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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. GOD
SAID IF … If
you never felt pain, 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.
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)
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. 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
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
“….
I prayed for you that your faith will nor fail” (Luke 22:32)
3)
GET UP, AND TRY AGAIN
"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
I
recognize my faults; I am always conscious of my sins. (Ps 51:3)
5)
SAY YOU’RE SORRY 6)
GET ADVICE
7)
BE WILLING TO BE CORRECTED
8)
KEEP GOD’S WORD AS YOUR GUIDELINE
…
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
10)
THERE IS FORGIVENESS
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 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
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)
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