I’m sitting here, listening to Jill Scott’s “Hear My Call” and it is a fantastic song.  Here are the lyrics below:

[Verse 1]
Here I am again asking questions,
Waiting to be moved.
I am so unsure of my perception,
What I thought I knew I don’t seem to
Where is the turn so I can get back to what I believe in?
Back to the old me and

[Chorus]
God, please hear my call.
I am afraid for me.
Love has burned me raw
I need your healing
Please, please, please.

[Verse 2]
I am such a fool
How did I get here?
Played by all the rules
Then they changed
I am but a child to your vision
Standing in the cold and the rain
Lost here in the dark
I can’t see my foot to take a step,
What is happening?
Oh, this hurts so bad. I can hardly breathe.
I just want to leave so…

This song is very beautiful, putting into the words the things that I find so difficult to put into words myself.  I find myself being a good “rule follower”, but maybe I learned the wrong rules.  As a matter of fact, I know that I have learned the wrong rules.  I have learned the world’s rules.  Some rules are not harmful, but some of the world’s rules weren’t meant for believers.  The world tells you to make your dreams come true; that “you” can make it happen.  That’s only partially true.

God admonishes us to remember that faith without works is dead (James 2:20).  So, we are supposed to have dreams (because He is the author of our dreams), but they will only materialize if we trust God and put our faith into action by taking steps towards those dreams.  In other words, “Get up, get out and do something!”  You may have dreams of being a best-selling author but until you start writing, you will only do just that: dream.  I have noticed that within my own life, I was dreaming, thinking that if I only believe in God, everything would materialize out of thin air (until I read James 2:20).  I understood that I was still asleep, while I was satisfied with just dreaming.  Life was passing me by.  While I don’t have it all together yet, I am applying this faith principle to my life: daily.

James 2:26 goes on to say, “As the body with out the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”  That is a powerful indicator as to how important faith is, in tandem with works.  Not justification through works, but by faith, as a positional tool to “activate” the works, if you will.  Believe in the Lord first, then act.  How can God trust us if we haven’t shown him that we are putting ourselves in position for the mighty move he will do on our behalf?