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¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

~ Jeremiah 29:11

It’s easy to get tunnel vision in the midst of a tough situation. When you do this, you lose sight of who God has been in your life, even in various quandaries. You then begin to focus only on the bad things that are going on. Nevertheless, I want to encourage you today. Begin to think on the many times that God has delivered you in the past. If you think back, the only reason you are alive today is because of God’s grace and mercy kept you. You will begin to see that God has a plan for your life. There are blessings lying just ahead, if you only hold on. Even if it’s tough right now, there are brighter days ahead of you.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not see.

-Hebrews 11:1

Everyday we wake up, there is a new challenge that awaits us, some good, some not so promising, yet we continue to walk through it. Hear me well; we are in war, not only for our souls, but the souls of others. However, in order to fight this battle, we have to have faith that doesn’t make sense to those around you, not even to you. It is because of this faith that we continue to fight, even when it seems as if it is time to hit the “abort” mission button.

Nevertheless, we get a definition of faith here in this verse. It says, that faith is what our hope is made of. We cannot hope for things that we do not have faith that God is able to do. Furthermore, it is the evidence of things that we have yet to see. On the surface, this statement doesn’t make sense. How can we have evidence and have yet to even catch a glimpse of that which we desire to see?

Well here is how it works. When God speaks a thing, it is already done in the spirit realm. So even though we have not seen it, it is already done. Therefore, when it happens in the physical realm, it is a manifestation of what He has spoken-evidence. Your faith is activated when you believe God for it, even before you have seen the first sign that it will come to pass.  So, whatever God has spoken over you, or promised to you, have extraordinary faith that it will be.

¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

~ James 2:17

Can anyone deny that Jesus was the ultimate example of faith in action? He didn’t merely talk about it, but He was about it. A great example of this is the story told in Luke when Jesus was separated from His mother and father for three days. Once located by His parents and scolded for being lost, His only response was, “knew you not that I must be about my Father’s business?”

In the book of James, we see a powerful statement as it relates to how faith works. This passage shows us that you can profess faith all you want, but it is the action that activates it in your life. Take time to do a self-reflection. How many things has God shown you that you need to accomplish, but out of fear you have neglected to do them? How many things have you been prompted to say by the Holy Spirit, but you kept quiet because of worry of rejection? Finally, how many people in your lives might you impact based upon your willingness to actually step out on faith and follow where God leads you? Nevertheless, this is your opportunity to make a change.  Begin to not only speak about having faith that moves mountains, but begin to practice what you preach. Put your faith in motion today!