Effective faith has several composite parts; it does not stop with mere affirmative statements. Productive faith will mostly require that we do more than making confessions and get into some practical steps. This is proved from a story in Mark 2. A paralytic man was brought to Jesus after his friends had removed the roof of the house. Jesus first offered forgiveness for his sins; and then healed him. Of course, all these followed because “Jesus saw their faith”. The man would never have been healed if all he did was to remain in bed and chant some words aimlessly.

We are reminded of the words of James here. James believed that what we say is an expression of faith. Beyond this, an even greater proof of faith is what we do. In his consideration what we do is what gives effect to what we say. He argues that just as the body without the spirit is dead, so is faith unless accompanied by works. Faith is not opposed to efforts. In many cases, it is actually the efforts that back-up the faith we profess. For every faith confession there is a corresponding faith act that must be put in place. God’s word enjoins us to stand (watching, I believe) after we have done all things. Until we combine speaking with positive, necessary actions we have nothing to hope on.