Faith without works is dead

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:24 HCSB)

   To quote the verse above is almost fighting words in 90% of American Christianity!! When you read the 2nd chapter of James in context it still says that works and faith are united. It really is hard to look at that chapter and not cringe to some degree, but it is in the Bible. Does this mean that if we do not go and "do" something we are not saved? Is it something we missed in Sunday School? The Word of God is clear on all things, there is no contradiction in there. So now what, do we rely on ourselves to save ourselves, or do we rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us to "do" good works?  For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (James 2:26 HCSB) Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? (James 2:20 HCSB) It just keeps looking like we need to have works in our life to be saved. Then you have this verse, that some people will quote to someone when witnessing. "For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — not from works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8, 9 HCSB) so which book is right James or Ephesians, James or Paul? Both are right!!

  James is right on with "faith without works is useless"(v2:20b), and Paul is right with "For you are saved by grace through faith"(v2:8a)!! Let me explain, you see when you are saved our Heavenly Father  created us for good works!! If you would keep reading Eph 2 all the way to the end you would see that Paul says the same thing as James! "For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10 HCSB) That is pretty cool uh! There are so many Christians that fight and tell each other they are wrong, that THEIR doctrine is right and YOURS is wrong. You see God is God and He knows what He was doing when the Bible was written. If you are saved there will be works in your life. If you say you "believe" and no works are in your life then you are no better then the demons!! Wow that was pretty harsh, well i did not say that the Word said that " But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe — and they shudder." (James 2:18, 19 HCSB)

  American Christians (I am one) biggest problems is that they pull only the verses that fit THEIR doctrines and not what the whole counsel of God says. Our works in Christ matter to Him, if they did not then He would not have prepared them for us. What is a work, keeping our salvation?  NO !! It is doing God's business by living out our faith in front of this dying world! It is showing the love of Jesus in your life where love typically does not dwell, in middle of trials and tribulation! That is the works that Paul and James is speaking of, not keeping your salvation up! Jesus did that for us on the cross and only He can keep us in Him, by grace through faith! Our faith is the key to being in Him! Our works are for Him not for us please remember that!! I pray that each one of us can live out our faith in front of our families, friends and enemies! God Bless

Will Williams

At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry (Part 2) Freedom comes slowly

2Co 4:16    Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.
2Co 4:17    For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.

Freedom- The state of not being imprisoned or enslaved
Habitual- done or doing constantly or as a habit

God can remove anything in your life at anytime, and deliver you from it. He can allow the healing to come slow as well. Healing from certain sin can be an on going process until you see Jesus in Heaven. Sexual sin is a sin that can cause deep wounds and deep scars. If someone is a homosexual, this will be something that they might battle with the rest of their life, or in some cases healed completely. When a person is addicted to pornography it can be a long process to recover. The Holy Spirit will do His job, but you must be obedient to Him. When we rebel against The Holy Spirit we are quenching(suppressing) Him.
Eph 4:30    And don't grieve God's Holy Spirit. You were sealed by Him for the day of redemption.
1Th 5:19    Don't quench the Spirit
The bible is clear on not suppressing The Holy Spirit, He is there for our protection! When God allows us to struggle to be free from a sin, we appreciate the freedom God has given us. And you know what sin you struggle with the most. When you are finally delivered from that sin it feels so good to have that burden lifted! We then start relying on The Lord more and giving everything to Him. We then have a brokenness about ourselves when we come to The Lord. Paul had something that he struggled with his whole life, and The Lord never fully delivered him from it. Paul understood why God did not deliver him, " 2Co 12:9    But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me.
God's grace is sufficient and is needed, but this is how we grow in Christ "in weakness"! If we can beat something on our own, then why do we need God? So many people go to secular help and all it does is put a bandaid on it, it just covers up the stink for a short time. It does not cut it out at the root, it just takes care of the outward appearance of the problem. If you are a drug addict, you will always be a drug addict (a recovering drug addict). When Jesus heals you, you are a new creature old things have passed away!
2Co 5:17    Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
2Co 5:18    Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
2Co 5:19    That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
2Co 5:20    Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God."
2Co 5:21    He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
How awesome is that, all credit goes to Him not a program, that is why Christian "programs" are Christ centered not man centered.
God's timing is on His time not ours, we want to be healed right then! God has bigger plans in store then our healing, He uses our failures to bring glory to Himself! When people knew you as an addict, then see you fighting and pushing through this addiction (by The Holy Spirit) they will ask how? You then say it is the Power of Jesus Christ that is healing me! Wow what a testimony that is for our Savior! Paul said "fight the good fight" 1 Tim 6:12 "Waging WAR" 1Tim 1:18
We have a part in our battle, a war can not be won by the General only, he has to have his soldiers partake in the battles. The Holy Spirit can guide us and convict us of our sins, but we must obey His commands to not do what is tempting us. For most of us freedom comes slowly, climbing a mountain is a slow process! When you reach the top it is a victory that has no words to express it! We will have set backs and failures at times, but remember when we fall, true failure is when we stay down! Get up and grab Jesus's hand and continue your walk. The longer you stay down the more you want to go back to your habitual sin. You see when you fall and get right back up you will have a hatred for your sin. You will be sensitive to The Holy Spirit when that happens. Being vocal and being accountable to someone is a necessity, the Word of God says to confess our sins to one another for a reason. Jas 5:16    Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.
So if you are struggling with a pet sin or habitual sin find someone that is grounded in the Word of God and allow them to be part of your life. Find a good bible believing church to be part of your life. I pray for anyone who is struggling with any habitual sin to be delivered today or start healing today! I pray this in Jesus's Name! God bless

