James 2:14-20 (The Message) Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department." Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
Silencing is described as: making quiet, shutting up, hushing, putting an end to, gagging, stifling, making speechless. There is a song that speaks of government silencing the Word of God. My question is why, since we are living in a country which has laws protecting freedom of religion and freedom of speech, are we allowing our voices to be silenced? I do not encourage you to break laws but rather use your protected speech freedom and stand up for what Godly principles. I do not want to pay for abortions. I do not want our children to be taught that sex outside of marriage is okay. I do not want to fund things that go against the Word of God. I do not force my beliefs on others and they should not be allowed to force their beliefs on me. We have become complacent in our beliefs. We believe in Jesus but so do the demons. It is time to utilize the freedoms we have, no longer complacent, and act out and vocalize our faith.
Love and God Bless,
Cindy Irwin
