Is Your Faith Worthless?

Dear Child:

I love you with all My heart, but do you love Me. You profess the Name of Jesus and praise My Name, but is it empty? Is it hollow? Is your faith genuine? Are you truly My child?

I, the LORD, I search minds and test hearts. I will reward each person for what he has done. I will reward him for the results of his actions. (Jeremiah 17:10) Do not be deceived, I will not be mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. (Galatians 6:7) The greatest commands are these: Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and 'Love your neighbor as yourself'. (Luke 10:27) Many just profess with their mouths, but their actions make them hypocrites! Examine yourself as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourself! Do you not know yourself, that Jesus Christ is in you? -unless indeed you are disqualified. (2 Corinthians 13:5) Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. (1 Corinthians 6:9) If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. (Galatians 6:3)

I speak of testing the "sincerity" of your faith; to see if it is genuine; not saying that salvation is earned by good works. No one will be declared righteous in My sight by works of the law. (Romans 3:20) A person is justified by faith apart by works. (Romans 3:28) The people of Israel pursued the law as the way of righteousness, but did not attain their goal. Why not? Because the pursued it not by faith, but by works. (Romans 9:31-32) Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? (Galatians 3:2) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourself, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For you are My handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which I prepared in advance for you to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything "but" one, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are and what they look like. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25)

What good does it do if someone claims to have faith but doesn’t do any good things? Can this kind of faith save him? Suppose a believer, whether a man or a woman, needs clothes or food and one of you tells that person, “God be with you! Stay warm, and make sure you eat enough.” If you don’t provide for that person’s physical needs, what good does it do? In the same way, faith by itself is dead if it doesn’t cause you to do any good things.

Another person might say, “You have faith, but I do good things.” Show me your faith apart from the good things you do. I will show you my faith by the good things I do. You believe that there is one God. That’s fine! The demons also believe that, and they tremble with fear.

 

Do you have to be shown that faith which does nothing is useless? Didn’t your ancestor Abraham receive My approval as a result of what he did when he offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice on the altar? You see that Abraham’s faith and what he "did" worked together. His faith was "shown" to be genuine by what he did. Abraham believed God, and that faith was regarded by Me to be his approval of Abraham. So Abraham was called My friend. You see that a person receives My approval because of what he does, not only because of what he believes. The same is true of the prostitute Rahab who welcomed the spies and sent them away on another road. She received My approval because of what she did. A body that doesn’t breathe is dead. In the same way faith that does nothing is dead. (James 2:14-26)

I am testing you to find out if you really love Me with all your heart and soul. (Deuteronomy 13:3) For 40yrs I led the people on a journey in the desert. I did this in order to humble them and test them. To see whether or not they would wholeheartedly obey My commands. (Deuteronomy 8:2) I tested Hezekiah to find out everything that was in his heart. (2 Chronicles 32:31) I tested Job to see if he would pass purse as gold. (Job 23:10) I am testing how genuine your love is by pointing out the dedication of others. (2 Corinthians 8:8) Not everyone who says to Jesus, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does My will. Many will say Jesus on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name and in Your Name drive out demons and in Your Name perform many miracles?' Then they will be told plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!' Examine yourself!

“Listen, My child, and I will speak. Listen, to what I spoke to Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God! I am not criticizing you for your sacrifices or burnt offerings, which are always in front of Me.
But I will not accept another young bull from your household or a single male goat from your pens.
Every creature in the forest, even the cattle on a thousand hills, is Mine. I know every bird in the mountains.
Everything that moves in the fields is Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, because the world and all that it contains are Mine. Do I eat the meat of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Bring your thanks to God as a sacrifice, and keep your vows to the Most High. Call on me in times of trouble. I will rescue you, and you will honor Me.” (Psalm 50:7-15)

Do I delight in burnt offering and sacrifices as much in obeying Me? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)

But I say to you when you act wickedly, “How dare you quote my decrees and mouth my promises! You hate discipline. You toss my words behind you. When you see a thief, you want to make friends with him. You keep company with people who commit adultery. You let your mouth say anything evil. Your tongue plans deceit. You sit and talk against your own brother. You slander your own mother’s son. When you did these things, I remained silent. That made you think I was like you. I will argue my point with you and lay it all out for you to see. Consider this, you people who forget God. Otherwise, I will tear you to pieces, and there will be no one left to rescue you. Whoever offers thanks as a sacrifice honors me. I will let everyone who continues in my way see the salvation that comes from God.” (Psalm 50:16-23)

I promise that I will honor those who honor me, and those who despise me will be considered insignificant. (1Samuel 2:30)

Love God