Walking It Out

I am witnessing God's Word come to life. It can be exciting, sure; but I'll at least be honest and say that it can be extremely unsettling, too. Let me explain. As I grow "from glory to glory" in my relationship with Christ, as I study God's Word, as I spend time in prayer, as I walk along this path with my companions...God just orchestrates things. You know? I don't believe in "circumstances". My God is so mysterious, and He truly is so divinely invloved in what is happening.

The more of The Word I know, the more responsible I must be to living true to that Word. I believe that. When I say "know the Word"...I do mean "know"...not just memorization or having key verses highlighted in my Bible. A deep knowing. Recently, I have been so tuned into how often our Father will give us the opportunities to walk out our faith.

Now, I want to relate something that is in no means meant to sound like anything prideful at all. In fact, she may even be a little embarrassed that I am sharing this, but I think it is an important lesson. Last night at Hope, we had a training session for our volunteers for the upcoming Leadership Summit. Before everything started, we met a man named Chris who had fallen on some pretty bad times this week.

Chris is from California and had come to the area because some friends had offered him some work. He gets here, lives with them, and finds that they are heavily involved in drugs. Bottom line: Chris had no place to go. God brought him to our church. A homeless man named Tommy, who attends Hope, brought him to the church because he thought we could help.

After our meeting, Chris was still there because he had not been able to make the contacts he needed to get shelter. I stood in Mary Ann's office as she met with him and gave him an action plan. She prayed with him, encouraged him, and then we drove him to a hotel up the street. She paid for a room for the night for him, and then we drove him to get some dinner. Again, I am not in any way trying to glorify Mary Ann. This is about obedience to God and His Word. To God be the Glory!

See, Mary Ann had a choice to make when it came to Chris. Don't we often find it so easy to just tell someone we will pray for them? Don't misunderstand me - prayer is amazing; but is it possible that we sometimes use prayer as an excuse not to do anything? If we have the means to meet a need, why don't we pray AND meet that need?

James 2:14-17 reads: "What is the use, my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no good works to show for it? Can such faith save his soul? If a brother or sister is poorly clad and lacks food for each day, and one of you says to him, Good-Bye! Keep yourself warm and well fed, without giving him the necessities for the body, what good does that do? So also faith, if it does not have works, by itself is destitute of power."

God will put people in front of us. The decision of what we will do is entirely ours. Mary Ann loves God too much to be knowingly disobedient to Him. She showed God's love and compassion, and we have no idea the impact her prayers AND her actions may make on this young man's life.

God challenges me daily...daily, to be aware and focused on His people. I want you to see how those verses from James 2 are written in the Message Bible:

"Dear Friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, 'Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!' and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup - where does that get you?

Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?"


Lord, I do not want to live some pious, religious life of outrageous nonsense. Thank you for loving me so much that you won't let me live like that.