"Real Faith Endures"

Do you see a pattern of sorts here? There is only one that was without sin, and that was Jesus Christ. All others had fallen short, and were born in sin; "All have sinned and fallen short!" The real question is: Does your faith endure a fall? Really; Does it? Because for some, the faith that they once had is diminished by a fall; not feeling worthy again to serve God; a heart of inadequacy. But this ought not be so! Because our abilities to serve God are not based upon how adequate we are, but rather on how available we are. Yes, that's right; we just need to be available to be used; God is the one to be adequate. When we do fall, (I did say when, and not if), but, when we do fall, we must get up, dust ourselves off, and get back in the race. Sometimes, we may even have to run harder, to get caught up; but God will supply the strength we need to press forward. We might have a bruise or two; but sometimes a bruise is a good thing to have, to remind us to watch our step, and to avoid a fall again. But real faith will endure testing; and from where does testing come from? The testing of our faith is from God; but the tempting of our faith is never from God. What God will do is to test our obedience to Him; but we are tempted by our own inadequacies, the world, and by the devil; but we are never tempted by God. Because, God supplies our needs, not take away from them; and what He will do, is to place things in front of us to test our obedience to Him; then our faith is strengthened by walking in that obedience. We ourselves, the world, and the devil, will put things before us to hinder our faith; which, when we are tempted by such things, must cause us to depend more upon God; for He is adequate to overcome what we can not. (What the heck?) Okay; first we must admit to and know our own inadequacies; to be able to overcome something, we must first realize what it is that we lack the ability to overcome. Then, when we are tempted in something that goes against God, we must realize that it is not God who is tempting us with anything that goes against Him; but instead, it is either our own sinful nature, the world, or the devil. God's testing will involve things which bring Him glory, and prove our obedience to Him in the positive; but when we are tempted with sin, it is not God testing our ability to withstand; but, He is more than willing and able to help us overcome; and He will always provide for us a way to escape. A good rule of thumb is this: Righteous testing=God; unrighteous tempting=Not God. So; when we do fall by failing to do what God has put before us to do, then that is sin; because, God will never ask us to do something that we are not able to do. Well then; what about Moses and his inadequacy to speak? If you remember, God had tried to convince Moses that He would speak through him; so really, all that Moses had to do was go, and then God would speak through him once he got there. Wasn't that the case? Sure, Aaron spoke for him well enough, but when Moses did speak, he spoke with power and authority. Okay then; what about Abraham, and God telling him to go and sacrifice his son Isaac? Well, first off, for Abraham, this testing was not to him as a sin; because Abraham believed that God would either intervene, or raise Isaac from the dead; because either way, he believed God's promise that through Isaac a Nation would be born. And we know what God did in this situation. The bottom line is this: When we do fall because of sin, it is because of our own inadequacies to overcome temptation; and when we fall short in obedience to that which is good, it is because of our lack of obedience to God; either way, we fall. But real faith will endure, repent, and carry on. "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." (James 1:12-14)