Tuesday 10/2/12 Faith and Work!

Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for another night and for waking us this day.  Please be with Alan, Patricia, and Pamela as they travel starting today.  Lord, please be with voters for the upcoming election in the United States and help them pick the best one to head this country, one that will remember You, as a nation that claims to be one nation UNDER you, dear Lord.  Father in Heaven, I am so sick and tired of people throwing You out of places here in America, we on this line want You in our lives and in our country, and we want those against You to first come on board with You, and if not then I want to see them fail.  Forgive us of our sins this day, and travel hand in hand with us, with me this day.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  It is raining here at the Southern Location of the North Pole, and it is a nice summer-like rain.  Please pray today for my wife.  Dolores has so much pain, I don't know how she makes it day to day, and the doctors do not know all the causes of that pain.  We do now and understand this, we will not stop working for the Lord until He calls us home.  AMEN.

Faith and Work!

James 2:14 - What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?  Can such faith save him?  15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well, keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  (NIV)

Yes, if we say we have faith in God, we need to be working with and for God, for that is what the Bible tells us to do.  We need to help others, and folks, having dollars taken from your check by our government and given to others who make less is not working for the Lord.  Working for the Lord is when AFTER GIVING TO CAESAR, we need to be giving to God for His work.  Today I want to use a couple of examples of this type of help, this faith and deeds.

First, to quote our ministry partner, Pamela Bower, "we need to put feet on our prayers."  That is just what this scripture tells us when it says, in James 2:15 - Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  16 If one of you says to  him, "Go, I wish you well.  Keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  (NIV)

"Putting feet on your prayers" means this, let's say you pray for a brother or sister who does not have enough food to make it even into the next day and no money to purchase any food.  So you go and do some shopping for them, let's say you buy a gallon of milk, some eggs, a loaf of bread, a few cans of veggies and a sack of potatoes.  You take them and drop them off for the person and while you are there you pray with the person.  Maybe you can even line them up with some extra help by pointing them to a nearby food pantry.  Do you see where I am coming from?  More so, do you see where that comes in the Bible?  Do you understand that you can not just pray for your sins to be forgiven and get into heaven, you must work for God, do those deeds or works for Him.

Now dare I use one more person as an example of this.  Let me pick someone near and dear to my very own heart.  Let me see, Jesus.  Jesus set good examples of this.  We know and understand that Jesus was sent to us on a mission, one to save us from our sins, however, while He was here with us, He did many things.  Here are just a few of them.

He fed thousands of hungry people with just five loaves of bread and two fish.  Today, He is still feeding people, only now it is in the millions and millions of people.

He has healed the sick and opened blind eyes.  He opened eyes back when He walked this earth and He is still healing eyes.  He just healed our neighbor Lou Shultz's eyes.  And is also working on healing Art's eyes.  Jesus also healed many from many diseases, and folks, He has healed me from cancer.  Folks, from taking away your headache in the morning to fixing an upset tummy for one of your children, Jesus is still healing, He, dear friends, He, "Jesus, is putting feet feet on your prayers".  That is my quote for this day, yes, my quote that "Jesus is putting feet on your prayers."

Then, of course, He told us He was going to take away our sins, and my dear brothers and sisters, He did just that when He died on the cross, He took our sins with Him.  Then He rose from the dead to show us, to show us that someday we also will be risen up to be with our Lord Jesus in Heaven.  Someone other than me right now should be saying AMEN.

So how about it, folks?  Time to get upset with me now.  You say you love Jesus, and you really know him, so what have you done lately to help show that love?  What work have you done for Him that shows your faith in Him?  Do you walk daily with Him and show others do the same?  Do you share your blessings that He has bestowed upon you?  You do know that God's math is great.  I love God's math.  For when you walk in faith, and you work for the Lord, at the end of the day, you are always better off than when you started that day.  But only if you are walking it in faith with God.  Remember this, you just cannot out-give the Lord.  You can't!  Period, you can't.

Dear Father in Heaven, we want to walk this day in faith with You, and Lord, we want to work for You and help those who need help, and we want to do it in Your name and not ours.  We want You to have the glory and not us.  Help us, Lord, I pray today for all those on this line that they might walk with You and work for You in all they do.  In Jesus' name, I pray I will repent of my sins and others will also do what You have so ordered and repent of their sins.  Help us, Lord, help us.  In Jesus' name I pray.  Amen.

Now go forth "putting feet on your prayers" by sharing your blessings with others.  Love ya, Pastor Dan.