How To Fail Successfully……Or I’ve Fallen and I Can Get Up…..

Who is it that has told you that you are not good enough….that you are unworthy? Who keeps reminding you that you're weak, helpless, a failure going somewhere to happen? Who told you you'll never measure up to God's standard? No matter what voice he uses….what person voices His lies, because we know that Satan is behind it all…. We should be on to his games by now, but we get pulled into his lies, because he uses our own inner voice against us, and we believe the inner voice of our own thoughts, even when they are incorrect……

Who tells singers, musicians, elders, teachers, moms and dads, ministers, and volunteers that they aren’t good enough, and they aren’t capable and worthy of what God has called them to do…….

The accuser wants to convince you and me, that we’re never going to measure up. We’ll never be spiritual enough….We'll never be what God wants us to be -- OR what we want to be!"

Peter McArthur..."Every successful enterprise requires three men – a dreamer, a businessman, and a pushy manager that no one likes." –

Harold Coffin..."Behind every successful man you'll find a woman who can’t find anything to wear." –

Ann Landers…"The Lord gave us two ends – one to sit on and the other to think with. Success depends on which one we use the most." –

Al Bernstein..."Success is the result of failing in the right direction."

But, why is it that the thoughts that we allow to embed themselves in our minds the deepest, are the ones that make us feel like we matter the least?

And Yet, I don't know of any sincere Christian ever used by God who hasn't experienced this.

William Bradford, the great Puritan minister, who gave spiritual guidance at the early settlement of Plymouth Rock, said, "I think sometimes I have the blackest heart in all of Europe." He kept hearing the lying accusation that he was completely unworthy. And every time he spoke or preached, something churned in his stomach -- an anxiety, a fear, a trepidation about standing before people. That great preacher felt an incredible sense of unworthiness!

Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

You’ll never accomplish what God has called you to accomplish until you cast down the accuser, and kick him out……

In the early 1930's, a farmer and his wife went to a county fair. The farmer was fascinated by the airplanes and asked a pilot how much a ride would cost."$20 for 15 minutes," replied the pilot. "That's too much," said the farmer. The pilot thought for a second and then said, *….."I'll make you a deal. I’m going to put this plane through twists, spins, rolls and loops and If you and your wife ride just 10 minutes without screaming, the ride will be free. But if you make a sound, you'll have to pay me the $20."

The farmer and his wife agreed and went for a really wild ride. After they landed, the pilot said to the farmer, "I want to congratulate you for not making a sound. You are a brave couple." "Maybe so," said the farmer, "But I gotta tell ya, I almost screamed when my wife fell out."

Don’t let the Devil throw you out…..before you reach your destiny!!!!

If you are here today, or if you’re reading this sermon on the internet, it means you have refused to listen to his accusations….. It means you haven’t turned around and given up on God’s plan for your life….It means he hasn’t been able to stop your hunger for God and silence your inner cry. He hasn’t held you back from reaching out to touch the Lord and receive His comfort, His assurance and His enabling power!

But don’t doubt for a minute that that accusing serpent doesn’t attend church every service, so he can hinder your worship, silence your praise and keep you so focused on what you are not, that you stop praising God for how far you’ve come, and what the Lord has done in you!!!

Satan doesn’t mind, if you have Jesus in your heart, as long as He can keep Judas in your thinking…….Judas thinking tells you that if you’re getting blessed…. Trouble is coming to make you pay for it….. If things are good, there’s a price waiting to be paid….. If everything is coming up roses, the thorns are about to shoot out and get you….

But I still believe what the bible says… Romans 8:28 “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”. Oh, yes, we may not be all I should and could be, but we’re a long way from where we used to be! I want everyone here to say with me….

“I am perfectly, Imperfect”!!!! (say it again)

Some people spend their lives trying to cover-up their mistakes.They become “prisoners of pretense,” retreating into fabrication and delusion. Their entire lives become a charade, a great hypocrisy.

Let me give you 3 ways to be sure to fail….. 1. Complain about everything and everyone… 2. Blame everyone and everything for your problems… 3. Never be grateful and appreciative for anyone or anything. Do that and failure is guaranteed!!!!

We must be willing to honestly and sincerely confess our sins and failures before God and seek his forgiveness and restoration.

1 John 1:8-9 “If we say (John is talking to the church when he says “we”) that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. v9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

Christians are not perfect, we are just forgiven.

The blood of Jesus has dealt with our sin, the cross of Jesus deals with our propensity to sin.. together, they reveal His amazing grace….Jesus said, “take up your cross and follow me”…The cross is our daily victory over the tendency of the flesh and every carnal appetite

Paul says in Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ….the word “AM” is the present perfect tense or I AM BEING, crucified with Christ…

God does not easily give up on any of His children.

