Effective Faith

Regarding the faitth of his audience, James wrote, "You believe in God?  Good!  Even the demons believe and shutter" (James 2:19).

In stark contrast to that, Paul looks at a lame man in the city of Lystra and "saw that he had faith to be healed" (Acts 14:9).

Two faiths in the same God but only one was effective, the other had no teeth - nothing with which to hold on to the object of faith.  So what was the difference?

Perhaps a couple of stories may shed some light.  The story is told of a woman who very much wanted the tree in her back yard to be gone but didn't have the money to have it taken out.  So she decidedd to pray one night that God would remove it for her.  The next morning, seeing the tree still standing said, "Just like I thought, it's still there."  See any problem with this faith?

Another story from the pages of my own life experience is of a woman whose husband I baptized after 30 years of marriage.  For all that time, she served God faithfully and faithfully prayed for her husband's salvation.  For 30 years, she continued trusting in God's power to change him.  Do you see the difference in this kind of faith?

Effective faith in God has two very critical components: 1)"Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance in what we do not see" (Heb 11:1) - Trust; and 2) "Faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:17) - Investment.

Effective faith trusts in God to act and itself begins to move in that direction.  The wife continued going to church and continued praying for her husband.  Effective faith doesn't wait to see results, it acts on the premise that the results are forthcoming.  I watched a movie recently that protrayed this effective faith.  It was entitled, "Faith Like a Potato."  During a drought, a preacher/potato farmer prayed to God and then planted his potatoes, believing that God would provide.  Despite all evidence to the contrary and all of hell's attempts to destroy his faith, he held fast and the potato harvest was bountiful.

Effetive faith is not just believing that God exists or that he could accomplish something.  It is not even simply a leap of faith but it is a walk of faith with confidence that God will be faithful, that he will provide.  Jus' Sayn.