Failure is Never Final

Failure is one of those buzz words that we see and hear in today's society that is almost a little scary to think about. From early in a person's life, they face multiple opportunities where they have the chance to fail. So many things are missed out on because of that simple fear of failure. No one wants to walk through life being judged by what happened in their past. No one wants to be known as a failure.

But here is a question: If I were to ask you, "What is the opposite of success?" what would you say? I'm betting that most of you would overwhelming say, "Failure." But, nothing could be further from the truth! The opposite of Success is not failure. The opposite of success is QUITTING. Failure is not a bad word! Success cannot and will never exist without failure! If you never failed at something, how would you ever know how to improve yourself?
We all love great success stories not because life came easy for that person, but because they overcame something to achieve that position! The greatest successes in this world are some of the greatest failures, they simply never gave up!

God wants us to succeed in life. He stated it pretty clearly in one of my favorite bible verses, 3 John 1:2 -

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

Prosper in all things... that's pretty cool that we have a God that wants us to be prosperous. 

So, you have three choices to make when you experience failure. 

1. You can give up
2. You can show up
3. You can grow up

When you give up, you are going to miss out on the blessing that God has in store for you through adversity

Solomon is an example of someone who started on the right track, a man who was blessed abundantly by God, but lost track of where his true power and strength came from and failed miserably.
Solomon was considered the wealthiest human to ever walk the earth. Beyond that, God blessed him with wisdom unmatched by any other man. People traveled from all over the world to see guidance and knowledge from this man. He built the great temple of worship that God wanted where he could dwell among the Israelites. He had more going for him than any man ever had! But, he slowly took his eyes off God and put them on himself.
In 1 Kings 11:1-13, you'll see that Solomon started chasing the things of the world, and not the things of God. He gathered wives from the forbidden tribes, worshiped other Gods, and did evils in the sight of the Lord. So, God stripped away his kingdom.
Big time failure... but, it didn't have to be final. He could have repented. He could have realized his evil ways and repented to the God whom had already appeared to him twice and given him all that he desired. But, he didn't... He gave up the on God and missed out on greater blessing for his line and their future.

After failure, you gotta show back up for the fight if you want to succeed... and that's the biggest hurdle to success; showing up.

David was considered a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22). Talk about a compliment! As a Christian, I so much want to live my life like a man after God's own heart. I think, deep down, we all do. But, we end up making mistakes, and fall victim to our own fleshly hearts, and worldly desires. We feel we can never live up to that. Remember, David was just a man himself. He wasn't God. He simply had God #1 in his life... at least for a little while.
David began to seek the same fleshly desires that many of us do. In 2 Samuel 11:1-4, the details of is affair with Bathsheba are revealed. He gets her pregnant, tries to cover his tracks by having her husband have sex with her, which he won't for personal reasons, and then has him killed to cover up the truth.
Phew.... talk about a downward spiral. That easily could have been the end of David. He easily could have given up there. But, he didn't. He realized how terrible of a decision it was that he made. He admits to his failures and repents. David gets back in the fight and finishes strong

2 Samuel 12:13 - So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

God accepted his repentance, and David wrote a beautiful Psalm about it, Psalm 51. It's long, so I'm not going to post it here, but check it out.

After you show up, you gotta humble yourself and be willing to grow up and move forward with God

Peter was considered the most loyal of all the disciples that followed Jesus. But, Peter made some major mistakes in his life while walking with Jesus. 

First, Peter rebukes Jesus while Jesus predicts the impending crucifixion that He must endure to die for our sins. Peter does it out of love for Him, but speaks as though he knows more than God does about the WHOLE REASON Jesus came here in the first place. 

Matthew 16:22 - Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

And Jesus replies with a statement that I am sure stuck with Peter for quite a while... 

Matthew 16:23 - But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.

Wow... Jesus calls Peter Satan. Epic Fail...
Peter easily could have walked away from that failure thinking that Jesus didn't want him around anymore, or even wallow in his own self pity party. He went from beating his chest as the big man who was not going to allow Jesus to be crucified, to this defeated man
One of Peter's most talked about failures, and probably his biggest, was his denial of Jesus. Jesus even predicted it and told Peter he was going to do it. Luke 22:54-62 details his denial. When Peter realizes what he had done, and the Jesus did indeed predict this, he weeps at his failure.

Peter easily could have quit at either of those. but he didn't... he went on to be one of the most influential Christians during his age, and of all time. But, how did he do it?

Well, he stepped up and showed back up for the great commission that Jesus had laid down for them. In Acts 2:1-41, Peter lays down a beautiful sermon. He was an enthusiastic leader, and he drew people to him and to the Word of God. In this one moment, he added 3000 people to become followers of Jesus! When you understand the power of exponential growth, how quickly can that 3000 turn into 300,000? Peter showed up and he started to live the life God wanted him to and KNEW he could. He was moving forward with God and God was preparing blessings for Peter!

Even in the storms, with faith, God will bless you! Peter began to realize this, and while he was delivering his ministry with Silas, they were both arrested, beaten and put in jail. Still, these two men knew that God would bless them if they just stayed strong and trusted God. He was walking along with God and moving forward, putting all his trust in Him. So, these men are just sitting in jail, probably bleeding and bruised, and they are singing songs of praise to the Lord! God then frees them from the jail, and in the process, they lead some of the Roman jailers to Christ and even had the local magistrates show up at the jail to plead with them to leave the jail as free men! Have you ever heard of such a thing?

All of this happened because he never quit. He failed... and failed again... but he never gave up. He picked up his chin and got back in the fight, learned from his failures, and refocused on what God was trying to do in his life. He was molding him to be an enthusiastic and magnetic leader for the cause of Christ.

Failure is never final until you decide it is. Don't let the failures of your past define the successes of your future. God will bless you in good time if you just stay faithful.

God bless