If we are walking defeated Christian lives, it is not God's fault. He made a way for us to overcome by obeying His Word. When the trials of life overwhelm us and we are defeated, it is because we did not pass the test. In school, when a child fails a test, we do not blame the teacher, as the fault lies with the child who did not do his lessons and homework well. However, when Christians fail the tests in life, may times it is God who is blamed. He gets the blame for taking little children's lives in accidents, for sending sickness upon His children, for burning down houses, for earthquakes, storms, etc. Could it be that if we did our homework by praying and studying the Bible, that many of these things could be prevented? Yes, they could; the lack is ours, not God's.

We believe in the motto, "Prayer Changes Things," yet how much quality time do we spend in prayer? How many hours do we devote to Bible study, as compared to the hours we watch TV, or devote our time to other time-wasting endeavors? Yet, when something bad happens in our lives, we do not take the blame to ourselves, because it is so much easier to blame God. God gave us mighty weapons in His Word to overcome the devil and defeat him at every turn. Is it God's fault we are not aware of these weapons? We have the book that tells us how to be an overcomer. That book is the Holy Bible. I would say few people reading this would not have access to a Bible. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and His operation manual for living in this world is the Bible. If we have Him in our hearts and read His manual, there is not one problem that we cannot overcome. We find few overcomers, because we find few apt students. We find a lot of people that know the Word of God, but they do not apply it to their lives. In school we must apply what we know to pass the exams. If we do not know our subject, we are doomed to fail from the start. That is why we must know Him first, for in Him is all knowledge and wisdom. Destruction from the devil comes because of a lack of knowledge of God's Word. That is why it is so important to study the Bible. Certainly, we may learn by going through a bad experience, but there is a better way, and that is by studying the Word of God and following Him daily in a total commitment.

Hosea 4:6a: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

If we are walking with the Lord, the Holy Spirit will also do His job of correcting and reproving us for sin. We need correction as well as instruction.

John 16:8:                                                                                                                                                            And when he (the Holy Spirit) is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment....

Sometimes we suffer under Satan's false accusations when we are not guilty at all. How can we determine when it is the Holy Spirit that is convicting us and when it is the enemy that is condemning us? When the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, He always shows us the way out, and always extends to us pardon. When the devil is condemning us, he never leaves us a way out, he accuses us, and he condemns us to failure. Satan would whisper to us these kinds of lies, "You will never change; you can never overcome this weakness. God is angry with you and He will punish you for this. You might as well go back into the world. God's way is too hard. You are doomed to hell, anyway. Why, you have committed the unpardonable sin, etc." These are a few of the lies Satan tells us when we have failed and sinned, and every one of them brings condemnation and fear. God always lifts us up and helps us when we have failed Him, and shows us there is a better way. He enables us to overcome, if we do it His way. The Lord just wants us to repent and turn from our sins and receive His forgiveness. If we forsake evil and turn to Him, we are never condemned; but if we continue to sin, we are condemned along with the world.

1 John 1:9-10:
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.