"Tested Faith"

"For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me." (Psalms 44:6) Since we now have come to an understanding of the power of the cross, and how it is in Christ alone that we have any power to defeat not only the enemy that is without, but the enemy that is within, what now do we do with this new found understanding? This is a test; and in case you have not been listening, it's time to lay our weapons down, because they are useless; the victory is in Christ, and has already been won. Jesus has removed those chains that had bound us to sin and to the bondage of sin, and He has placed us upon a path of righteousness and of freedom in Him. Does that mean we do not sin? No, there is only one who is truly righteous, and that is Jesus; we are sinners that have been washed by the blood of Christ, and it is only by His blood that be have been given righteousness; which means that we have a right standing with the Father, because when the Father looks at us, He sees the blood of His Son that is covering us. You see, that's one thing that we tend to misunderstand, the blood is not really for us, it's for God; it is God who sees the blood; it is God who is the one that condemns, and it is God who is the one that justifies, not us; yet, how many times do we catch ourselves condemning and justifying ourselves by our actions? We have no power whatsoever in ourselves to condemn or justify, that has been taken care of on the cross; we only need to believe, and the blood of Christ is what justifies us; those that do not believe, they are condemned already (John 3:18). Now then, how does this work in trials? or is there a similarity? I heard a very interesting story from Pastor Jack yesterday, and it had to do with a experiment that was performed with Wharf Rats; where they placed the rats in a drum of water, and left the water low enough where they could not get out; after 15 minutes, the rats gave up trying to swim and they drowned. Then they took another bunch of rats, put them in the same drum of water, but this time they took them out after 10 minutes, dried them off, and returned them to safety. After several hours, they placed those same rats back in the drum, but this time, after several days, those rats were still alive and treading water. What do you think happened to those rats?
"Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were far off and made nigh by the blood of Christ." (Ephesians 2:11-13)