At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry (PART 1)

You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it; You are not pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart. (Psalms 51:16, 17 HCSB)

Let me start by saying that every man and a lot of women battle with sexual idolatry. Sex is involved in every aspect of our lives. Sex demands our family to worship it daily. In today's world electronic devices has a hold of us (I am writing a blog on one). It can be used for good or bad, and satan knows this. He will put everything in our path to tempt us with sex. You see the idea of sex was God's idea, it was supposed to be for two things. The first was to fill the earth, "Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28 HCSB) The second was to enjoy each other as one flesh,"So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. Then the Lord God made the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man. This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame. (Genesis 2:21-25 HCSB)
No shame, this was before the fall of man, (see Gen 3) sex was beautiful and pure. Now after the fall, sex is seen as something dirty and shameful "Taboo." Man has made it this way with satan's mark all over it. The coming together as one flesh is no longer, it is now one self. We make it a selfish desire instead of a selfless desire. Man has made sex a "golden calf" and we are worshiping it at the "Altar of Sex." You can really see a beautiful marriage when a husband and wife truly come together as "One Flesh."
When a man or woman is addicted to porn it changes how they see sex. To them it is recreational
(a sport), it changes their whole attitude on what a healthy relationship is. When guys look at porn they see smoke and mirrors. It is not real, the girls are not real, the set up is not real. This way of looking at sex does serious damage to the man's view of woman. So, what does this do when he goes and tries to find him a woman? Does he look for a pure relationship or is he looking for a porn star? Sex is his main focus nothing else! Look at every night club and bar!! The girls in this generation has been molded to what is expected of them. It is not motherhood or being a good wife, it is being someones sex partner. Look at what is being sold to girls at 10 years old and older, the sexier the clothes the better. Christians please look at your view of sex, it can be so good with your wife or husband. It can also be infected by this world's view of sex.
This is Part 1 of "At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry", I will discuss the effects of being addicted to porn, and what it does to the male's mind. I am recommending a awesome book " At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry" by Steve Gallagher. If you are struggling with a sexual addiction please go to his site at Purelifeministries.org. He has tons of materials and ministries that can help you.
The Word of God is primary and we need to spend our time and efforts in His Word to know what He wants from us. We need to be broken over our sins and that is when He can start putting us back together. "You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it; You are not pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart. (Psalms 51:16, 17 HCSB)" He wants us to come to Him when we fail, His arms are open and ready to receive us back. There is no sin to big that He can not forgive, but you have to want to give it up! His forgiveness is so awesome and that grace is even more amazing. We must deny ourselves Jesus said "Mat 16:24    Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
He will forgive you as He has forgiven me of my sins. NO SIN IS TO BIG FOR JESUS TO FORGIVE!!
Part 2 is called " Freedom comes slowly"
God Bless