[Bible Verse] "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26).
We understand that faith without works can't satisfy God's heart, and even, God says such kind of faith is the dead kind. But actually, you and me also have such experiences that we are willing and have resolution to be the ones who satisfy God, but when the reality goes against our imagination and interests, our previous resolution will disappear like how bubbles do, and we even do something against God's will. Although we regret so much and even blame ourselves, our perseverance can't last long. … In this way we keep denying the resolutions we make before God, even though we don't want to be this way, we have no control over ourselves. How will God see us when we live in such kind of state?
"Who has made resolutions before Me and not discarded them afterward? Who has made long-term resolutions before Me rather than resolved frequently on this and that? Always, men make resolutions before Me in times of ease and write them all off in times of adversity. Later they pick their resolve back up and set it before Me. Am I so disrespectable that I would casually accept the junk that man has picked up from the garbage heap? Few humans hold fast to their resolutions, few are chaste, and few offer their most precious as their sacrifice to Me. Are all of you not this same way?"
"Whether you are in possession of reality or not is not based on what you say, rather, it is based on what you live out. When God’s words become your life and your natural expression, only this counts as reality, and only this counts as you possessing understanding and real stature. You must be able to withstand examination for a long period of time, and you must be able to live out the likeness that is required of you by God; it must not be mere posturing, but it must flow naturally out of you. Only then will you truly have reality, and only then will you have gained life."
