There are a lot of so-called “secrets” out in the world today; all claiming to contain the formula for getting the things that we want in this life. Yet the Bible has contained this exact info all along, in the most simple language, and yet so many people try to get it through alternate means that ultimately are unfruitful because of the fact that there is only one answer.

The plain truth is that in order to obtain all of the blessings in life, it is a joint process between us and God; this must be understood first because it is necessary to be clear about the fact that it is not all our responsibility (which is a good thing), but it is also not all on God either… I have lost count of the number of people who have made the comment to me similar to the following:

“James I just don’t understand why God doesn’t bless me I have faith but He leaves me waiting and waiting”.

My answer to that is always the same: “stop waiting!” So many people are robbed of blessings because they are waiting to see some sign before they take the first step, and such an attitude suggests a lack of understanding of the principle of faith.

Faith believes without having to see! A great example of this is from my own life, before I became a minister, I ran from the calling of the Lord for a long time because I had no faith in my ability to speak in front of a congregation, I hated the very idea of it, and a little known factoid about me is that I am terrible at making speech notes and equally terrible about following those notes even once I make them.

Yet let me tell you that once I took a step in faith and said “okay God, you know my feelings, but I know this is what You want, so let’s do this together!” He blessed me with such a wonderful blessing, that literally I begin speaking and after the first few words of greeting, His Spirit just totally takes over and it is smooth sailing with no notes even.

Yes it is true, I do not have any teleprompter or cue cards in front of me at all and no notes. The only text I read from is the Bible itself during my sermons and speeches.

This is not my skill, but the blessing of the Lord at work. The key to take away from my story though is that the first few steps are ours to make in faith! If I was to say “Lord I’ll do this thing, but only if you give me a sign first, like make the sunlight on the wall bend and contort into the form of a cross!”, then that is not showing faith or trust in my God, it is instead showing doubt and unbelief.

Once we take the first few steps in faith then He will most surely honor them. Our only job is to first know His will, and this we do by getting to know Him and His Word (the scriptures), then to actually believe them, and act upon them.

This is the true secret to obtaining the blessings in this life, and in the life to come.