Living Boldly for Christ: Daily Reflections on Faith, Prayer & Spiritual Life by David Hathaway
Based on the Book of James, chapter 3, we are urged to speak good, wholesome words which uplift others.
What we sow, we will also reap. This is a quotation from the Lord Himself: that what we sow, we reap. If you sow discord, then you'll suffer the results. But if you sow peace and love and kindness, then you'll receive the reward of that.
In today’s episode, based on the Book of James, chapter 2, David challenges you to live out your faith with purpose – to not just say, "I believe in God," but to understand that your faith has to be life-transforming.
Verse 14: "What does it profit, my brethren, though a man says he has faith, and he doesn't have the responding work? Can faith save him?"
What James is pointing out is that, in God's sight, He is not looking merely at our outward appearance; He is looking at our heart. God judges us by what we do. He says that those of us who are rich in faith are heirs of a kingdom that has been promised. This is a promise – not a fantasy dream of a rich uncle in America, but a factual, evidential promise of the reward we have in the kingdom if we fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture.
Acts 20.24 says: “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; if only I can finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given to me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”
What a powerful statement. Paul considered his own life nothing compared with finishing the race and completing the task God had given him. All the suffering, all the hardship, and all his personal desires were secondary to that one purpose.
Paul was full of concern because he says, “I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.” He didn't know what awaited him. He didn't know what the consequences would be. But he knew he had to go. That is what it means to be compelled by the Holy Spirit. You may not know everything that lies ahead, but you know that God is telling you to go – and when He compels you, you obey.
This is the only occasion in Scripture where prayer is answered by a literal earthquake. I wish more of us would pray with that kind of faith and expectancy today. This was no routine prayer meeting – it was prayer that shook the earth, broke chains, and opened doors. That is the kind of praying the Church needs once again.
Looking back over my life, I can see how the Lord has ordered my steps. He has given me specific instructions and sent me to particular places. The evidence lies in what followed. My first overland journey to Jerusalem opened my eyes to the suffering of the underground Church behind the Iron Curtain. From that point onwards, at every stage of my life, I was acting under the Lord's direction. Time and again, God did exactly what He had promised.
What happened on the Day of Pentecost was not a one-time event. Again and again, throughout the later chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, we read of people receiving the Holy Spirit. Each time, there was a remarkable transformation. They were filled with a new dynamic power, and it became unmistakably clear that the Holy Spirit had changed their lives.
What happened on the Day of Pentecost can and should happen today. It was not a one-time event that ended with the first disciples; rather, it was the beginning of the Spirit-empowered life of the Church throughout this age. The evidence, demonstration, and confirmation of who Jesus is continues through the work of the Holy Spirit in His people.
In Acts 1, Jesus spoke to a group of ordinary, imperfect men – including Peter, who had denied Him only weeks before. Yet Jesus made them an extraordinary promise: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." In other words, the Holy Spirit would transform their lives and empower them to fulfil the ministry He was entrusting to them.
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