Suffering a Faith Failure

Numbers 13-14

When you hear the term “faith failure,” what comes to mind? If you are like most people, that expression immediately drums up thoughts of a spiritual blemish on your Christian walk. Try as we might, we simply cannot or will not go through this life without failing from time to time.
Most troubling to Christians are those times when we allow other factors to get in the way of what we know God is telling us. Can you remember a time when you knew the Lord wanted you to do something, but for some reason, you chose a different course of action? When we allow anything to short-circuit our obedience to our heavenly Father, we can be certain that we have just had a faith failure.
One of the key reasons for these spiritual missteps is the simple issue of fear. Now, we never have to fear losing our salvation once we are secure in Christ; rather, what I’m talking about here is the fear of failure. We simply do not want to fail in the challenge that God sets before us. Therefore, instead of meeting the call head-on, we run and hide. In our minds, it is better not even to bother trying than to try and fail.
Is that the attitude God desires? No! He has not called us to a spirit of fear, but of boldness and veracity in our faith! Don’t bow down to the idol of fear. The God who calls you is strong enough to keep you. He will never assign you to a task that He has not already empowered you to achieve.

Daily Devotions with Dr. Charles Stanlley, InTouch Ministries