Faith with Action

The Bible says that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached to people of all nations living in this world (Mt 24:14). It also clearly testifies that the voice of the gospel will go out into all the earth and God’s words to the ends of the world (Ro 10:18).

Hearing the words of the prophecy, our brothers and sisters have woken up, and they are preaching the gospel of God boldly to people of all nations around the world. This fragrance of Zion is now being emitted from all over the world. However, there still seem to be some who hesitate to participate in preaching the gospel.

Action is necessary for the gospel to be preached to all seven billion people today, according to Bible prophecy. The gospel work can be accomplished when we all participate in it with an undivided heart. Let’s see through the Bible how important it is to take action.

A miraculous work accomplished through action

The Bible has many records about the ancestors who achieved great things by putting God’s word into action. One of them is Joshua, who believed God’s word and put it into practice, so he could witness a miracle.

Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.” Jos 6:1–5

At the end of the forty-year desert journey, just before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey, they encountered Jericho, a seemingly impregnable city. Then God told Joshua a secret plan to destroy the city of Jericho. God’s strategic plan was to have the people march around the city once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh day and shout all at once when the priests sounded the trumpet blast.

Joshua and all the Israelites obeyed God’s word, and they witnessed the prophecy of God being fulfilled before their very eyes.

On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! . . .” When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed . . . Jos 6:15–20

On the seventh day, the Israelites marched around the city of Jericho seven times and they all shouted out together at the sound of the trumpet blast by the priests and the shout of Joshua. Then the walls of Jericho, which had seemed impregnable, collapsed in an instant.

Would the city of Jericho have fallen down if there had been no one who marched around the city and shouted, although God had told them to do so? Certainly not! Everything God has said can be accomplished only when we put it into action. The Bible teaches us this definite fact through many historical events.

The reason God told us to take action

Xunzi, a Chinese philosopher who lived during the Warring States Period, said, “Seeing is better than listening, knowing is better than seeing, and doing is better than knowing. Practice is the final stage of learning.” This means that putting something into practice is more important than just listening to and seeing it.

In fact, it turns out that seeing is better than hearing when it comes to memory and three-dimensional information acquired through experience remains longer in memory than the information received from a stimulus. As the proverb says, “I hear, and I forget; I see, and I remember; I do, and I understand,” we come to understand with our hearts what we have personally done, beyond just remembering it. That is why we need to put our faith into action.

Then the word of the LORD came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’ ” She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah. 1 Ki 17:8–16

In obedience to God’s word, Elijah went to Zarephath and stayed at a widow’s house during a severe drought in the land of Israel. There was a three-year-long drought in Israel just as God had prophesied, and so many people suffered from hunger. The widow at Zarephath was also running out of food; she had only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug, and she was about to make a meal for herself and her son so that they would eat it and die.

Right then, Elijah told the widow of Zarephath to make some bread for him and bring it to him first. Even in this desperate situation, however, the widow of Zarephath obeyed God’s will and did as God had told her. As a result, she experienced a miracle; the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry until the drought was over.

It must not have been easy for her to serve Elijah her very last morsel of food in that life-threatening situation. However, the widow of Zarephath trusted God’s word that the prophet delivered to her and put it into practice, so she could understand it was all God’s work to bless her.

It was the same when God commanded Gideon to reduce his army from 32,000 to 300. His army of 32,000 men was already too small to fight against the huge Midianite army of 135,000 men, but God told Gideon to further reduce the number of his soldiers. It seemed unreasonable from a human point of view. However, just as God had planned, the battle ended in a great victory for Israel (Jdg 7:2–23). So, when we do as God tells us, we can get good results and fully understand the meaning of God’s word given to us.

The kingdom of heaven is for those who put God’s word into practice

We cannot fully understand God’s word without putting it into action. That is why God always emphasizes that we should have faith and corresponding action as well.

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. Jas 2:14–17

The Bible tells us that faith without action cannot save us and it is dead by itself. Those whose faith is dead cannot experience God’s power at all.

If we just listen to God’s word with our ears and just look at it with our eyes, how much can we understand and how long can we remember it? We cannot understand God’s will unless we pray, study God’s word hard and preach the gospel, although we know we must do it all. Faith without action is dead, which can never lead us to heaven.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Mt 7:21

Only those who do the will of God can enter the kingdom of heaven. Although there are numerous pearls of wisdom in the Bible, they are nothing but a list of combinations of words that just fill the spaces on each page, unless we put them into action. If we have heard and read God’s word, let us put it into practice without fail. Only when we do the will of God can we enter the kingdom of heaven which we have been longing for so eagerly.

Now, let’s see through the Bible what command of God we should put into practice today.

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Mk 16:15

In this age, God has called us earlier than others and has commanded us to preach the gospel to all people. There are approximately seven billion people all around the world. Preaching the gospel to seven billion people is a special mission which God has entrusted to His people who will be saved in this age.

Let us put this command of God into action right away. Unless we put God’s word into practice, we cannot understand it, and if we fail to understand God’s word, it will soon disappear from our memory. Those who do not practice what God says cannot live according to God’s word. While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they heard God’s word numerous times, but they soon forgot it and did evil again. It was also because they did not put God’s word into practice although they heard it.

If you put something into action, you will never forget it. In order to always remember God’s command to preach the gospel of the kingdom to all seven billion people, we need to put it into action. Only then can we understand it with our hearts and personally experience the fulfillment of prophecy.

Accomplish the work of salvation through action

In this age, too, God tells us to have faith with action.

In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Mic 4:1–2

The Bible tells us God will come to teach us the truth in the last days, so that we may walk in His paths. We are now living in the age of prophecy. What should we do to correctly understand the way of truth which God has proclaimed in Zion in this age? We should put God’s word into practice.

The law of God, which is to go out from Zion in this age, is the truth we can understand only when we put it into practice. When God teaches the way of truth, the person who can understand it better than anyone else is the one who continues to put it into action (Jas 1:25). Those who just listen to and read God’s word cannot understand it with their hearts although they know it.

Knowing something is important, but it is more important to put it into practice. Only those who put into action what they know, even though it is not much, can enter the kingdom of heaven.

God could have destroyed the city of Jericho right away. Why, then, did He command the Israelites to march around the city for seven days? It was because He wanted them to fully believe His word and put it into practice. So, when all the ancestors of faith put into action what God had told them, He let them experience the joy and glory of victory.

When the Israelites believed what God had said and put it into practice, God gave them the great blessing of conquering Jericho. When the widow of Zarephath did as God had commanded, He let her flour and oil not run out despite the long drought. Reminding ourselves of those historical events, we come to realize again how important it is to put our faith into action.

In God’s eyes, the earth is very tiny; it is like a drop in a bucket and dust on the scales. Without any human help, God the Almighty can complete the work of salvation instantaneously. However, He has entrusted us with the mission of preaching to seven billion people. It is because He wants to see if we have faith and put it into action, isn’t it?

If we have faith accompanied by action, God will certainly allow us to see amazing results that we could not have imagined. Whatever we’ve learned today, let us put it into practice right away, instead of putting it off till tomorrow or the day after. I earnestly ask all of you, people of Zion, to have this kind of faith accompanied by action and display the glory of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother to the whole world.