At the end of August, the scripture “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26) echoed in my spirit. I had been seeking a word from God, so I held onto it, even though I wasn’t yet sure which area of my life required greater faith, or where I needed to take action.

Then September arrived, and the themes at church were: (1) Ordered Steps and (2) Destiny and Divine Fulfillment.

That’s when it all started to make sense that these three messages weren’t random. There was a clear connection between faith, works, ordered steps, and destiny.

1. Faith is the starting point. It begins with our belief in God, trusting His character, His promises, and His timing.
2. Works are the outward expression of that faith. They show that we’re not just believing passively, but actively committing to what God has called us to do. Our actions reflect our seriousness and surrender.
3. When our faith (heart) and works (actions) come into alignment/both yielded to God, our steps become ordered by Him (Psalms 37:23). We begin to walk the path He has laid out, not in our own strength, but under His guidance.
4. And those ordered steps are the pathway to the destiny God has predestined for us. Along the way, He doesn’t leave us to figure it out alone. He is near. Always. After all, Jesus is Emmanuel—God with us.

One critical element in this journey is obedience.

We can have faith and still choose not to obey—which means we’re not truly putting our faith to work. On the other hand, we can be busy doing (works), yet still be walking in our own direction, following our own timing and desires.

True alignment with God requires full obedience, not partial, not conditional.
It’s not enough to believe or even to act; we must obey completely and consistently. Obedience is the bridge that connects our faith and works to God’s ordered steps and ultimate purpose.

In this walk, obedience is everything.
Faith says “I trust You.”
Obedience says “I’ll follow you, no matter what“

So there I was, sitting with this message and the first person God highlighted to me was Peter. I was blown away by how clearly He connected the dots through Peter’s encounter with Jesus in Luke 5:1–11. The teaching was so rich and personal that I found myself asking God to highlight nine more individuals for me to study.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some of the nuggets of truth the Holy Spirit revealed to me during this time. I’m excited not just to share with you, but also because I know I’ll be relearning some things and being awakened to new insights as I write.