“For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.” John 6:55-58, (NLT)

Love is an action. God’s Love is active in us when we allow Him to work in and through us. The closer we grow in a relationship with Jesus, the closer we grow in relationships with those around us. But it’s so easy to become passive about loving God and others, which means we open the door for sin.

Sometimes passivity is disguised by activity. We can use ‘godly’ activities to avoid God and not ask ourselves if we are truly loving others. As a result, we can end up seeking acceptance through relationships and other things, which is idolatry. Passivity is a heart issue. When we surrender our hearts to God, He fills us with His Spirit and His love, which compels us to action.

“For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.” John 6:55-58 (NLT)

Love is an action. God’s Love is active in us when we allow Him to work in and through us. The closer we grow in a relationship with Jesus, the closer we grow in relationships with those around us. But it’s so easy to become passive about loving God and others, which means we open the door for sin.

Sometimes passivity is disguised by activity. We can use ‘godly’ activities to avoid God and not ask ourselves if we are truly loving others. As a result, we can end up seeking acceptance through relationships and other things, which is idolatry. Passivity is a heart issue. When we surrender our hearts to God, He fills us with His Spirit and His love, which compels us to action.

In his song, The Motions, Matthew West expresses his desire to move beyond passivity in his relationship with God:

“No regrets, not this time
I’m gonna let my heart defeat my mind,
Let Your love make me whole.
I think I’m finally feeling something.”

The “something” we need to feel is more of God’s love. It’s irreplaceable and unconditional, the very core of what we need daily.

Father, we humbly come to You. Please reveal where we have let passivity creep in. Remove our pride and let us overflow with Your love. May Your love guide us into action and into a deeper relationship with You and others. Amen.

Thought: Are you feeling numb in your relationship with God? Ask the Lord to reveal Himself in a new way to you.

By Rev.Daniel Forster
used by permission

FURTHER READING

Building Relationships with Love

God’s Love in Our Hearts – A Devotional by Charles Spurgeon

The Supernatural Power of God’s Love 

The post Rejecting Passivity appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can’t save anyone.”
(James 2:14)

Why does God delay in answering our prayers? Why is help sometimes so slow in coming?

Mary and Martha, must have asked the same questions when their brother became seriously ill and Jesus did not hurry to their side. By the time Jesus finally arrived, Lazarus had died and been buried for four days.

Martha ran out to the road to meet Him. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” she blurted. Martha believed that, had Jesus been present, He could have healed Lazarus.

“But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask,” Martha continued. She believed that Jesus had a peculiar intimacy with God and his prayers would make a difference. But she saw no way Jesus could help Lazarus now. The best she could hope for was that her brother would rise again in the final resurrection.

Martha believed all the right things about Jesus, even to the point of proclaiming Him to be the Messiah who was to come into the world. Still, she failed to make it practical. When Jesus told her to roll away the stone, she protested, “But Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been dead four days.”

Are you, like Martha, standing face to face with an insurmountable problem? Yes, you believe all the right things about Jesus, but are you willing to trust Him completely? Even now – with this present problem?

To believe is more than clinging to the right dogma. It involves action. “Faith without action can’t save anyone,” James tells us. When Martha surrendered her doubts and obeyed Jesus’ command to remove the stone from the tomb, making herself vulnerable, things began to happen. Now Jesus could work the miracle of her brother’s resurrection.

Lazarus came out of the tomb!

Why does God sometimes delay? He wants to lead us beyond a program of beliefs to a personal, intimate relationship with Him. He wants to show us another facet of his power. He gives us an opportunity to trust Him even when we cannot see.

Prayer: Dear God, increase my faith. I surrender my doubts and fears and preconceived ideas. I invite you to come into this situation and work it out for Your glory and my good.

by Helen Grace Lescheid
Used by Permission

The post Faith is an Action Word appeared first on Thoughts About God.