If a man says he loves you and there is no evidence, question that love. Actions confirm what we say. For example, God showed His love for us by sending Jesus. Our loving words must be backed by loving actions. And be sure to speak the truth with love too.

Works do not save us. But our salvation will cause us to do good in Jesus’ Name.

• Ephesians 2:8-9 New King James Version – For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

One of the best works we can do for God is preach the Gospel. Everyone needs salvation through Jesus.

• Mark 16:15-20 New King James Version –¹⁵ And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶ He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; ¹⁸ they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” ¹⁹ So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰ And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

The Lord will work with us, but not for us. We have a role to play. We must do our part. Our faith will grow as we go (to do God’s will). Being tired or uncomfortable is not an excuse to not do God’s will. Employers do not hire people to come in and look nice. No–they have a job for you to do. God has a job for us to do too. He wants us to share the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ with all people.

• Proverbs 11:30 New King James Version – The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.

Be BOLD snatching souls.

God wants to lead and guide us. We are commanded to walk by faith and not by sight. This requires trust. The more we trust God and HIS ABILITY the less we will be afraid. God doesn’t want us to fear NO EVIL.

• Psalm 23:4 New King James Version – Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Consider David. He was a man of after God’s own heart who didn’t let fear stop him from serving God fully. David was willing to face an actual giant named Goliath who was over nine feet tall. He defeated Goliath even though he was younger, smaller, and had no experience as a soldier. But what David did have was giant faith. David’s faith in God slayed the giant.

The other soldiers of Israel paid attention to Goliath’s intimidating taunts. He taunted and mocked the armies of Israel and the God of Israel for forty days. By the time this giant got finished talking, all the men of war were afraid. They warriors of Israel paid attention to Goliath’s size instead of the size of the true and living God. David focused on God and was willing to confront the giant everyone else was afraid of.

• 1 Samuel 17:4 8-51 New King James Version – ⁴⁸ So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. ⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. ⁵¹ Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it.

We must be willing to confront FEAR. Being afraid is not a sin, but letting fear hinder us from obeying God is. We can pray for courage to overcome fear and the Holy Spirit will help us. In whatever we must face, we can face it IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. Sometimes God will have us face the very thing we fear. Facing our fears knowing God is with us makes all the difference.

Some people in the world are faced with the threat of being killed because of their faith in Jesus. Many of these men and women of God face this fear head on and refuse to deny Jesus. They give up their lives and becomes martyrs rather than reject Christ. God promises those who confront this fear and overcome will be rewarded.

“Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

Revelation 2:10

Never clock out on God. Let everything go but God. When we become Christians, He expects us to work in His kingdom. This is a responsibility we never put down. We can’t go part-time on job or worse yet–walk off our position in the Lord.

• Matthew 5:16 New King James Version – In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

The first good work God wants us to do is–CHANGE our wicked ways. When we come to Christ we must repent (turn from our sins) and follow Jesus’ way of doing things. Asking for forgiveness of our sins is the first step. The next step is to STOP doing the sinful behavior. This is a process, but we should be taking steps and putting forth a strong effort to resist sin.

• Matthew 3:8 & 10 New King James Version – Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Jesus will keep and help every person who wants to obey Him. The question is–do we want to obey? When we struggle with a desire to obey God, that is the time to pray for the strength to obey and turn from sin.

• Luke 9:62 New King James Version – But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Jesus has the winning team. Why would we want to go back and serve the devil? The enemy is on the losing team.

• Colossians 2:13-15 New Living Translation – ¹³ You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. ¹⁴ He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by HIS VICTORY OVER THEM ON THE CROSS.

After we repent and bring proof that we have repented, we have to continue in Christ. We cannot go back into darkness. Even a butterfly who has been transformed from a caterpillar from crawling on the ground to a creature who can fly, NEVER goes back to a creepy crawly.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;

Philippians 2:12 New King James Version