Introduction
Weymouth gives us a striking expression in James 2:14 “What good is it my brethren, if a man professes to have faith, and yet his actions do not correspond?” 18th verse, “You notice that his faith was cooperating with his actions, and that by his actions his faith was perfected.” One of the gravest mistakes that many believers make is to confess their faith in the Word, and at the same time contradict their confession by wrong actions.
A woman said to me, “I cannot understand why I did not get my healing. I have prayed and prayed. I know the Bible is true.” I asked her, “Are you still taking medicine?”
“Oh, yes,” she said. Then I read her this scripture that I have just quoted. Her actions did not correspond with her confession. She said she was trusting the Lord and yet her trust was in medicine and not in His Word.
We say we trust the Father for our finances, and at the same time we are worrying and fretting how we are going to pay our bills. One minute we confess that no Word from God can ever be forfeited, that He must keep His Word with us, and that we know that He will, and the next moment we are repudiating all that we have confessed. James tells us there must be corresponding action. “Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only deluding your own selves.” The actions of a “doer of the Word” coincide with his confession.
Jesus said, Matt. 7:24-27 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
So many who profess Christ and who declare they believe the Word from Genesis to Revelation, and they say it with a great deal of unction are not doers of the Word. They are talkers about the Word.
They have mentally assented to the fact that the Word is true. It does them no good. They are not making it their own. When I trust in the Word with all my heart, and stop leaning upon Sense reason, stop looking to people for deliverance, then there are corresponding actions. My actions are in perfect fellowship with my confession It has taken some of us a long time to have corresponding action with our confession.
Until there is corresponding action, there will be continual failing. I may confess as loudly as I please that God is the strength of my life and at the same time talk about my weakness, my inability, and my lack of faith. There is no corresponding action here. I am resorting to human means rather than trusting in the Lord utterly. That is bound to bring confusion in my spirit and weakness and failure in my life. Let us turn resolutely to 1 Peter 5:7 “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” Regardless of circumstances, regardless of influences about us, let us turn every problem into His care.
Your worst enemy is yourself. You have come through Sense Knowledge that would limit you to your own ability. The language of the Senses is: “I can’t, I haven’t the ability, I haven’t the strength, I don’t have the opportunity, I have no education, I have been limited.”
The language of faith says, “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.” Who is it that strengthens me? It is my Father God. I can do all things through Him. I cannot be conquered. I cannot be defeated. There isn’t force enough in all the world to conquer Him who dwells in me.
Not only am I born of God, a partaker of God’s nature and life, but I have God dwelling in me, and I have the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwelling in me.
I have God’s wisdom, God’s strength, God’s ability. I am learning how to let Him govern my intellect, letting Him think through me, use my vocal faculties. I am daring to think His thoughts after Him. I am daring to believe that it is God who is at work within me and that He will work His own good pleasure. I am daring to say in the presence of my old enemies: failure, weakness, want, lack of opportunity, lack of knowledge, lack of strong friends, and a thousand others, “God is my ability.” God has made me greater than my enemies.
God has made me put my heel on the neck of weakness, of fear, of inability, and I stand and declare that whosoever believes in Him shall not be put to shame. I cannot be put to shame. The strength of God is mine. The ability of God has taken me captive, and I revel in this captivity.
That is Faith speaking, real corresponding action.
Believing from the heart
What does it mean to “believe with the heart”? It means to believe with the spirit. We cannot believe with our intellect. That goes without argument. Faith is a product of the spirit. This inward conviction, this thing called assurance, is a child of our spirits. We don’t know why we know; we cannot explain it, and yet we do know. The other day I was unfolding the Word to a woman who had a very painful sickness. As I opened the Scripture step by step she said, “I see it, by his stripes I am healed.” I said, “How do you know you are healed?” She said, “Because the Word declares that I am.”
Sense Knowledge said, “The sore is still in your body, and you can feel the pain even now.”
Yet she arose above Sense Knowledge and Sense Evidence and declared that she was healed. As I prayed for her, her faith absolutely drove out the disease. The thing that meant death to her was gone. Why? Because in her heart she believed the Word of God; in her spirit she believed it. How does our spirit get faith that our intellect cannot obtain—through the Word. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Matt. 4:4. He is speaking of spiritual food. He is using Sense Knowledge terms to convey a spiritual truth. Our spirits become filled with assurance as we meditate in the Word.
For many years I have walked by faith for our finances, for all my physical needs. Now I have grown to see that the Word is the food that builds the spirit, makes it strong, and gives to it its quiet assurance.
When we crown Jesus as Lord of our lives, we crown His Word as Lord of our lives. This gives the Word its proper place. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. His Word is in our hearts. We give to that Word its place, and when we do faith becomes perfectly natural. Prov. 3:5-7 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding (or to Sense Knowledge). In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes…”
Be not wise with Sense Knowledge which leads us to repudiate the Word or to act independently of it. 2 Cor. 10:5 “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” This is very important if we want to walk by faith. The Word must be superior to Sense Knowledge, whether that Sense Knowledge be ours or someone else’s. We want to remember that Sense Knowledge is always limited.
No man has perfect Sense Knowledge. The Word of God is perfect. This Revelation is His perfect Revelation, and it meets every crisis and every need of our lives.
If we trust this Word with all our hearts, then there comes a quietness and rest into our spirits. Believing is knowing. We know that the Word of God is true.
When He says, “And my God shall supply every need of yours,” we simply know in our spirits that every need will be supplied and we don’t worry; we have no anxiety.
Our hearts take courage as we read the Word. Our assurance becomes deeper.
This is assurance which is independent of Sense evidence. It may contradict Sense evidence as it often does, but we know that spiritual things are as real as material things.
We know that spiritual things are superior to physical things, for God, a spirit, created physical things. We know that spiritual forces are stronger than physical forces. We know that “Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.” We know that the Greater One is master of disease and weakness. We trust in Him with all our hearts; He rises up in us and gives our minds illumination which they can get from no other source.
We know we cannot be conquered.
We know because we believe.
