Help God, help you!

God will help those that help themselves. Why? Because God wants you to be a part of the miracle process. There are many examples in the scriptures of how God instructed people that needed help to do the possible before he did the impossible in their lives. The prophet Elisha instructed Naaman to “Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee” – 2 Kings 5:10, Jesus told the blind man to “Go wash in the pool of Siloam,” so he went and washed and came back seeing – John 9:7, Jesus told the ten lepers to “Go show yourselves unto the priests” and “as they went, they were cleansed” – Luke 17:14, and the prophet Elijah instructed the widow woman to “Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours,” – 2 Kings 4:3. In each case, God could have miraculously healed each condition or met the need without the participation or input from the individual. But God wants us to exercise faith in him by trusting His Word. Yet, faith in God is more than just believing that he is able, but acting upon that belief with actions, i.e., works and obedience (1 John 3:22). (See Sermon – Help God, Help you!)

Contrary to popular beliefs and teachings today where God is considered to be a type of genie or Santa Claus who jumps to grant a believer’s wishes upon request. God calls us to live by faith, not by chance, and to trust God, not tempt Him. When Satan tempted Jesus Christ to act recklessly out of God’s will, expecting God to rescue him, Jesus replied, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” – Matthew 4:7. We can tempt God when we put unreasonable expectations on God without taking any responsibility for our own actions. Trusting in God doesn’t give us the right to act irresponsibly and recklessly toward our health, job, or finances and then expect God to magically wipe away avoidable problems caused by our neglect. For example, keeping active and eating healthy are ways of you helping God to help you. Both activities can have a positive effect on your physical well-being and reduce the risk of many health problems. However, if you willfully ignore medical suggestions that work contrary to a current health condition in your body, you can hinder your healing of that condition. Similarly, basic budgeting and debt reductions are ways to help you become financially healthy. But irresponsible and reckless spending shows an unwillingness to do your part in improving your financial health, so why should you expect God to do his part? Faith without any works or actions on your part is dead faith, but you can Help God, Help you by doing the possible, then God can step in and do the impossible.