EXPECT FAILURE

I wonder why most Christians do not accept failure gracefully? I think it is because they do not expect failure to happen to them and because of all of the many wrong teaching that permeates the church (globally) today; teachings like we are free in God and we have great liberties in God to serve Him doing whatsoever we want, well for the truth to be known we have no freedom and liberty in God. Now it is true we are set free from the yoke of sin and yes there is liberty in Christ Jesus from sin, but we are not really free if we really desire to serve God and do His will for our lives. In reality when our sins are forgiven by God we have only traded one taskmaster for another and we have traded the yoke of sin and death for the yoke of grace and life. We will be yoked by either one or the other. Paul tells us of this wonderful conversion in our lives, “Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage (yoke) of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Romans 8:21), but what happens next? Are we like wild horses to run around and kick up our heels in the field? If so wild horses with no discipline often will destroy themselves, the herd, and most assuredly they will never be useful, never coming to the purpose and intention God created horses for, to serve man. What comes next are the loving words from Jesus, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) What part of the yoke of the LORD says freedom to do what we want to do or liberty to say what we want to say and go where we want to go? The yoke of the LORD is a restrictive and limiting tool in our lives as was the “the bondage of corruption,” but the LORD’s yoke brings us to fulfillment and purpose. There are two places in a yoke; one for God and one for us and the better partner we are for God in the yoke the more is accomplished in our relationship. Now do not think the yoke of the LORD is for working, oh no the yoke of the LORD is for learning not doing and going and the more we can learn the more productive we will be when plowing the field of life. What are we to learn? We are to learn how meek and lowly of heart Jesus is and how Jesus’ yoke is easy. Jesus is an easy and light taskmaster. When we get saved we exchange taskmasters from one who would take us into sin and death for one that will take us into grace and life. When will the church learn it is the restrictions and limitations in our lives that brings us to fulfillment and completion in God? When the liars and thieves (globally) are exposed for what they are by those who know the truth or when the writer and composers of silly contemporary songs of today have a true conversion? Maybe so, but sadly that will probably never happen. We Christians do not like failure or losing (especially when it come to making money or projecting power) we are told we are winners and if we lose or do not have an abundance of earthly things then we do not have the favor of God, rubbish. Did you know failure in God is okay as long as you do not get stuck in it. This is not the case with your boss and friends. If you fail again and again at work you will probably get sacked and if you fail your spouse or friends again and again that relationship will probably be over, but not so in God. Failure is okay in God. We fail, we learn from it, and we march on. This is the order in God, but where failure in God is not okay is when we fail and do not learn the lesson God is trying to teach us. The divine Spiritual principle is learning and ever learning not learning but never learning what we see in most churches and Christian lives (mine included sometimes) today. As matter of fact we as Christians should come to expect failure. If we come to expect failure then it will not have a significant impact in our lives, we will then be like water and move around the failure in our lives. When God began speaking with Joseph he (being Joseph) made many mistakes that caused him some troubles later on in his life, but all along God used these failures and mistakes (which in reality was God’s will for his life) to bring Joseph to being number two in authority in all of Egypt. When Joseph was thrown into the pit by his “Christian” brothers, when in Potiphar’s house, or even in the prison under Pharaoh I am sure Joseph thought he had missed it in God, but not so. I am sure at times Joseph thought he had failed, but not so. I am sure in all that was happening Joseph was learning. In all of the hard times in Joseph’s life I would wager big bucks Joseph would have never thought he would be saying these words to his brothers, “And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. 21Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.”(Genesis 50:19-21) In all of the restrictions, limitations, and failures in Joseph he learned the lessons God had for His life. This failure and losing is a big deal in our lives. The more of the world and of our self we can lose the more of God we can have. The more we can lose of our self the more we gain in God. When we lose of our self it creates a place in our heart and lives for God to fill it with Himself. We must come to expect failure and loss in our lives. In John Jesus told the disciples and the folks that followed Him, “And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 24Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 26If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. 27Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. 28Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. 29The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him. 30Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. 31Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. 32And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.” (John 12:23-33) Even with God Himself speaking again out of Heaven (like He did in Matthew 3:17) the disciples could not understand what Jesus was saying. Jesus was saying He was going to be “glorified” or crucified (the Romans called it being lifted up) and if He is crucified He shall draw all men unto Himself. Now the disciples and the folks that heard Jesus thought, yes the Father is going to glorify Jesus, now Jesus will set up His earthly throne and He will kick the Romans out of Israel, but not so in verse 33 Jesus was talking about losing His life so that others may find theirs. The order is losing first then finding. In verses 25 and 26 Jesus defines the divine Spiritual principle, “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 26If any man serve me, let him follow me; (that is follow Him to the cross) and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour." God the Father will only honour those that serve (as a slave) Jesus; working for Jesus, dancing and singing for Jesus, playing instruments for Jesus, even faithful attendance at church will not do it. Honor from God only comes by way of serving Jesus with our whole heart in truth and simplicity. We should know that every Christian who is called by the LORD to walk in His ways, nonetheless, is a Christian who is full of confusion, doubt, and failure. In fact we may even get the impression that the LORD no longer helps us in prayer as He once did. We may even feel we are losing a great deal of time and making no progress, but we must never stop and never allow anyone to get us off track even in our failure. In our failure the LORD is calling us to a deeper walk of faith in His divine presence. With a simple vision of our LORD and with an intense love toward Him (like a little child would have towards his mother) we cast ourselves into the gentle bosom of our LORD. This is the answer especially in times of our perceived failure. Our level of heart-felt seeking then is free from wandering imagination and from reasoning. Both of these are so distracting and can get us involved in speculation and introspection. The LORD brings failure (even dryness) because He knows so well that it is not by any means of our reasoning or by our effort that we are going to be drawn near to Him. How then shall we learn to get from under our failure; by a humble resignation to God’s will. This is where we begin. Noah was a perfect example of this. He was reckoned to be a fool and failure by the world, but later when the whole world was covered by water he was found out to be not so foolish. In all of his dark hours he walked by faith alone. Now do not think he understood the mind of God he did not as we will not. In failure and loss (as much as possible) be patient. Pay little attention to the failure (but expect it because it is coming) we must never give up regardless of the amount and severity of the failure we encounter. We must walk with a firm faith in God, dying to self, and to all of our natural efforts to know Him. Here is something to consider. Where does the divine blessing of God rest? The answer is somewhere deep within us. Therefore we must come to God silent, believing, patiently, and even maybe suffering. With confidence we press on. Rest in Him and be guided by His Holy Spirit. If our pursuit of Christ is pure then that is a sufficient reward. And yes our LORD may deprive us of our comfort in our failure even from understanding and at times we see no spiritual progress in our lives, but if we push into Him in these times there will be an enrichment that has been added to our lives far beyond our hope. We must never look down on ourselves if we cannot achieve what we have set out to do in our pursuit and consider it to be failure. In God achievement happen in His time. We must hold our peace and place ourselves before the LORD and persevere! We must trust (which is far beyond faith) in His infinite grace as though we are blindfolded and do so without a great deal of thinking or reasoning. We must place our lives in His kind, paternal hands, resolving to do nothing except His divine will and divine pleasure. Expect failure it is coming, but so is God’s everlasting, unchanging love. Written by David Stahl