James 2:17-19,24,26 NKJV ~ “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. [18] But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. [19] You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe-and tremble! [24] You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. [26] For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
I read a story about a man that was lost in the desert, and he was dying of thirst. Suddenly, he looked up and saw a small house with a well. When he got there the well was not working. Discouraged, he went into the house and there was a jar of water. There was also a note beside it that said, “do not drink this water, use it to prime the pump on the well.” Einstein said, “In the middle of every difficulty lies an opportunity.” And Thomas Edison said this, “Most people miss opportunities because it is dressed in work clothes, and it looks like work.” And nobody wants to do the work!
Jesus went about giving people opportunities to be blessed, but it took faith to act upon His Words. For instance, Jesus did many miracles that involved water, and the water was not to be drank but used to prime the pump for more! Remember, don’t drink any of the water first. Prime the pump with it and you’ll get plenty of water.” It was signed, “Desert Pete.” Faith is to prayer like water is to be priming the pump. You have to activate your faith in order to receive from the Lord. It’s like this, the more you obey God the more your faith increases!
Have you ever been around a well, sometimes they can run dry and have to be dug out again. And then there are other times when the pump is dry, and you have to pour water to prime it and get the water flowing again. Sometimes you are like that pump, and when the Water of Life is not flowing properly in you, you will run dry. You must drink from the reservoir of Living Water daily and allow the Holy Spirit to rain down on you so that you are not spiritually dried out.
You need to be primed, so that you don’t get in a rut, because sometimes you can get so caught up in past successes that you forget to prepare for the future. You have been running so hard and fast that you forgot to stop and fill up your tank and now you have nothing left in the tank, so it’s time to prime your pump! This is when you need to stop and come apart and rest awhile, get your refueling, spend some much needed time with your Father listening to Him, a good sermon, worship music, allowing God to stretch you. When you leave you to yourself you will dry out and without a disciplined life, you will produce nothing! This is when you need to let the Holy Spirit reign, which is you allowing His Spirit to prime your spirit, it’s an internal fix and there is nothing you can do to the external to fix you! You must allow the Word of God to speak to you, ask God to send people into your life to stretch you!
Find yourself a place of solitude where you can sit with your Father and be primed and ready to pump! As you spend time at reservoir with God, He will motivate you by His majesty that is all around and you will start to flow in your daily grind as He graces you for what is next. As you sit you will be reminded of what your Father has been revealing to you about Himself! It’s plain for you to see and hear! This is the priming of your pumps to see God in the unexpected and the extraordinary and it leads you to worship God. It’s in this moment that you are not worried about what anyone thinks about you, your thoughts are on God and God alone!
It’s in this place of priming that your mind is renewed, and your heart is stirred. It is your time of revival and you being are primed by tears on an altar, a kindling wood to bring fire from heaven. One life can fire up another. The problem is not the Sower or the seed, it’s the soil. If God is not birthing in you a vision, a passion, a growth, and a deeper understanding of grace, it’s not HIS fault, it’s yours. Your soil is hard and rocky, and you need to pull out the weeds, to break up the fallow ground, and water the seed so that you can participate with God in the harvest.
It is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day routine of life and forget to stop and spend time with your Heavenly Father. For there is always something pulling at you, calling for your attention and it comes in the form of a distraction, it wants to distract you from the end goal, eternity! When you allow sin to drive your life, you are drinking from a broken cistern. In fact, the greater issue is your heart. You need to ask yourself this question, “Is my heart primed and ready to respond to God’s prompting? Am I, by my example, encouraging others to prime their pumps?” For when you are prepared for tomorrow, you allow the waters to continually flow in and through you. And when you fail to prepare for tomorrow, you will eventually dry out and have nothing to offer a lost and dying world!
You must get before God to seek the mind and will of God. You must be primed so that you can be used for His good pleasure. You must be prepared, so that through your life the living waters can flow to others. I believe any failure to prime your pump and leave something for those who are yet to come will lead to a dry church (people), dusty Bibles, and dirty lives. When people come looking for water, let’s make absolutely sure that the well called “the church” is primed and ready to offer them Living Water. This is a corporate and an individual call. We’re all responsible to leave something behind in order to prime the pump of the future and get it going after we’re gone. If you want revival, if you want to reach the next generation, you need to make sure the pump is primed, and you have water to give to a thirsty world.
Faith is to prayer like water is to priming the pump. You have to activate your faith in order to receive from the Lord. Praying takes faith, just as priming an old pump with the only water around takes faith. How do we activate the faith we have? Let’s look at these four ways.
First ~ Activating your faith starts by asking. Ask! Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8)!
Second ~ Acknowledge God’s Word! Paul says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)!
Third ~ Speak the Word out loud! Activated Faith says aloud, “I’m saved!” I’m rescued!” “I’m delivered!” The truth as God has spoken it to you. Romans 10:8-9: But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The word “declare” means “to say the same thing!”
Fourth ~ Act consistent with the professed faith. Paul tells us “We walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises]” (2 Corinthians 5:7 Amplified Bible). What Paul is saying is simple: Walk your Talk! Seeing God’s promises fulfilled is the result of our faith and depends entirely on faith!
Do you need to Activate your faith to prime the pump of prayer? Do you need your faith to believe for your healing or other answers to prayer? When you pray, just as you would expect water to spring up from a well once you’ve primed the pump, believe that God is going to “supply all your needs” as He promised. And He will!
Let’s Pray:
Thank You, Father, for helping me to walk in love. Because I am born again, I have been born of love. Faith works by love, so I know that if I can’t walk in love with others, there is no way faith is going to work in my life. I will walk in the Word, so that I can be protected at all times and the wicked one will not be able to touch me. Ephesians 6:16 says faith quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked one, not part of them, all of them. The devil, I refuse to give you any power in my life! I allow myself to be moved by love and compassion, so that I can be ready to fulfill anything God has called me to do. Thank You Father, for the unmerited favor of Your love. It is because of the faith You created in me that I have been saved, set apart to do Your work, and received Your grace. Through Christ, I have received grace upon grace. Father, I sometimes miss the mark and fall short of Your will. Thank You for the grace you lavish when I falter in my faith. Praise You for grace upon grace. Father, Your will is my desire. I want Your Word on my heart and mind. It is useful for all things in life. Build in me a knowledge of Your will. Make my heart’s desire Your heart’s desire, then I will rejoice in doing Your work. My trust is in You alone. I know You will use every day of my life to show everyone around me Your love and grace. I may have plans, but the plans of God will prevail. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. Father, forever prime the pump of my heart for You. In the Name of Christ Jesus. Amen!
Blessings…
Minister Jean
