S11.01 | Faith Without Action: Are You Waiting on God Without Obedience?
It’s easy to pray for breakthrough while staying stuck in fear or inaction. In this episode, we look at the story of Jesus turning water into wine and reflect on what it means to “fill the jars” in our own lives. Are you partnering with God in faith, or just waiting on Him to move without stepping forward?
Join me as we look at how God wants to partner with us in the miracle. You’ll be challenged to examine what faith in action looks like for you. If you’ve been stuck in paralysis, wondering why your prayers seem unanswered, this one’s for you.
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Key Takeaways
Faith involves action.
Jesus didn’t need water to perform His miracle, but He invited the servants to fill the jars—just like He invites us to participate in our own healing and growth.
2. You have a role in the miracle.
Whether it's going to therapy, renewing your mind, or creating new habits, filling your jar means showing up—imperfectly but faithfully.
3. Prayers without obedience lead to frustration.
God provides resources, tools, and opportunities—but we must be willing to use them. Healing isn’t earned, but it does require participation.
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Resources:
5 Steps to Building Resiliency
Affirming Truths Facebook Community
5 Tips for Overcoming a Negative Body Image
Who You Say I Am Biblical Affirmation Cards
0:02
Hello friends. Welcome to Season 11 of affirming truth. I can't believe this is season 11, and by the time this season ends, affirming truths will be four years old. All Glory to God, all thanksgiving to God that he has kept this small but mighty podcast going. And we're going to jump right in to a challenging episode today. And I want to encourage you that you can be challenged. I want to encourage you that being challenged is good. It's healthy. It helps us grow. It gives us perspective. So let's get into it. Today, I want to talk about our responsibility in the miracle.
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Yeah, we have a responsibility in the miracle, and I'm going to take us to Jesus, first miracle, John two, one to 11. And we're going to pick it up in verse six, and I'm going to read it to you.
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Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. So they filled them to the brim.
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They filled the jars of water to the brim. Now this is important for us to recognize here. Jesus could have just automatically filled those jars with wine. Jesus didn't need the water. Jesus doesn't need anything. And yet, if we look at a lot of the miracles he has us do things in faith to receive the miracle,
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they had to fill the jars with water. These are 630 gallon jars. They were going back and forth. They had effort. Here they were filling the jars with water. They didn't understand why these jars were normally used for ceremonial washing. They weren't even where you would normally put wine. It wasn't the typical way that wine would be produced and served.
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They didn't know what was happening, but in faith, they did what Jesus instructed. And I want to ask you this question, Are you filling your jars with water, or are you just praying for wine?
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This is important, guys I know, I spent a long time in my early life praying, God, take this bipolar for me. God, take this emotional burden from me. God, take this trauma for me. God, heal all of this. And yet I stayed doing and thinking and saying the same things over and over and over again in my life, I wasn't filling the jars with water, and what did that look like for me? That looked like taking responsible responsibility for my mental health and going to the doctor and going on medication and doing the therapy and learning practically what it means to renew my mind. It meant creating a lifestyle of habits that support my mental health, right? Renewing my mind daily, getting into the word, moving my body, fueling it for mood stability, resting, re rewriting the script that trauma had told me and anchoring into my identity in Christ, I had to do the work. I had to change my identity that I believe to be true. Trauma, mental illness had spoken to my identity, and I was living my life according to that identity, but I was new in Christ and I had a new identity, but I had to do the work to operate in that identity, to change the script, to change my core beliefs, to rewire my brain. I had to put water in the jar. I had to, by faith, step out and do these things. And I ask you again, are you filling your jars with water or just praying for wine?
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You know, this isn't the only time Jesus had someone do things. He said, Pick up your mat, outstretch your hand, go wash in the river. There was always an action part on the on the part of the person receiving the miracle, an action, a step of faith, to showcase the faith and guys, it only needs to be faith as a mustard seed.
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It only needs to be faith as a mustard seed.
