Faith that Becomes Action

More secrets of Heaven's invisible currency

Faith is the invisible access point to the most tangible place in the Universe: the throne room of God. If we choose to believe, and I don’t mean belief in wishful wanderings, human hopes or devilish divinations. I mean if we choose to believe in the Maker of Heaven and Earth. The Bible tells us that kind of faith, a true certainty that God exists, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. If we believe in that God, Yahweh, the Original and only true God. If we believe in Him, we will gain access to an eternal life that comes with fellowship and glory unthinkable.

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

In other words, the invitation into eternal life starts right here, right now. On Earth, not in Heaven. It is present tense, not future. It is everlasting living today, not wishful thinking about tomorrow. And that is fantastic news, good news actually. That is the Gospel, Jesus enters our lives now and changes us forever.

Do you know the invisible God? If you’ve wrestled and torn yourself apart wondering this, here is the good news: you are on the path.

A soul doesn’t crave the certain knowledge and answer to this question, “Do I have eternal life?” Unless you are on the path to Salvation. Maybe like I did as a kid grappling with eternal questions, you prayed the sinner’s prayer over and over just to make sure. Maybe you groaned inwardly time and again as you wrestled through long lost hours of sleep. Or maybe you just came to a saving faith with quiet confidence. If so, you’re the few and the elect who had such a gift of Faith from on high that you just knew that you knew the first time that you knew.

Faith is knowing. If you have the gift there will come a certainty along with it, even if you wrestle. It’s invisible currency that brings tangible certainty. And it’s designed to leave us with a daily challenge to cast off doubt and choose to believe. Because every single day we must take up our cross and follow Christ.

Like all spiritual gifts, faith comes by hearing and then believing. And it grows with practice and repetition. You won’t master driving a car on your first drive to the grocery store (you know exactly what I mean if you learned to drive a manual first, one of those old ones with a sticky clutch), but if you take it across the country, your confidence will grow mile by mile.

If you operate in one of the many spiritual gifts, you’ll know that you can improve in your giftedness by stepping out and that maturity comes from long years of committed trust and faith in God, with a love and desire to serve others selflessly.

There are more than one spiritual gift listed in Scripture, let’s take a short list from 1 Corinthians 12, and these are just 5 of many:

Apostles: Founding, establishing roles. You don’t become this overnight. Scratch that, if you become a ‘sent one’ by the Lord, you can become this overnight. But that being said, it’s usually after a half lifetime of brooding, or once sent, you learn and grow and mature in the loving grace of God as you continue to take apostolic steps of faith, under the guidance and oversight of other apostles. This could be represented through planting churches, commissioning others in faith or leadership, and more. But you can’t become a true apostle overnight. That’s why Paul the apostle spent 3 years in the deserts of Arabia and libraries of Damascus before he went out, even though he was already commissioned as an apostle three long years earlier.

Prophets: Sharing God’s message. The work of encouraging and building others up with an enriched spiritual sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s voice does not come in one move, and stay for the rest of your life. It takes stewarding, ministering to Christ in worship, and a whole body of others to be accountable to for this gift to operate. Don’t even get me started about ‘prophets’ operating on solo missions. If you’re flying solo as a prophet, you already failed. Find a body of true believers and become nothing but a servant among them, so that you might possibly use your gift at a future date in a healthy way. Let’s be honest, if you’ve been involved in a local church or part of the Church for long enough, you’ve seen this invisible gift abused more than any other. Maturity in this gift is a hard fought testament to a heart sold out to Jesus first, and serving others always before self, again, in a framework of submission to others, for your own benefit and the benefit of the Body.

Teachers: Instructing the church. Every speaker and teacher that grew in a strong gift of meaningful instruction, became a teacher by being taught by the Lord, and giving wholehearted and dedicated time alone to God. You just don’t have anything meaningful to bring, and certainly not with authority, unless you invest in knowing and serving and worshiping The Teacher, Christ. And teachers will also be judged more harshly, Scripture says, so enter the arena cautiously and with fear and trembling if this is your gift.

Helping/Helps: Assisting others, often accompanied by other gifts like the gift of healing or working of miracles. The gift of helps dries up if you don’t step out and, you guessed it, HELP! In serving and loving others practically, whether to a spouse, children, extended family, friends, your local church community or perfect strangers, you must continue in serving and loving in order to serve and love effectively. To borrow a better generation’s Disney film lyric, I believe it was Lumiere who said in Beauty and the Beast (animated version, mid 90’s) “Isn’t it unnerving to see a servant who isn’t serving…” That darn clock Cogsworth was more worried about keeping time and appearances than serving and loving those around him.

Administration/Guidance: Organizing and leading. If you find a good administrator, don’t let them get far! Having leadership that structures and guides is a gift from God! Some are talented in this domain, they’re probably running a company (behind the scenes, not taking the credit). Those in charge know well, this person is worth double their salary, or if unpaid, they should be gifted an all-inclusive twice a year to Tahiti. To organize and lead for Christ, is a true blessing, a team member needed on every team. Hard-earned work that likely comes with late nights and early mornings, and a high degree of mental focus. But to do it with the fruit of the Spirit, will take a truly set apart person indeed, one that pulls the Joshua, and tarries after the worship ends, longing for one more minute in the presence of the Lord.

I think we can see the pattern if we are looking. Faith without works is dead. We can live out our invisible belief by activating ourselves in the areas we see gifting or have energy. And therefore, the proof that makes faith real, even though it is invisible, is the action done by brothers and sisters of Christ who put their belief into action.

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James 2:26

A body without the spirit doesn’t draw breath. Even so, faith without works to accompany it, is breathless, lifeless, dead.

So if you feel like you don’t have faith, check your actions. Are you loving others well, serving them, doing the hard quiet work of service without complaining or building resentment? Are you operating in any forms of compassion or outreach? Are you seeing the suffering in others around you, or just trapped in a useless cycle of seeing your own suffering?

The answer to meaningful faith can be found in the revelation Jesus gave to the woman at the well.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14

You can sit at the well all day, and even pull water up again and again for a drink. But if you don’t pick up that bucket and deliver something fresh to your village or town, you are going to become what all wells do: bitter and depressed and good for nothing. It’s a fine line, reaching out and taking a drink. We aren’t supposed to horde it, lord it over others, or become proud. We are supposed to be overcome with gratitude for the clear gift of God, and then take that precious water to our city or community or co-workers or children, by faith.

You see, that kind of action becomes literal evidence for all eternity. A living faith that brings others to faith because the faith is so alive it can’t sit still, it won’t lay silent, it will reach out to flow into others so that faith can do what it was designed to do in us and through us: multiply, overflow, renew, transform, heal, deliver, wash, satisfy, cleanse, forgive, save.

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” John 7:38

If you drink from the fountain of faith that is Christ, you will see another miracle at work in your life day by day. That single cup that you held by faith, will flow without ceasing, become a spring of water that will serve and fill and heal others, too. This is the miracle of invisible faith. It starts with a drop and grows into a waterfall.

Keep Breathing,
Daniel Kooman