When Trying Stops Doing Starts
Scripture: James 1:3; John 10:10; Mark 8:22-26; 11:22-24
The title of my message this morning is “When Trying Stops, Doing Starts.”
I am trying! I am trying to do better! I am trying harder! I am trying to stop! I am trying to start! I am trying, I am trying, I am trying!!! We have all made these statements and we all know others who have made these statements. These statements are so common in our daily communication that they have become default statements when we are pressed to do something that, in reality, we are not fully ready or committed to doing. These statements have proven through the years to release the pressure being applied to us to do something that others think we should be doing but we are not fully brought in on. Even though we know what is being suggested might be better for us, actually doing it is hard so we “try” to do it – we make attempts to do it with the sole purpose of being able to say without lying, “I am trying.” Before I go further I want to make clear that I am not knocking or putting down anyone who is trying for we are all there. Whenever we do something new, we start off trying. What I am talking about this morning is the attitude of permanent trying and never reaching the point of doing, especially as it relates to our Christian walk. As a child of God, as we grow in Him we should be shifting from trying to doing and if this is not happening we have to wonder if we are truly growing in Christ.
In my message last week I asked you if you believed God’s word as He does. Most of us believe that we do, but when it comes to “trying” that might not be the case. I want you to pay close attention to what I am about to share with you. The Encarta dictionary defines the word try as “to make an attempt or effort to do something.” The second definition says “to test, sample, or experiment with something in order to assess its usefulness, worth, or quality.” The first definition is what most people think about when they make the decision to make a change in their life. They tell themselves “I will try this or that.” Now once they have attempted it, they transition from try to trying and here is where it gets interesting. Webster’s dictionary defines the word “trying” as “severely straining the powers of endurance; hard to bear or put up with.” The Encarta dictionary defines it as “stressful: placing great strain on somebody's patience, composure, or good nature, and often physically exhausting as a result.” So when we examine the meaning of this word, we find that it means to struggle – a straining of our endurance. So when a person says that they are “trying” to do this or that, the message being delivered is that they are in a struggle and are under a severe strain to accomplish what they initially said they would like to do. Oftentimes the outcome of this struggle is the person deciding to give up and stop which sometimes leads to their developing a lifestyle of continuous trying. They are forever trying but doing seems to escape them. As long as they are trying people will accept this and they can continue as they are. But I want you to know that as a child of God we have been empowered by God’s grace to move beyond just trying to actually doing, to succeeding.
When you read your Bible, you might find it interesting that the word “trying” only appears in Scripture once and it does not pertain to someone trying to do something and failing at it. It actually pertains to our faith, and the second definition of the word try, which means to “test something in order to assess its usefulness, worth, or quality.”
The one time that the word trying appears in Scripture is found in James 1:3 which say, “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” In Scripture, the one time the word is used is in reference to our faith being tested through trials and tribulations. Trials test faith and those who stand true in them will prove their faith to be either genuine or false. One more point before I move on, the word “try” appears 17 times in the Bible. Not one time does it mean to try to do something! In every verse, the word is translated as “test” with the purpose of proving something to be what it is. I am pointing this out because I have come to believe that because we have been empowered with power from on high, anything that we set our minds to do we should be able to accomplish it and I am going to tell you why I believe this. I will tell you up front that my toes are swollen spiritually because this message has been crushing all over them, but I needed it. Only you can decide if this will apply to you.
The first thing we need to know, believe and agree with is the fact that when we were saved, God’s grace empowered us with power from on high. Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came to give us life and that we might have that life more abundantly. If my life remained the same after I accepted Jesus then this would be an empty promise. When I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I was changed and it became my responsibility to walk in the new life that I had been given. Every Christian must make this decision to walk in their new life otherwise they will go through the rest of their life “trying”! Trying to stop sinning! Trying to change! Trying to do better! When trying stops, doing starts!!! Jesus told the disciples, “And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) The Holy Spirit dwells within us and empowers us – but we must choose to allow Him to operate within us and believe me when I tell you that the Holy Spirit does not “try”, He does! So, if you accept the truth that you have been empowered with power from on high, then the decision that needs to be made at this point is to walk in it.
The first thing we need to do in order to shift from trying to doing is to have true faith in God that He has given us the ability to do so. Remember the story of the Jesus cursing the fig tree? When the disciples saw the fig tree the next day they noticed that it had dried up and died. You see, when Jesus spoke the words the day before He knew exactly what was going to happen. However, the disciples just assumed He was speaking angrily at the tree and that would be the end of it. But when they witnessed what happened to the tree, they questioned Jesus about it. This is what Jesus told them in Mark 11:22, “….Have faith in God.” Then Jesus explained further in verses twenty-three and twenty-four when He said, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. (24) Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:23-24) To make the shift from trying to doing we have to have faith in God. We have to believe Him and what He has said. We have to implant His word in our hearts for our faith to grow.
