|
 There is no one on
earth who does what is right all the time and never make a mistake (Ecc
7:20)
There
is no one who can say that she has never made a mistake. All of us have
imperfections, all of us have failed some or other time in our lives. All
of us have stumbled and fallen down in some dark time in our lives. All of
us have things in our past that we are ashamed of, things that we wish can
be erased.
Today
I want you to know that no failure is final. Remember that your faults do
not define who you are.
LEARN
FROM YOUR MISTAKES
I
read the following powerful words:
Failure
doesn’t mean you have blown everything. It means you have some hard
lessons to learn.
It doesn’t mean you are a permanent loser. It means you aren’t as
smart as you thought you were.
It doesn’t mean you should give up. It means you need the Lord to show
you the next step.
It doesn’t mean that God has abandoned you. It means that God has a
better plan.
GOD
SAID IF …
If
you never felt pain,
Then how would you know that I’m a Healer?
If you never went through difficulty,
How would you know that I’m a Deliverer?
If you never had a trial,
How could you call yourself an overcomer?
If you never felt sadness,
How would you know that I’m a Comforter?
If you never made a mistake,
How would you know that I’m forgiving?
If you never were in trouble,
How would you know that I will come to your rescue?
If you never were broken,
Then how would you know that I can make you whole?
If you never had a problem,
How would you know that I can solve them?
If you never had any suffering,
Then how would you know what I went through?
If you never went through the fire,
Then how would you become pure?
If I gave you all things,
How would you appreciate them?
If I never corrected you,
How would you know that I love you?
If you had all power,
Then how would you learn to depend on me?
If your life was perfect,
Then what would you need me for?
GOD’S
PEOPLE MADE MISTAKES
Throughout
the Bible we find stories of great men of God who all made some mistakes,
for example:
David:
The Bible calls him “A man after God’s own heart”, even though he
was guilty of lying, adultery and murder. This doesn’t mean that God was
pleased with His sin …
Why
was David then called a man after God’s own heart?
·
Because
he repented and found forgiveness.
·
Because
he learned from his mistakes.
·
Because
he submitted to God
Noah: At first we read in Gen 6:9 that Noah was a
good man, the ONLY good man of his time; he lived in fellowship with God,
and had no faults, he did everything that the Lord commanded. But just a
few chapters further on, we see him, lying drunk and naked in his tent!
Although he was the “perfect” man, he made a gross mistake.
Abraham:
In Gal 3:17 it is said that Abraham is the father of all the believers,
and God said that through Abraham the whole human race will be blessed.
What a man! But, even Abraham made some serious mistakes. When it seemed
that God was too slow to fulfil His promise of a child to Abraham, he took
things into his own hand and decided to sleep with the handmaiden. Later
on he lied about Sarah being his wife, he put her on the line only to save
his own skin (read about this in Gen 12:10-20)
Moses: even though Moses spent weeks on end in the
Lord’s presence, and was called “the man of God” (Ezra 3:2), “God’s
chosen servant” (Ps 106:23) and “God’s friend” (Ex 33:11), he also
had his weak moments. He killed an Egyptian when he saw that no one was
watching, and he hid the body (Ex 2:12). Another time Moses was
disobedient to God and act from anger and impatience when he had hit the
rock, instead of spoken to it .. (Read Numbers 20:7-13)
Faults of people are found on display in the pages of the Bible: Samson's
vanity, David's lust, Solomon's greed, Jonah's racism, Herod's bloodlust,
Thomas' doubts … and more.
The good news is: As the faults and
sins of people fill the pages of the Bible, so does the miraculous,
merciful redemption of our Saviour, Jesus Christ!
But
sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive
forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands
down. (Rom
5:20)
Cowards, thieves, liars and
prostitutes are forgiven and redeemed, and so are all their past mistakes.
Human
failure is overcome by God’s love.
Failure is a
powerful word, but forgiveness is even more powerful.
HELP,
I MADE A MISTAKE
Here
are a few things that can help us to get up and carry on after we have
experienced failure:
1)
GOD UNDERSTANDS
Know that God always understands our imperfections. The Bible says in Ps
103:14” “He knows what we are made of ….”
He knows our struggles and temptations
and He has sympathy with our weaknesses.
Our
High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the
contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are,
but did not sin. (Heb 4:15)
2)
JESUS IS PRAYING FOR YOU
At this very moment Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, and
He is interceding for us; He is praying for me and for you that we will
not fail. (see Rom 8:34)
“….
I prayed for you that your faith will nor fail” (Luke 22:32)
3)
GET UP, AND TRY AGAIN
If you fail and hit the ground hard, always remember, the only way where
you can go is UP. Although we fall again and again, by God’s grace we
can keep on getting back up, and keep on looking up to God for help.
"When
someone falls down, doesn't he get back up? If someone misses the road,
doesn't he turn back?”
(Jer 8:4)
The
Lord’s invitation to get up and turn back to Him is valid for us today: “ … come back to Me. I am merciful and will
not be angry; I will not be angry with you forever”. (Jer 3:12)
4)
RECOGNIZE AND CONFESS YOUR MISTAKES
Have you asked God to show you your faults, and have you agreed to stop
doing evil?
(Job 34:32)
I
recognize my faults; I am always conscious of my sins. (Ps 51:3)
5)
SAY YOU’RE SORRY
If your mistakes harmed or hurt other people – tell them that you are
sorry, and ask for their forgiveness.
6)
GET ADVICE
Get all the advice you can, and you will succeed; without it you will
fail.
(Prov
15:22)
7)
BE WILLING TO BE CORRECTED
Listen to God, to your parents, your friends when they are warning you
about your lifestyle, and you can save yourself a lot of tears. Otherwise
you can come into a situation where you will say:
"Why would I never learn? Why would I never let anyone correct me?
I wouldn't listen to my teachers. I paid no attention to them. And
suddenly I found myself publicly disgraced." (Prov 5:12-14)
8)
KEEP GOD’S WORD AS YOUR GUIDELINE
The only way to keep our lives free from faults, is to faithfully obey God’s
instructions for living:
…
but I do not fail to obey your laws.
(Ps 119:157)
All
Scripture is … useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting
faults, and giving instruction for right living (2Tim 3:16)
9)
GIVE YOURSELF TO GOD
Never let mistakes rule your life – give yourself to God (Rom 6:13), He
will refresh you and help you
to start over again.
10)
THERE IS FORGIVENESS
Through the blood of Jesus we are made right, washed clean, made holy and
perfect.
God
forgives our failures because of his overflowing kindness.
(Eph 1:7)
Our
faults defeat us, but You forgive them.
(Ps 65:3)
The
LORD says, “You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as
clean as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as
wool.” (Isa 1:18)
11)
YOU HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT AS GUIDE AND HELPER
If we listen to the Holy Spirit, He will protect us from mistakes. We all
know that “still, small voice” warning us, guiding us away from the
wrong things … it is the voice of the Holy Spirit.
If you are guided by the Spirit, you won't obey
your selfish desires. (Gal 5:16)
12)
DON’T WASTE YOUR FAILURES: LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES
God specializes in restoring and reusing failures! So the best thing that
you can do with your failures, is to run into the arms of Jesus. You see
... failure becomes your friend when your failures drive you to God! When
this is the outcome of your mistakes, you have not wasted your failures!
PRAYER
May
the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way and keep your whole
being---spirit, soul, and body---free
from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls
you will do it, because He is faithful. (1Thes 5:23, 24)
|
