Faith Is Acting on What You Believe

The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. (John 5:7-9)

Thirty-eight years - that's how long this man had been lying beside that pool. When Jesus finally came to him, He didn't tell him to wait his turn. He told him to get up, take his mat, and walk.

Look closely at what that required. Jesus called for movement before anything in the man's body had changed. He had to stand as though he were already well, even before his legs gave him any reason to believe he was.

This is where many believers get stuck. They hear what Scripture says about healing. They take it in. They even believe it and mean it. And still nothing moves because the one piece left undone is the one that actually matters. Faith that only lives in the mind never gets up off the ground. It has to show in the body, in what you do, what you say, and the step you take in faith, even while your circumstances are still lagging behind.

2 Peter 1:13 says: “Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance.” Peter wrote to stir believers up through remembrance, calling to mind truths they already knew but weren't living out. That's usually where the gap is. It isn't that we're short on information. We just aren't doing anything with what we already have.

Practical Application

Identify one thing you can do today as a step of faith. Maybe it’s small, or maybe it’s large. The point is that stepping out will demonstrate you believe what God has promised you. Do not wait for stronger proof before you move. Take that action today.

James 2:26; Luke 6:47