Faith requires action | Northstar Church

“No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God” – Romans 4:20 (AMP).

It can be said in many different ways, but the mission of the church is to challenge and inspire believers to activate their foundation of biblical faith into bold, outward expressions of their inward transformation.

Faith is often thought of as a thing we have—a belief in something or someone. But in scripture, faith is more than a passive possession—it’s a firm confidence that results in action. In the Bible, actions follow faith. Noah took that first step when he started building an ark to survive the flood–and they’d never even seen rain. Can you imagine how crazy that must have seemed to everyone? David was just a young lad when he faced Goliath. But he took that first step of faith and walked out to face him. Abraham took that first step of faith when God told him to travel to find his inheritance–and he didn’t even know where he was going. God gave orders to Joshua to march around the city of Jericho for seven days. Imagine how ridiculous that must have looked while they marched for seven days before the walls fell. It was a step of faith for the children of Israel to walk into the Red Sea–but God provided dry ground for them to walk on. Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego had to take a step of faith to walk into that fiery furnace. I can only imagine how overwhelmed a young orphan girl felt when God told her to stand before the king and beg for the lives of her people, but the Jewish people were saved because Esther took those steps of faith.

Like a muscle, faith grows the more we put it into action. We will all have those moments in our lives when we are asked to step out in faith. And we all have concerns about that first step because getting out of our comfort zone can produce stress and worry. Our initial inclination is to question whether we are ready to put ourselves out there. On the other hand, you are excited about what God wants to do through you and you can’t wait to see what that is, but…you don’t have it all worked, figured, or factored out.

That is where faith comes in. God responds to our actions, not our concerns. So step out even if you have that unsettling combination of wanting to step out in faith but not feeling completely prepared. God didn’t ask you to get ready to go; He just asked you to go. You can get ready along the way.

Hebrews 11.6 famously says, ”And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” At Northstar, we believe that God is who He said He is and as a result, we trust Him to do everything that He has promised. He is worthy of our faith in those “crisis of belief” moments.

Discussion Questions:

What are the barriers to putting our faith into action?
What can we do this week to overcome those barriers?