Dr. Charles Stanley
Read | Numbers 13-14
When you hear the term “faith failure,” what comes to mind? If you’re like most people, the expression immediately drums up uncomfortable thoughts of a spiritual stain on your Christian walk. Try as we might, however, we simply cannot or will not go through this life without failing from time to time.
Most troubling to Christians are those instances 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 decided upon a different course of action? When we allow anything to short-circuit our obedience to the heavenly Father, we can be certain that we have just had a faith failure.
One of the key reasons for spiritual missteps is the simple issue of fear. Now, we never have to be afraid of losing our salvation once we are secure in Christ; instead, what I’m talking about here is the fear of failure. We simply do not want to fall on our face in the challenge God sets before us. So, rather than meet 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? Of course not. Our heavenly Father hasn’t given us a spirit of fear (2 Tim. 1:7 nlt); He desires boldness and veracity in our faith. Don’t bow down to the idol of apprehension. The God who calls you is strong enough to keep you. Whenever He assigns you to a task, you can be sure He’ll empower you to achieve it.
