The awakening of faith

Every living being, no matter how strong or smart they may be, is unable to take action while they are asleep. Likewise, no machine, regardless of how powerful it may be, can operate when it is turned off. When people and machines are in a state of rest, this means their functions cannot be performed at the moment, no matter how natural or simple they may be. Numbness or the lack of energy leaves them fragile, vulnerable, inoperable and useless.

This same is true when faith is dormant. It does not serve any purpose or make a difference whether it exists or not. What good is having power if it’s not used? Or have something that does not function properly? What good is having, if nothing is being done with what you have?

To encourage us to use our faith – knowing that, when we use it, we will achieve everything we want and need – God left what is needed to awaken it in His Word. He left His guidance in the form of commandments, advice, exhortations and promises; tools, such as prayer, fasts, tithes, offerings and vows; and examples, the acts of the heroes of faith and their results. This can cause our faith to be shaken, because it urges and encourages us to do something about what was proposed and taught.

Faith must be awakened so that you can do what you were designed to do, just as living beings need to be awake to use their full potential, and machines must be turned on to operate. It is not with words or with being aware of what needs to be done that we put faith to work, but with action. If you do not take action, your faith remains dormant, and is useless, because it won’t bring you any results. The main characteristic of being dormant is passiveness, and the main sign that something is awake is action.

Perhaps you have been complaining to God about not giving you this or that, when all along, He has given you all the conditions to achieve what you want – and these conditions are in your faith. The problem is not what God has not given you, it’s what you have stopped doing with what He has already given you. What have you done with your faith? Faith is a gift from God to each one of us, but we choose whether we will make good use of this gift or if we’re going to let it sit gathering dust.

As long as your faith is dormant, your victory will be in a deep sleep. But the awakening of faith is the awakening of the life you want to live.
Bishop Macedo