Faith is Not Enough

It's written by James that Faith without Works is dead (James 2:17).

But to truly grasp what Faith will do for us we have to understand what drives Faith, and in turn what Faith drives.

God inspires, teaches and warns us with dreams. We too often dismiss our dreams as fantasy in sleep or a daydream, but a true Dream inspired by God brings Hope into our lives. The problem is that we are conditioned by this world to ignore dreams as irrelevant. We have lost our ability to distinguish between the dreams God inspires and the nonsense "dreams" from our sleeping hours. Joseph's dreams gave him Hope, Pharoah's dreams were a warning from God. Nebuchadnezzar's dreams were interpreted by Daniel. Joel prophesied "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions." (Joel 2:28 NKJV)

Dreams from God give Hope. Hope is a powerful force that God gives us. In1 Corinthians 13 Paul tells us it is one of 3 things that last forever. Hope drives us forward towards our God-inspired dreams. Hope fuels us towards the path God sets before us that He reveals to us by dreams. Without Hope we cannot move towards the Visions God gives us.

Faith manifests the Hope God places in us. Don't misunderstand this, Faith is itself a gift from God, but it is, as Hebrews 11:1 states, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of what has not yet been seen with our physical eyes.

I could list all the standard Bible examples of faith here, Abraham, Isaac, Daniel, and so on. But I'd rather use something personal, just for the sake of a routine Testimony of God working today, just as He did over 3000 years ago.

Three years ago my wife went into hospital for major but routine surgery. There should have been no problems, however she developed a series of infections and complications following the procedure which ultimately led to us being forced to close our business - a medical practice - and for me to become the sole income in the home. During the time she was sickest I began to dream that she would recover. That quickly became Hope that she would, which developed into Faith, which is manifesting on a daily basis as she continues to regain strength.

Now again, don't misunderstand. Faith requires perseverance to see a manifestation sometimes. My wife is still not 100% recovered, but as she has recovered we've been given a new dream together - a new business in a new area. Now new dreams are tricky. We have to learn to find God's dream for us. In the process of setting up there were other offers that looked like answers but on closer examination and prayer proved to be fools-gold. After much prayer and support from the fellowship of believers around us we found the right door and after that everything has fallen into place perfectly, but we still need to persevere and hold fast to the Hope set ahead of us and to the Faith placed in us.


But Faith alone is not enough. Our actions demonstrate our Faith. We prove our Faith by moving through the obstacles the enemy puts before us. 

And one more thing, As we are faithful to each vision God gives us, He will give us more to work with. We grow incrementally, but it doesn't have to be microscopic increments!