In Touch 06-24-04

In Touch Daily Devotional
by Dr. Charles Stanley

Thursday June 24, 2004
InTouch Early Light Devotional

Failure - The First Step to Victory
Romans 8:29-30

In an earlier lesson, we noted how God engineers circumstances to humble us and show us how much we need Him in order to live a victorious life. This is how He eliminates the idol of self-effort from our pursuit of holiness. It is also His way of accomplishing other purposes in our lives. The Lord has more in mind than simply exposing the weakness of our flesh - that is only a prerequisite to something else. He intends to put us on display for all eternity as examples of His grace and goodness. He wants the angels to see the body of Christ and stand in awe before this dazzling demonstration of His handiwork.

What would you and I need to qualify for this purpose? Can we possibly understand the full scope of His designs for our lives? What needs to be done in order for us to attain all that He has in mind for us? We do not have answers to these questions. Consequently, we have a lot of trouble understanding why God allows us to fail. If we could only see the glorious final product He has in mind, we would gladly abandon our self-effort and give way to His transforming power. But instead we insist on doing it our way. And as long as we remain in this mode of thinking, God will insist on allowing us to fail.

There is a better way. It is simply living by faith, trusting in the Holy Spirit within us moment-by-moment and day-by-day to conform us to the likeness of God's Son.

For free online one-to-one mentoring with Dr. Charles Stanley, visit www.charlesstanleyinstitute.com.

To delve deeper into this subject and more, visit the In Touch Web site: www.intouch.org.