Faith by works

Jas 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
Jas 2:15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
Jas 2:16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
Jas 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Jas 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Our Savior healed- bodies, minds, spirits. Our Savior never ignored a need but met it wherever He could. Our Savior did not see a single person in need of healing and pass him or her by. The message of the kingdom of heaven is found in Jesus and His great example to us. No, we do not have the power He had through his connection to the Father, our sins have separated us from God. Jesus was sinless and kept His connection to the Father perfectly. The Father, and the Holy Spirit could work through our Savior because there was NOTHING separating them from Jesus, nothing.

Our Savior could perform miracles because of His perfection. The apostles were given the ability to perform miracles through their connection to Jesus, through the fact He forgave them their sins and they were cleansed by Him. He gave them their power just as God gave power to Jesus and Jesus used NO power of His own. The power the apostles used was Jesus', not theirs, they did NOT manufacture it, they were receptacles for that power and when they received the power they used it as Jesus wanted them to.

Remember this--

Act 19:13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
Act 19:14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
Act 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
Act 19:16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Act 19:17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

These men USED Jesus' name but they were NOT connected to Jesus, they did not love Jesus, they did not have any power from Jesus and no authority to act on His behalf. These men had NO faith in our Savior, none. They thought they could simply say the name of Jesus and the power was in merely uttering His name, but they were very wrong. Is there power in Jesus' name? Yes, but there is no power in Jesus' name without a pure love for Him- it's impossible.

Those men who dared to use Jesus' name without any love for Him met with a catastrophe. The evil spirit spoke to them and said- Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are you? Paul had the power of Jesus in Him through the love he had for the Savior and the evil spirit knew this. The evil spirit understood the power of God in Jesus, and the evil spirit knew that these men had NO power whatsoever to harm it.

We need to have a faith that has works-- natural works as a result of the faith we possess. We cannot say we have faith and believe in our Savior and then totally ignore all the things Jesus took to heart. We have to live as He lived, love like He loved, care like He cared. We might not have the power that He had, our faith might not be as pure as that of the apostles, but we have to believe and use whatever means we do possess to do the works of faith in Jesus.

Jas 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

By the grace of God may we show our faith by our works! All through the love of Jesus, all through the love of our Savior, all through His power!


In Him Always!!!!!!!

Amen!