Like the tireless potter bending over the unfinished clay, He persistently desires to make something good and noble of our lives. Some of the greatest achievements in the history of God’s kingdom have come from very ordinary, imperfect people who have overcome failure to be used of God in a significant way. Their lives are a shining example of overcoming failure and our lives are destined to be that way also, as the potter continues to mold us!

If you never felt pain, Then you would never experience the Healer.

If you never went through difficulty, you would never know the Deliverer.

If you never had a test or trial, Then you could never be an overcomer.

If you never felt loneliness,You would never know the Comforter.

If you never made a mistake, or a failure, You would never know His mercy and forgiveness.

If you never had a problem, You would never know He can solve them.

If you had all power, you would never learn to depend upon the Lord.

If your life was perfect, Then what would you ever need Him for?

MAY THE LORD, NEVER STOP SHAPING AND MOLDING US!

Parker and Flossie York had gotten up in years, Flossie developed Alzheimer’s, and eventually she was completely incoherent…nothing she said made sense and she no longer recognized Parker or her children and grandchildren… Parker York had to do everything for her: feed, bathe, dress and diaper her. And one day, sitting in their living room, she miraculously snapped out of her illness for just a moment, and looked at him and said, “do you still want me?”

He said “it broke my heart! I ran over to her and said, Oh my dear, sweet treasure, of course I want you…the greatest privilege of my life is caring for you!” Then she smiled…and just as quickly as she snapped back into her illness and was gone into that incoherent zone…

I can just see Jesus doing that with us….. being quick to assure us of His undying love, and care for us…. After all, to the very people who were crucifying Him, He said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”…. OH HOW HE KNOWS US, AND OH HOW HE LOVES US!!!!

You can put all the zeroes you want in front of a number and it will still be of no more value than when you began….. but if you put a one in front of 10 worthless zeroes… they become Ten trillion!!! The ONE, the ONLY ONE, THE RISEN ONE, THE REIGNING ONE, HAS joined Himself to all of our zeroes… and given us value and worthiness!! That’s what redemption is all about…..It means to pay the full price to restore our value and to increase it more than it was before….

Colossians 1:10-14 "That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us QUALIFIED to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins".

We can never qualify ourselves, but Jesus has qualified us, positioned us and made us worthy to be a full partaker with Him in the Father’s plan and provision!...I want you to look with me at this…..

John 8:4 “They said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. v5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what do You say? v6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have reason to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not”.

Jesus doesn’t listen to the accuser because He is the encourager….the hope of the hopeless and the way out of every valley of shadows…He’s ever at the throne of God representing us before the Father…

Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and He delights in his way. v24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD will uphold him with His hand.

The law can't condemn you, because Christ fulfilled the law. Divine justice can't condemn you, because Christ satisfied all of God's justice. No sin can condemn you, because every sin is under the blood of Jesus. And your conscience can't condemn you, because Christ is greater than your conscience. So, you have been forgiven completely -- leaving nothing that has the power to condemn or accuse you!

His strength is revealed in a greater measure in our weaknesses… Abraham -Was old…..Elijah – Was suicidal…..Joseph – Was abused….

Job – Went bankrupt….Moses –was a stutterer…..Gideon – Was afraid…..Samson – Was a womanizer…..Rahab – Was a prostitute….

The Samaritan Woman – Was Divorced…..Noah – got Drunk….Jeremiah – Was to young…..Jacob – Was a liar and cheater….David – Was a murderer…..Jonah – Ran from God…..Naomi – ran off with a Moabite…

Peter – Denied Christ three times….Martha – Worried about everything… Zacchaeus – Was small and money hungry…..The Disciples – argued, fought and fell asleep while praying….Paul – was a Pharisee who persecuted and killed Christians before becoming one.

So what should you be able to do?…..

There are some contemporary stories as well….Bill Gates failed miserably at his first attempt to start a business, but he never stopped believing in himself, and he created his first Microsoft product, and forged a new path to success.

Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper because he was told he lacked creativity, he formed his first animation company, which was called Laugh-O-Gram Films, which went belly up. Desperate and out of money, Disney went to Hollywood with more criticism and failure until finally, his first animated films with a mouse and a duck, skyrocketed to success.

Steve Jobs started Apple Computers, which became a massive success, but then the board of directors fired him. Undaunted, Jobs started a new company which was acquired by Apple and put him back in the driver’s seat by reinventing the company’s image and taking it international.

Hershey started three candy companies which all failed. In one last attempt, Hershey founded the Hershey Company and became one of the most well-known names in the industry.

I came across a list which John Maxwell put together that is a how to… in getting beyond failure and into your God given guarantee for success….Here are those 15 steps.