Now some of you are probably thinking that you don’t have much faith and that you only need just a tiny amount to do great things based on all of the sermons you have heard about the small mustard seed. That misinterpreted Scripture where Jesus spoke of mustard seed faith continues to cripple Christians all over the world. I read my brother Barry’s pastor’s newsletter where he talked about all of the teaching surrounding the mustard see faith. If you recall the story from Luke chapter 17, the apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith. Upon hearing this Jesus replied, “….If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.” (Luke 17:6) Then there is the reference in Matthew 17:20 where the disciples asked Jesus why they could not cast out the demon and Jesus told them, “…..Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20) In each reference Jesus said faith “as a mustard seed.” The key word in both references is the word “as.” He was not saying you needed mustard-seed “size” faith to move mountain, you needed faith that grows “as” the mustard seed grows. In Matthew chapter thirteen Jesus speaks of what happens when a farmer plants a small mustard seed into the ground. When the seed is planted and cared for, it grows into a large tree where birds can come and rest. The point I am making here, which Barry’s pastor laid out so clearly in his newsletter, is that for our faith in God to grow we must nurture it, care for it and feed it. All of this is done by implanting the word of God in our hearts. When we begin to do this, the word becomes active in our lives and we begin to shift from trying to actually doing.
Just as we must have faith in God, we also must have faith in ourselves. We have talked many times about the first part of Proverbs 23:7 which say, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he….” Likewise, Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.” We become how we think. How we think is expressed in our actions and in our statements. If someone believes that they cannot do something, in reality, they will not be able to do it because they have already convinced themselves that they can’t. Until that person changes their mind and decides that they can do it, they will continue professing to be trying when, in reality, they believe it will never happen. When we begin to walk in our faith in God, we must understand that we have been changed by it. We are no longer the person that we were who tried and failed. We shifted to becoming the person who succeeded! Because we see ourselves succeeding, we stop saying that we are trying and begin saying we are doing. When trying stops, doing starts. Remember Philippians 4:13 tells us “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That’s all things! We don’t have to try! We can start doing because Christ gives us the strength. We can stop lying! We can stop stealing! We can stop cussing! We can stop sleeping around! We can do all things because Christ strengthens us and we have been empowered with power from on high! Do you believe this? We have to believe this and we have to continue placing God’s word in our heart. Let’s continue.
Once you are walking in faith in God and you are establishing confidence in your faith walk, the next thing you must do is not let family and friend keep you where you “used” to be. Do you know some of your hardest critics will be your family and friends? They will see you making changes and they will struggle to accept them. Some will accept them with the caveat that it's a temporary change and sooner or later you will return to your old habits.
I had a conversation with my brother a week before he died. In that conversation he told me about a conversation he had with one of his friends a few days before. He was talking to the friend about his faith and how it impacted how he was dealing with his illness. This particular friend was one that he was close to when he was running the streets and knew him at his worse. The friend struggled hearing Delrick’s testimony because, in his mind, Delrick was the same person he remembered. He knew Delrick was no longer doing some of the things that he used to do, but he had never heard Delrick talk so forcefully about what God had done in his life. Delrick was very concerned for his friend and I told him that he had done his job in telling him. Sometimes it is very hard for family and friends to forget what we were at our worse and believe that a change has truly happened within us.
We cannot allow family and friends to stop us from doing! They love to see us trying and they will appreciate our efforts, but some of them will not want us to succeed because it puts pressure on them to do likewise. Have you ever heard the statement “Misery loves company”? This is such a true statement. People tend to settle into their “trying” mentality when they have others in agreement who are trying right alongside of them. As long as everyone is trying and nobody is doing the status quo remains the same. Proverbs 13:20 tells us, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.” The companionship that we keep will have an influence on our conduct if we are not careful. When we begin walking in faith and shift from trying to doing, we need to surround ourselves with people who are doing the same. Remember what Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, “(9) Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. (10) For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.” We must surround ourselves with others who are doing!
Now that we have established our faith in God, implanting His word in our hearts to increase our faith, believing in ourselves that we have been empowered with power from on high, and we are not allowing our family and friends to keep us where we were, it’s time to make the shift from trying to doing. So how does this happen? It happens with one decision at a time. We live minute by minute, hour by hour. Within those time slots choices are presented to us where we must make a decision. The easy choice is the one where we are trying. For example, let’s say cussing for you is just a normal part of everyday conversation. However, you make the decision that it’s time to stop. Maybe you heard yourself and decided that you didn’t like it. Maybe you cussed at your kids and you saw the pain on their faces and you knew you had to do something different. So you made the decision to start trying not to cuss. So, on day one, you go to work and someone who dislikes you picks this day to get up in your face. You feel the heat start to rise up your neck headed straight to your head. Your eyes start getting tighter and your breathing changes. Because you are “trying” you decide in this one moment it’s okay to fail and you let the person have it. After you get it all out you feel better and you go back to your office.
