Abraham would have never offered Isaac if he had dead faith. This shows us that even before Abraham offered Isaac that he had living faith. However, before he offered Isaac he had no works that he could use to show/prove his faith. So while "faith without works is dead", the phrase has a very strict meaning in that just because a person hasn't produced works yet it doesn't mean they don't have living faith. For if Abraham is an example then he clearly had living faith before any of his works.
Thus I conclude that lack of works right now does not reveal a dead faith but only a complacency that if sustained will result in revealing the dead nature of a person's faith. However, it only takes a single work to show your faith is still alive