1. Realize that your vision and passion is always the difference in you and the average person who doesn’t know their purpose…

2. Develop a new definition when it comes to failure for your life.

3. Remove the "you" from any failure you may have experienced.

4. It’s important, not to see, or call yourself a failure…

5. Take action and change your fears to an attitude of faith.

6. Change your response to failure by accepting responsibility, being honest about it and letting it go.

7. Don't let failure from the outside get on the inside of you.

8. Say good-bye to yesterday and begin to get excited about tomorrow.

9. Change by developing and preparing yourself, by finding what the best you looks like, and your world will begin to change.

10. Get over yourself and start giving yourself to those around you and as you begin to meet their needs they will help you to succeed.

11. Find the benefit in every bad experience you have had and will go through.

12. When you do succeed, begin to build on that and expand it.

13. Learn from the bad experiences and make them good experiences.

14. Work on the weakness that is weakening you.

15. Pick yourself up, get over it and get going again, with enthusiasm and passion.

2 Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. v8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair. v9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed v10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in us”.

The Holy Spirit can even turn your failures to your advantage….He will make sure that when you fall you fall forward!!!! If God allowed you to lose it, He’s prepared to replace it with something far better!!!

I recently read the story of an evangelist who was falsely accused of tax evasion. Eventually he was exonerated. But before that happened, he spent three years in prison. (Talk about feeling unworthy): This man was humiliated before all his peers. He had been a well-regarded preacher, a prophet, a soul winner -- *….but now everyone saw him as a crook. He was mocked and ridiculed even by his fellow prisoners. As he walked through the prison yard, he thought, "I must have done something terrible -- something I don't know about -- that He would do this to me. He's made a spectacle of me before the whole world. I don't understand!"

He became so downcast, he contemplated suicide. Then, at his lowest point -- feeling totally useless and abandoned by God –

The Holy Spirit came to him in his jail cell. The Spirit reminded him of this scripture: Luke 9:56 "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them...." The Lord whispered to this weary man, "My son, I didn't send you here to destroy you. I brought you here to save you and to be the only hope that many have in this dark place."

God’s Spirit fell upon this minister and moved upon him to begin praying every day for his fellow prisoners -- and others began asking him for prayer. Soon even the prison officials called on him to pray for their family members. He quickly became one of the most admired prisoners in the history of that prison system. Then another amazing thing happened.

Because of the poverty and lack of education in the culture he was born into, he had never learn to read. All he knew was certain portions of the Bible. Someone began to come to the prison to teach the prisoners how to read-- He began to study God's word, and the Spirit opened up the Bible to him in miraculous ways.

This man who went into prison as a defeated man, feeling like the biggest failure on earth….emerged from prison a hero. He had a touch of God on his life he'd never experienced before. Today he preaches to large crowds all over the world. And to think -- Satan tried to destroy this wonderful servant by telling him he was unworthy, and not good enough!

How often have folks let their circumstances, their finances, their bad experiences and their faith that has not been nurtured by the word, dictate their outcome….

To be successful in touching our world, we must let love lead…. There are three qualifications for those who would serve the Lord:

The first is love. The second is love and The third is love.

Because we love, then we serve. Because we love, then we speak.

Because we love, we lead others to His love. Folks don’t care how much we know until they know how much we love…..

The apostle John makes it clear in …John 3:17 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved (protected, preserved, delivered, made whole, complete, and doing well in life)”.

So, my prayer for you today is, that you love well, live well, be well, think well, and function well, body, soul and spirit….

"Phillipians 4:8 Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute.. if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]. v9 The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things [in daily life], and God [who is the source] of peace and well-being will be with you."

Many things change and so much may be different, but we have the same God who never changes!! Replace every negative, self-defeating, fearful, toxic thought with God’s thoughts, and know that God never loses, He always wins…

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds, and release the prisoner of deception. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to command it to be obedient to Christ.

Prayer……In the name of Jesus, we take possession and claim ownership to every God given promise, We dismiss and cancel out every image, picture and thought of anything less than total healing and restoration. We declare that every good thing devoured by the enemy be returned 40, 60 and 100 fold, now, in the name of Jesus. Let every hindrance be broken and gone, now, In the mighty name of Jesus.. We dismantle every assignment against our families and rip out everything that Satan has tried to insert.

We declare that we are clothed in the garments of favor and honor. Lord, You are the God of the breakthrough. You are the God who bursts forth to bring the things of Heaven to earth. Release the power of restoration anointing now, in Jesus’ mighty name. I believe you are my redeemer, my deliverer, my healer, my breakthrough, my new day and new way. I declare that yesterday is gone, my new day has come, and the best is still ahead for me and my family. Let the situations here on earth come into alignment with Your Will and Your Kingdom , that it may be demonstrated on earth as it is in Heaven. In Jesus’ name, Amen!