Faith and Deeds
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
James 2:14-26 NIV
“Faith without works is dead.” And when I trust God and begin to do the work, it doesn’t need to be a big work. It can be a little work, it can be a small work. But the truth is that in order to get the work done, I must first begin. And as I tell my clients and people and literally anyone who will listen you cannot lose 100 pounds without first losing a pound. We cannot accomplish our ultimate goal if we do not first begin. And so I cherish now the small beginnings because without the small beginnings, I cannot get where I want to be. If I don’t start, if I don’t begin, I will never finish.
And so even though the small beginnings sometimes feel overwhelming, and sometimes are frustrating, and sometimes feel too small to count, I know with every cell in my body, that all the small beginnings are worth it, because the small beginnings are all worthy. Because I am worthy. Because all it takes all God requires of me is trust. Enough trust to begin and enough trust to begin small.
“Faith without works, is dead.” And I am marrying my faith with my work knowing that the very thing that I am asking for I can have, but only when I begin. The very thing that I asked for I know that I will inevitably receive. Only if I ask for it, will I receive it. And once I ask for it, this thing happens, this shift happens within me– I will begin to do what is required of me to get to the very end that I envision. The God given vision. My God given vision.
But before I can get there, I must start here. And I can’t start where I want to start 10 steps or three years from now. I have to start where I am and where I am is right here. And where I am, is small and where I am is excellent. And where I am is divine. And where I am is everything in between. And I know that by simply asking God, can you give me…? God, can you help me…? God, can you grant me…? He is literally giving me all of the desires of my heart, but only when I ask and only when I begin to work.
And so all of my small beginnings, as many as there have been, God, I thank you for each and every one of them. I thank you for the patience that grows within me when I work. I thank you that with each small beginning it is growing a part of me, and it is maturing me, it is teaching me something about myself and about you. Each small beginning is drawing me closer, calling me closer to the very thing that I have asked you for and I can’t get to the thing without beginning. And so I thank you for honoring each of my small beginnings. I thank you for the patience to begin, I thank you for trusting you enough to begin small, especially when I don’t trust myself.
And isn’t that all that God is actually asking us for? He wants us to ask something of him. At dinner my soul sister friends and I were discussing why do you think that is? Why is it that the God who created the heaven and the moon and the stars in the sky and could give us anything that we wanted in a slipt second because he knows what’s on our heart and yet, he doesn’t. He told us to ask.
“Ask and it will be given to you. Search and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you. The one who asks will always receive; the one who is searching will always find, and the door is opened to the man who knocks.”
Matthew 7:6-8 Phillips
God wants us to go to Him. Surrendering what we think we know to be in relationship with him. Surrendering who we think we need to be and who we think we are to be in a real relationship with him.
So, to the One who created me, to the God of the entire Earth, to the God of the heavens, to the God of the galaxies, I thank you that me, Joval Marie Webbe, this speck of dust, this tiny fraction of a droplet of water, smaller one single snowflake in all of the galaxies in all of the land: I thank you that I’ve already have within me now everything that I’ve ever needed to be successful and all I ever needed was to begin.
And so I’m going grateful for each and every small beginning. I’m grateful for friends who would rally around me that I can be real with. I am grateful that I can be vulnerable with them. I am grateful that I choose to feel my feelings. I am grateful that I choose to begin small. I am grateful for the frustration. I am grateful for the impatience. I am grateful for every single thing, for all that you have created and made me to be. I am grateful for every part, the known and the unknown.
And I thank you God that you are bringing about the divine partners in good and perfect ways into my life. I thank you, God, for definite leads so that I would know my next best step. I thank you got that no beginning is too small because you rejoice in my small beginnings. And I thank you got above all for trust, for confidence, for strength, for wisdom, for faith, for work, for hope, for work, for peace. I thank you that every single thing that I’ve ever needed to be successful and righteous and Godly I already have within me, that I already embody it. And I thank you God, that you will help me become “more of you and less of me”. Thank you for my family. Thank you for all of who they are so that I can be all of who I am. Thank you God that I am not what anyone says I am, but I am all that you say I am. And who you say I am is the only thing that matters. Thank you God for each and every one of my small beginnings so that I may have beautiful middles and even more glorious, victorious endings. And so it is. Amen.
PS- I want to hear from you! What resonated with you most? What did you learn? What called out to you?
And did you miss part one of the series? Don’t worry, I got you! Read it here.