Faith

We just came back from a ‘STM’ this weekend. A ‘STM’ is a short-term mission trip. This one is near Morgantown, WV. It's a great place to work for the Lord outside of our normal Christian area of influence.

I am so grateful that we have this place to minister at.  We can go out for a day and do work for the Lord and still be home in time to work around their house.  We have seen our teens attend every single trip that we have gone on and most of them have contributed on a very productive level. 

  For most Christians it is sometimes difficult to find a place to exercise our ‘faith works’.  We have our church but nothing else.  We find ourselves comfortable inside the four walls and that's our entire sphere of influence.  Short-term missions helps all of us get outside these walls and into the streets where the power of God works in ways unseen in the sanctuary.

 God understood the comfy-coziness of our faith inside the church.  He knew that we would find it easier to exercise our faith inside our comfort zone than to have to believe and trust outside our walls. Listen to what He says in James 2:14-18:

14 Dear brothers and sisters, what's the use of saying you have faith if you don't prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can't save anyone. 15     Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, 16 and you say, "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well"-- but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? 17 So you see, it isn't enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn't show itself by good deeds is no faith at all-- it is dead and useless. 18 Now someone may argue, "Some people have faith; others have good deeds." I say, "I can't see your faith if you don't have good deeds, but I will show you my faith through my good deeds."  (NLT)

I want to thank the Lord for all of you in the body of Christ, and to those at "The SUB"  that work in our Homeless Ministry and those of you who help in the Storehouse of God operations and  those ministering in the Crisis Response Support Team, those involved with the Fire Department…or those who visit those in the Hospital or Nursing Homes..Let all of us at the ‘SUB’ be a people that shows their love through faith by our deeds.  God Bless.