What Happens When We Fail?

 Although We May Fail...God Will Not!

I have come to the conclusion that we, as human beings are terribly flawed! Paul said, in these bodies dwell no good thing (Rom. 7:18). Jeremiah also confirms that our hearts are so desperately and deceitfully wicked, we don't even realize it (Jere. 17:9).  I tell you, these truths make me wonder, then what good am I? The answer is - I am not, but God is, and it is in Him that I live, move and have being (Acts 17:28a). I must totally trust in and depend upon Him!

As I shared last week, our sufficiency is in Christ alone. He is the One Who defeated the sin that binds us because we cannot! We fool ourselves if we consider that we have any ability of our own to change and do good! The truth of the matter is this great salvation we are enjoying today is a gift from God! The faith we have was given as a gift from God! The Helper that indwells us, enabling us is a gift from God! There is a pattern of truth here that I pray we all are able to comprehend.

This basically is what Jesus meant when He said, "without me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5b)! Right there in those words, He is attempting to help us to see and admit our bankruptcy. Outside of Him we are totally inadequate, insufficient and lost. But, it is when we abide in Him, that we will begin to bring forth much fruit (John 15:5a). He is the vine from which we sprout! The fruit is produced by our abiding in Him.

This week's encouragement is not so much about us, as it is about the faithfulness of our God. We don't have the wherewithal to overcome our flesh, this world or Satan! We have got to come to grips with the fact that God is Almighty! He is Sovereign! He is God, and we are not! No matter how hard we try to appear holy and righteous, good and upstanding - we always seem to find ourselves falling flat on our faces. The efforts we exert to appear all together become frazzled and frayed because the truth of the matter is we just can't seem to consistently pull it off. We fail! 

However, the Father wants our confidence to be in Him and His Word! You see, when we fail, and are unfaithful, God always remains faithful (2 Tim. 2:13)! His character remains intact because He is faithful to Who He Is!  Therein lies the answer to our inadequacies - abide in Him. Beloved, it is God working in you, giving you the both the desire and the power to please Him (Phil. 2:13). He is the One doing the work and the only One that should receive the Glory, Honor and Praise! We can and will do exploits in His Name and for His Glory because He Who calls us is Faithful to Himself - to His own Character! He can't help but be faithful, just like we can't help it when we're not. He desires that we learn to rest in and yield ourselves to Him. There is no need for us to toil or labor because what ever He needs to to accomplish - He will. And if you're yielded, He will use you to get His will accomplished.

As long as we will abide in Him and abide in His Word, nothing will be impossible - because nothing is impossible to Him! You will discover that it isn't you living this out - but Christ living it out in You! Just yield and let Him have His way. 

Don't allow failure to be the reason you give up and leave the faith. So many are doing it these days. Thinking they have to live up to impossible standards. They just don't understand that Jesus has secured the victory for them. It's a done deal! Now, all we need do is walk out this victory hand-delivered to us by our Savior by faith!  Instead of walking in pride and arrogance, walk confident and assured, in what Jesus has done and will continue to do in you! 

In closing, take on the attitude of the Apostle Paul. His heart sentiment was recorded for us to accept as our reality. Jesus told him that "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9)." He is enough! He is our sufficiency! Although we may fail - He will not!

Father, help us to realize that we can't - but You can! Help us not to allow our failures to define us! Help us to see the importance of abiding in you, as we abide in your word. We will not be discouraged by our failures, but will trust in You and Your ability to show forth your power in our weakness. What an awesome and loving Father you are! We will trust you for all things, and in all things, in Jesus' Name!