We read in James 2:20 that "faith without works is dead." James also says, "Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works" (verse 18). What kind of "works" does this mean? You can't go buy faith. You can't have faith by wishing for it. You can't earn faith. So how does God know if you really have faith?

Although this is a huge subject, let's focus in on one aspect of faith—patience. I often adapt what James wrote by saying, "Show me your faith without your patience, and I will show you my faith by my patience." Can one really have faith without patience? I think not.

Challenging situations prove our faith. When an outcome occurs that you do not want but cannot control, how you handle it proves your faith. All too often men have taken matters into their own hands. In things that are not normal or routine, God expects us to wait for Him. "Do not say, ‘I will recompense evil'; wait for the Lord, and He will save you" (Proverbs 20:22).

If you don't always have the faith to wait for God, don't feel too bad. You join a list of many other people who lacked patience at time—people who tried to do it their own way. Some we read of lacked patience and never repented, such as King Saul of Israel, who sacrificed animals without waiting for the rightful authority (Samuel) to do the godly sacrifice. Saul just couldn't wait and decided to do it himself.

Godly men have also failed at times in this aspect of faith. I have always found it interesting that "the father of the faithful," Abraham, lacked patience to wait on God to do it God's way. God had promised him and Sarah a son, yet they decided they had to help God. Thus was born Ishmael.

How many times do we fail to wait for God and end up producing our own Ishmaels? Hopefully the outcome of our lack of patience—and therefore lack of faith—does not affect history the way Abraham's solution did. Even so, the outcome of our lack of patience is never faith building till after we have recognized and repented of our failure.

Thankfully, our Father in heaven knows us all too well and forgives us easily when we repent. We usually have to live with the "Ishmaels" we create, but they don't have to keep us from the Kingdom. Remember that Christ is in charge of His Church—and your life if you let Him—and if you truly have patience to trust Him, you can be sure your patience will prove your faith.  UN