The most important thing from this is to learn to align your actions more and more with what you genuinely want to trust in so that less internal dissonance.
So how do you align your inner man (or your spirit man) with your outer man (your conscious being) acts?
Colossians 1:9-11 NIV [9]… we continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, [10] so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, [11] being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, https://bible.com/bible/111/col.1.9-11.NIV
From this passage, it is clear that will of God is already set and known before you, as a person, becomes aware of that will. It is not a will that is being made as time goes but it’s already made and is known to the Holy Spirit. Now it is up to you to be aware of it.
As a sidenote for context before I continue with some practical tips: remember as believer, you receive the Holy Spirit and He communicates regularly with your spirit. Also, in all man there is God because the spirit man comes from God and it is never fully separated from God. Which is why, you have the ability to accept Christ because it is your spirit man that responds to that calling, not your logic or emotion. That spirit man when placed in the body is already aware of his assignment, that is why some unbelievers can be walking in part of their purpose by following their intuitions or know which decision to make because they practice stillness and listening to their inner man. But that purpose is never fully complete because it does not glorify God but people can still benefit in some positive ways.
Now with that in mind, how do you take more congruent faith-based actions?
Define your belief clearly. This means be honest with yourself about what you say you believe in, the foundation of that belief and the possible limitations you put on said belief. For example, you may have faith in God’s ability to heal, and yet has doubt about the extent to which that healing can be applied, like not believing that someone can beat an incurable disease. God will not be upset, and He already knows that limitation in you so why lie to yourself?
Practice acceptance of your current beliefs while you grow into truth and deeper beliefs. It is pointless to be hard on yourself when you start becoming aware of the weak spots in your belief system. The extent you thought you believed in God may not be as high as as you thought because a lot of actions you take on a daily basis contradict that and it shows more of what you truly believe in. The scripture above says it is the Spirit that gives you wisdom and understanding and it is by that wisdom and understanding you can know God’s will. So it is a gradual process of discovering that requires intimacy to hear the Spirit as He speaks to your spirit man to grow in understanding, so that what you know becomes a true knowing that is unshakable. When that level of knowledge is imparted, it destroys erroneous beliefs and replace them with deeper truth and naturally your words and actions start aligning with it.
I encourage you to get to a point where you truly trust that God has the abundance to bless and reward everyone. He is an undepletable and all powerful source and therefore, you can trust his words because they cannot fail because just speaking them make things happen. And I encourage you to take actions that align with that trust.
Pursue the knowledge of God’s desires continuously. Real fulfillment is when your actions align with what you were truly created for and pleasing God. And the ability to please God is determined by the ability to be made aware of his desires and submit to those desires by taking actions accordingly. Because the will of God is nothing less than God’s desires. Some desires are general for all man and some are specific to a person. So it is critical for you to know both the general desires of God for mankind and the specific desires for you as an individual. Pleasing him means bearing fruits in every good works and know Him more and be strengthened in all power.
Wisdom + Understanding thru the Spirit → know his will→ fruitfulness, knowing God more and having influence in a way that pleases God.
If you are not sure of God’s will spefically for you, you can start by looking at His will for mankind in general. If you look in Genesis before man sin, it gives you a good breath of the intention of God for man and also God’s nature. God created man in his image, in his likeness and instruct him in the following way: rule over fish in the sea, birds in the air, livestock and all wild animals and all creature that move along the ground. He blessed them and instructed them to be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. It also instruct them of what was appropriate to eat. And before creating man, He was meticulous to create everything else, blessed them and intructed them to multiply and be fruitful and declared them good. This shows God is a planner, and executer of plans. He speaks quality and character into what He creates, this in turns determine how they will behave according to said declarations.
God knew for man to be able to subdue the earth, he had to be in the image and likeness of God. This means carry his essence and capacity in a way that man function as gods on earth because of that oneness with God. Because you cannot dominate what you can’t control and influence. So the spirit man which is the god part of man because it is an extension of God is called to subdue, multiply and be fruitful. It is important to note that God never gave man the ability to subdue each other before man sinned. So those are some of the general will of God for all man. He wants us to be fruitful and not unproductive. He wants multiplication not just in procreation but in whatever we do. He wants man to be a ruler over the earth and all it contains as a good stewarts just like He made sure to supply all that Adam and Eve could have ever need before creating them. The same way, He creates with speficic purpose in mind, and give character and qualities to what He creates, He expects the same in man that he created in his essence and put a part of him in man, that’s why he let Adam named the animals because a name defines the character, the essence of that thing that is named. So, if Adam was to subdue the all that animals he should be able to define them by naming them.
Acknowledge and celebrate your progress. The more you understand God and his character, the more you understand yourself and discover His will for you. This can only be build through intimacy over time and willingness to hear and unlearn erroneous beliefs, learn new ones and relearn. It is also important that as you learn those truths, you find ways to take actions regardless of how small they are that aligns with the truth that you know. Celebrate those wins when you act as a good stewart for a moment. Because it is God’s will when you show compassion to someone because you know it is aligned with His desires or the very fact that you change a negative thought with a positive one because you know He wants us to think of what is good and pure and of good report. Regardless of where you are in your faith, it matters more than you take actions that align with that current faith, in the small moments in life as much as the big ones. God is patient and loving enough, that He promised he will continue to do the work in you just like He has started. So continue to move forward, building a relationship with your creator that has breathed his breath in you so you can forever be a part of him because that’s how much He loves you and care for you to come closer to Him to show you His truth and goodness.