¹⁶ for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again,
    but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.

Webster says to fail means to fall short. In our eyes as men, when we see failure it means to be unsuccessful, to disappoint, to be inadequate, and the ultimate failure of bankruptcy. It all spells failure.

Yet, when I look over my own life you cannot eliminate failures. To each person, failure has a different expectation. So here are a couple of questions I have for us in the concept of failure. Are you all reaching goals, I mean, personal goals in the failure? Will you give into the fear of failure and quit trying?

History is full of men who were thought of as failures. Look at Napoleon. He was 42nd in a class of 43. Yet, this man led his army is success and almost conquered the world until he hit his Waterloo.

David writes this in Psalms 119:6-7, that it was good for him to fail because through failure he learned the consequences of his actions. He recognized that he was going in the wrong direction and could change it to become pleasing to God and successful in life.

Fear itself is a driving component that defines failure. Men, the key to living a fearless life is to be willing to take risks. Being afraid is not a bad thing, it is the coal fire in your soul that ignites the passion of the risk.

Fear and failure tried to keep me from being in full-time ministry. The enemy was always reminding me of how I had fallen. But like the Apostle Paul, my focus is Christ, and in Him I live a victorious life. Even when the world says I have failed.

How about you today? Are you up to your neck in what seems to be failures? Are you looking to the Hand of Christ to pull you out? Be willing to grab his had. As he pulled me out of that miry clay. He will pull you out of the failure and allow it to be a place of learned consequences that change your actions.

Strength and Courage

Michael