Faith Shows Through Bold Action

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.

We mentioned in the previous section that one of the very clear truths revealed to us in scripture on the subject of faith, is that faith without action will never experience the power of God (James 2:17). And so we want to discuss that particular truth in this section. The above quoted passage of scripture declares that our faith can be seen in the natural. The Holy Spirit in writing this passage teaches us that faith is the evidence of “things not seen”. The “things not seen” that He is referring to, are those things that we are fully convinced about in God’s word and thus believe. The same passage also teaches us that faith is the substance of things hoped for. Hope always refers to the unseen, for the scripture teaches us that we hope for that which we do not see (Romans 8:24). And so we see that the things which we hope and believe for have not yet materialised in this life and cannot therefore be seen in the natural. Nevertheless although the things we are exercising our faith for cannot be seen, the Holy Spirit tells us that there is something in its place that can be seen, for He tells us that our faith is the evidence of the things not seen. Evidence by its very definition can always be seen in some form. For example when someone presents evidence before a judge in a court of law, that evidence must be tangible. In other words it must be something that the judge can either see or hear. In the same manner our faith, as evidence of that which is not seen, is also tangible in this life. So how is that possible? The answer is that what we say and how we act reveals what we believe, and so when others observe and listen to us they can see and hear our faith.

James 2:17-22 “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  (18)  But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  (19)  You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe--and tremble!  (20) But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?  (21)  Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?  (22) Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?”

The Holy Spirit through the apostle James made it very plain for us to understand the concept of the evidence of faith, for in the above quoted passage of scripture He said that we show others our faith by our works. In explaining what it means to show our faith by our works, James goes on in this passage to give us the example of Abraham acting on what he believed thus showing us his faith. In other words his act of faith was his works. And so in the same manner, what we believe will be evidenced by what we say with our mouths and how we behave. Notice that James emphasises to us the absolute necessity of our acting in response to that which we believe, and he uses the demons as an example of those who believe but do not act accordingly. James teaches us in this passage that our actions make our faith “perfect”. The word translated “perfect” can also be translated “complete” and that would be a better rendering of the word in this passage. So what does James mean when he says that our actions make our faith complete? The answer to that question is given to us in this same passage when James also tells us that faith without works is dead. In other words, James is teaching us that faith without action produces no results, but on the other hand faith with action does produce results, or is made complete. So what are the results produced? The results are the power of God being manifested. In the example given above, the scripture teaches us that when Abraham acted in faith that God sent His angel to prevent him from sacrificing his son and God supernaturally provided the ram for the sacrifice (Genesis 22:1-13). In other words God’s power was manifested. And so we can see very clearly that faith with corresponding action experiences the power of God whereas faith without corresponding action will never experience God’s power.

Mark 5:25-34 “Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, (26) and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.  (27)  When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.  (28)  For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well."  (29)  Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.  (30)  And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?"  (31)  But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?' “(32) And He looked around to see her who had done this thing.  (33)  But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.  (34)  And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

Unlike the examples that we looked at in the previous section, which showed us the consequences of what happens when people act presumptuously and not in faith, the above account is a perfect example of how acting in faith does release the power of God. This passage tells us that this woman had heard about Jesus. So what had she heard? She had heard that if you were sick, that all that you needed to do was touch the hem of Jesus garment and you would be healed because God’s power flowed through His garments (Matthew 14:35-36). Clearly she heard that testimony directly from someone that she personally knew that was healed by this method. The more she thought about this person’s testimony the more she became convinced that she too could be healed by this method and that began to impact her speech as well, for this passage tells us that she said “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well”. Another gospel account of this incident tells us that she said these words to herself (Matthew 9:21). So why would she say these words to herself? The answer to that question is that she was putting into practice the same principle that God taught Joshua, i.e. if we want to experience God’s power then we need to confess His word over our lives. As an aside the Holy Spirit shows us an important principle when He reveals to us that she said these words to herself. Not always is it wise for saints to publicly confess that which they are believing for especially in the initial stages, because there are many that will try persuade the saint to discard their belief. And so if saints are surrounded by people that refuse to believe, then it is sometimes best to simply keep quite and speak that which they believe to themselves. And so we see in the above example that when the woman finally became fully convinced, she then acted on what she now firmly believed. We know that she firmly believed in the outcome of her actions because she took great risk to get close to Jesus, because as a person with an issue of blood she was considered to be unclean and not allowed by Jewish law to be in close proximity to people. Nevertheless her conviction overcame her fear of breaking the law and she made her way through the crowd to get to Jesus so that she could touch the hem of His garment. The moment she did that God’s power was released through the Lord Jesus and entered her body effecting a complete healing of her infirmity. She felt immediately that she had been healed and Jesus sensed God’s power flowing out of Him, which caused Him to stop and look around for the person who had activated God’s power in Him. When she came forward and told the Lord what she had done our Lord Jesus congratulated her for exercising her faith to be made well.

Luke 5:18-20 “Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  (19)  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  (20)  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

Another example where we can very clearly see faith in action is given to us in the scripture quoted above. In this passage we see that the man who was paralyzed and the four men who carried him were determined to get to Jesus. Very few would have done what they did to get to Jesus. When they could not get in by conventional means because of the crowds, they carried their friend onto the roof and broke through the roof in order to lower the paralyzed man in front of Jesus. Scripture plainly tells us that Jesus saw their faith. In other words their action, which was extreme, showed our Lord that they were fully convinced that He would heal their paralyzed friend. We all know the outcome of this account in that our Lord did heal that paralyzed man, and he got up took up his bed and walked out in front of everyone. And so that is what being fully convinced in your mind means. It would be very difficult for anyone to persuade you not to speak and act on what you believe. You will recall the account of blind Bartimaeus being healed by the Lord and how the people tried to get him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more. He was fully convinced in his mind that Jesus would heal him, and that is exactly what he got (Mark 10:46-52). In the same manner, by our words and our actions, our faith is tangible in this life and will always activate God’s power.

Michael E.B. Maher

Faith Toward God

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