Works vs Obedience
Therefore, I no longer interpret it literally as “faith without works is dead” but rather “faith without obedience is dead”. One leads to enslavement to vain works, the other encourages and promotes a relationship with the Father.
When the Way to Fight is to Be Still...
When God has a command for us that goes against our nature, based on this story, there are three things He has planned: increase our trust in Him of His faithfulness and delivering power with our lives, bless us with plunder, rewards and blessings that goes beyond anything we could ever imagine and remind us that He is God. These commands are to not take away from us nor make us feel powerless but rather to empower us because of who our God is.
Be Still: In The Gap
As things continue to go beyond our control and our anxieties increase, the more we feel our instinctive nature to pounce! Do something! Our foggy brains want to be in the know so it can prepare for the unknown. Our wearied hearts want some knowledge so it can calm down, and know what to expect, and how to respond. However, we are not always granted this privilege in knowing when we want to know it. We have to just sit back and “be still” in the gap of not knowing, but how do we accomplish this without losing our minds and gaining 15 pounds? There are multiple answers, but the one I will focus on today…Worship.
The Wilderness
Oh, the wilderness, so many times has it appeared in scripture as a means for purifying, strengthening, and building one’s faith, but we are never meant to remain there, much less die there. We are always meant to be brought out of the wilderness because it is just a transitional destination to our Promised Land, located between glory and glory.
Stumped
There are times when we pray for God’s will and for him to reveal His purpose and calling of our lives. When we ask, I believe He is faithful to answer however this does not mean we will be receptive of His response. We do not have to accept His response, but we will be only hindering ourselves from the greatness the Lord has declared over our lives. There is the greatness He has for us and then there is the greatness we have planned for ourselves. God reserves us the right to choose which we pursue.