But let’s look at this from a “doing” perspective. Same situation, you go to work on day one and someone who dislikes you picks this day to get up in your face. You feel the heat start to rise up your neck headed straight to your head. Your eyes start getting tighter and your breathing changes. But you made the decision to stop cussing – not to try, but to actually do it. You have been working hard to implant God’s word into your heart and right as you are about to open your mouth Ephesians 4:29 comes into you mind. It reminds you to “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29) As soon as you see the words flash before your eyes you close your mouth and walk away. In this situation you did not try, you actually did it. Because you had implanted the word of God in your heart the Holy Spirit was able to bring it to your remembrance just when you needed it to give you the strength you needed to keep from sinning against God. In that decision you shifted from trying to doing.
This is how it works, one day at a time, one situation at a time. I want to go back to something I said at the very beginning. Remember when I told you that in the Bible there is no reference of the word “trying” being used as someone attempting to do something and failing? This word, even in our dictionaries, signifies a battle, a stressful struggle where our endurance is being put to the test. James said that there will be times when our faith will be tried. Do you suppose that when people are “trying” to do something it is really a matter of their faith being tried and that is where the struggle truly lies? If we have been empowered by God’s grace with power from on high and the Holy Spirit operates within us, then there is nothing we should not be able to accomplish when we decide to do it. However, as long as we see ourselves not being able to fully accomplish something, then we will continue being comfortable just trying.
I want to close with an example of “trying” and “doing” in the life of Jesus so that you understand that He walked this earth as we do to give us an example of how we are able to live. Now, before you get all religious on me, I want to remind you that although He was God, on earth Jesus lived as a man, as a human being, just like us. As our High Priest, He experienced every trial and temptation that we could possibly experience and we see this in Hebrews 4:15 which reads, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” We are going to read the record of the blind man at Bethsaida in Mark chapter 8 as an example of Jesus trying and doing. We are going to read verses 22 through 26. “(22) Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. (23) So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. (24) And he looked up and said, ‘I see men like trees, walking.’” Now, let’s stop here for a moment because this is important. Jesus is our role model as to how we are supposed to live. When He spit on the blind man’s eyes, what happened? The man’s was able to see something but his vision was still impaired. He could see people but not clearly. Do you think that maybe this surprised Jesus? Do you think that Jesus expected that when the man opened his eyes that he would be able to see clearly? I believe the answer to both questions is “Yes.” New Light, this is as close to an example of Jesus trying as we will see in scripture. Why do I say trying when referring to Jesus in this case? I say this because the man wasn’t delivered the first time. But let’s look at what Jesus does so that the “trying” becomes the “doing” that produces Godly results. “(25) Then He put his hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. (26) Then He sent him away to his house, saying, ‘Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.’” (Mark 8:22-26)
New Light, what I want you to see in this passage is that, in this one instance, the person Jesus ministered to did not receive immediate deliverance. But that didn’t stop Jesus. That didn’t discourage Him. He was determined to do His Father’s will, which was sight for this blind man. He didn’t stop until He got the results He was expecting. New Light, what Jesus is teaching in this record is this and I want you to grasp this: for Jesus, trying was just a step before seeing the doing manifest. The same can be true for us today, if we have faith in God like Jesus did.
If you are struggling in an area of your life where you have been trying and trying I want you to make a decision. Make the decision to transition from trying to doing. See yourself doing! See yourself succeeding! While you won’t conquer everything immediately, start with the individual decision that you must make one by one. As you apply the Word to that decision and you see the results, your faith will continue to grow as will your confidence. Every day we have the opportunity to make different decisions pertaining to our walk with Christ. Let those decisions be a testament to our faith for all to see. Do not allow the idea of trying to justify not doing and failing!
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(We are once again conducting live services on Sunday morning beginning at 9:15 a.m. We will continue to broadcast live on Facebook Live at 10:00 a.m.. Please tune in to "New Light Christian Fellowship Church" and like our page if you wish to watch our broadcast and be notified when we go live. If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. We also have Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m. via Zoom that you are also welcome to attend – please email me for the link. Also, for use of our social media, you can find us at newlightchristianfellowship on FB. To get our live stream services, please make sure you “like” and turn on notifications for our page so you can be notified when we are live streaming. We also have a church website and New Light Christian Fellowship YouTube channel for more of our content. If you would like to donate to our ministry you may do so through our website: newlightchristianfellowship.org by clicking on the PayPal or Cash App buttons. May God bless and keep you.)
