James 2:14 KJV
[14] What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
Faith requires work, for faith without work is considered dead. Faith is not an excuse for idleness; rather, it's evidence that your work would yield fruit. My grandma once told us a story of a man who had faith that he was never going to go hungry. Every day he prayed, moving street to street asking God for a bountiful harvest, but never cultivated land. While others ploughed and planted seed, the man relied strongly on his daily routine of prayer.
This continued until harvest time. Just as his faith foretold, the harvest that year was good. While people who laboured rejoiced, he blamed God for not bringing food his way. God's answer was simple: "Your faith was strong and your prayer was answered, but there was no work from you to bless." This illustration was to teach us the power of work and the importance of faith in our increase. Unfortunately, many believers are like this man in the story. They assume their faith is enough, not knowing God needs a substance to bless. He cannot bless an empty word; he can only bless the work of our hands.
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If we seek financial blessings, we can put in effort by searching for a job or starting up a business. If we desire marriage, you can start by learning about marriage and how to build yourself up for a healthy home. If you desire peace, put in effort to see that you find peace with everything. Everything works by faith and effort. Christianity through faith does not teach idleness; rather, it encourages hard work, persistence, patience, and perseverance. Even the apostles with power never relented in putting in work in their ministry.
Indeed, it profits no one to claim to have faith and yet have no work to show for it. In our faith, work is required because faith without work is dead. Only work keeps faith alive. So in our faith, we need to add work, for an idle man has no substance for faith to manifest.
