Faith Is a Verb

One time in the Gospels it says that Jesus couldn’t do much in a town “because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). Wouldn’t that be an awful thing to have said about your home, about your family, about you? Jesus couldn’t do much in or through you because you just didn’t believe Him. Lord, why don’t You do more in our church? Could it be because of people’s unbelief? Why do you make good things happen so often in my friend’s life, but not in mine? Could it be because your friend believes God more?

Faith is the key. God’s promises are activated by faith. Faith is not passive—it’s an action verb. Don’t say, “Well, I’m just waiting over here. Maybe God will work; maybe He won’t.” What are you doing about it? “Well, not much,” you say.
• It’s like the sick guy who needs to get better but doesn’t go to the doctor. That’s foolishness. You’ve got to do what you can.
• Like the person who’s filled with concerns and wants to have hope but has never read the Bible.

It’s God's promises that give us hope. How many Scriptural promises do you know? How many promises have you memorized? How many are on the tip of your tongue? Not a lot? Well, no wonder you’re filled with anxiety! No wonder you don’t have any hope! You’re not holding onto anything.

Get your heart around some of the exceedingly great and precious promises of God! Hold on to what God has said in His Word. Someday you’re going to be in a difficult situation and the enemy will try to pull you down, but you’ve got God’s Word hidden in your heart. His words will flood you with courage and fill your life with faith.

Faith has to be active to be real. Remember the guy in 2 Kings 5 who had leprosy and God told him he had to go dip in the river? In faith, he had to do what he could. Like the woman in poverty in 2 Kings 4 who had to collect containers to hold all that oil God was giving her—she did what she could. Like a warrior heading into battle—he has to pick up his weapon.

Put some action behind what you believe and watch God work.