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So
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are.
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You praying for forgiveness but continuing to feed a hardened heart?
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Are you praying for relief from your mental anguish, but refusing the practical tools and resources God has given you through coaching, through therapy?
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Are you praying for reconciliation in a relationship, and yet you're not showing up any different in that relationship?
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Are you praying for peace and comfort in your grief, but you're not actually allowing yourself to go through the grieving process so that you can experience that comfort and that peace.
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Are you praying for wisdom, but still spending more time scrolling your phone than being in God's Word where all wisdom is found?
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What are you praying for, and what acts of faith and responsibility are you taking towards that prayer? And this isn't about earning it, guys, okay, this isn't a gospel of earning your worth or earning it. Grace is given to you as a free gift. Mercy is given to you as a free gift, but I'm talking about partnership.
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God is saying, Stretch out your hand of faith and see what I put in your hand. You have to outstretch your hand
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just like Jesus said, fill the jars with water and watch what I do with that.
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And I know this can be a challenging text, because it forces us to look at our action or often our inaction,
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often our lack of taking ownership, our lack of taking responsibility.
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God is calling you to higher in this God is calling you to look at yourself and say, What responsibility can I take to change the course of my thoughts and my words and my beliefs and my behaviors? How can I align my thoughts and beliefs and feelings and behaviors to the Word of God. How can I align my thoughts and my behaviors and all of that to the miracle I'm praying for?
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How can I sit silently and really press into the Holy Spirit and say, reveal to me
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what jugs of water I need to fill?
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Are you open to doing the work? You know, I heard this analogy before. Maybe you've heard it before too, that there is this man, and his cupboards were empty and he was hungry, and he was starving, and he said, Lord, please bring me some bread. And there's a knock at his door and a neighbor gave him eggs, and he said, Lord, no, I didn't pray for eggs. I'm praying for bread. Lord God, please send me some bread. And there's a knock at the door, and it was a neighbor, a different neighbor, and brought him flour, and God's and the man was like, No, God, you're not listening to me, you're not seeing what I need, Lord, I need bread. I'm starving. Do you want me to die?
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Another
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neighbor came and gave him some oil,
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and the man eventually died of starvation, and he saw God in heaven and said, God, I prayed I was starving. I asked for bread, and you gave me nothing, and God said, I gave you everything you needed to make the bread.
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See, God partners with us. God wants us to have some skin in the game too, some faith in the game.
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He partners with us, we have a role to play. So I ask you again, are you filling your jars with water, or are you just praying for wine and getting frustrated that you're not seeing the wine that you want?
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I told you today was going to be challenging.
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I told you it was
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but this challenge is good, because the awareness that it will bring you, if you listen to this episode and really take it to heart, is going to open up the door for your miracle as you start reflecting on where you need to take action steps of faith
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that's huge.
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That's huge.
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So guys, I really want you to take this to heart,
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to reflect where have you only been praying but not acting in faith?
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My affirming truth.
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For you today is I will demonstrate my faith through action. Hebrews 11 six says, And without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. Do you see those action words on the part of the person. The person has to seek, the person has to believe, the person has to have to draw near. The person has to have faith. We have an
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a partnership with God. We have a role to play in our relationship with God, and I want to encourage you to take that seriously and be reflective on where you need to fill your jars.
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I also want you to know before we sign off that, July 22 I am hosting a webinar called Who told you that, and it's all about reclaiming our identity after trauma, trauma has spoken into your identity. Trauma has you believing things that aren't true, which are impacting your thoughts and your behaviors. And in this webinar, I'm going to teach you how to rewire that and break free from the lies that trauma has told you and root your identity in Christ you can get all the information you want from that by clicking onto my website. It's all there. I hope you join. I hope you register. The link is in the description here, and it's going to be a powerful spirit led time together. All right, guys, season 11, it's going to be good. I have 12 amazing episodes planned for you, and I'm so glad that you're here. Be blessed, guys.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai