Always remember that God’s delays are not always his denials! Your failures may be a part of God’s plans in order to raise you higher in life. God knows what he needs you to go through in order to accomplish through you what he intends to accomplish.
God is pruning you for something great. Sometimes we may even try and move forward before God says go and that gets us into so much trouble too. Many people believe that failure is proof that God doesn’t want them to have what they thought but that is far from the truth. many times failure is just a stepping stone to your pirpose as I will show in this article!
Your failure isn’t God’s failure. He can take your failure and turn it into something magnificent. Only God can turn your test into a testimony that changes lives forever! God can work in and through you from your failure if you allow him to change your heart in the failure. God can change how you see failure.
How do you see failure? Do you see it as your life is over? Failure is only failure if it is the last time you are going to try. You aren’t there yet, are you? I hope not. We all go through failure in life. If you find someone who has never failed then I will show you someone who has never accomplished anything.
Without failure we can’t succeed. It may sound crazy but in life failure always comes right before success in anything. Our education system is just the opposite. Fail there and it’s a very bad thing but failing in the real word can usually turn out to be the springboard to your purpose.
Look at what Thomas Edison said when asked about his failures of the light bulb, “I have not failed, I just found 1000 ways that would not work. Is that not a great way to look at life? You aren’t a failure at _______ you just found ways that would not work.
Look at the life of Joseph, He was destined to have his family bow to him one day but little did he know that when he told them his dream, they would sell him into slavery. Then he raised up from that to be falsely accused of rape to then become second in power.
Genesis 39:20 – Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in prison.
Then later in his story where his victory came:
Genesis 39-42 – Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”
Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.
Granted a lot of this story I skipped but to make a point, this guy has every reason to quit but because of his love for God he couldn’t quit. He had a delay but it was not God’s denial. A lot could have prevented if he did not tell his brothers what he did years earlier. That is what set up with whole life. God then used what happened to raise Joseph up to be what God called him to be!
When you look at his story, I don’t think you can say you went through as much as he did and God pulled him through so why do you think God has forsaken you? God may be pruning you right now to prepare you for the next level in life that he is taking you to. You can’t quit right before God’s promotion.
God is working in and through you in the desert to get you ready. Ready for what you may ask? I have no idea but I do know ready for something. God is right there with you through everything. He may not take you out of the desert right away but he is always with you in the desert.
There are things that had to happen to Joseph in order for him to save his family down the road. If you would have changed any of it who knows there might be a different ending to the story. Joseph had to go through everything he went through to get to the promised land and you are going to have to do the exact same thing.
We all have our own journey that God wants to take us on. Yes there are decisions that we make that take us away from the journey but God is right there to lead us back on the path. Allow God to guide you and you will be surprised where he will lead you.
Sometimes we have to be in the desert for a very long time before our attitude and our heart changes enough for God to take us to the next level. Our character MUST grow before God will allow us into ministry. If you jump in without character, you will lose everything. Many people have shown that over the years.
Moses went from the palace to a nobody overnight after one impulse. He saw a guard hurting one of his people so he stopped it and killed him. No one knew at this time who he really was but after that none of it mattered. He tried to be in a hurry with God’s purpose but you don’t rush God’s timing. God may want you to grow in your desert for many years as he did with Moses but no matter what you don’t rush God.
Expodus 2:11-15 – Moses Escapes to Midian
Moses grew up. One day, he went out to where his own people were. He watched them while they were hard at work. He saw an Egyptian hitting a Hebrew man. The man was one of Moses’ own people. 1Moses looked around and didn’t see anyone. So he killed the Egyptian. Then he hid his body in the sand. The next day Moses went out again. He saw two Hebrew men fighting. He asked the one who had started the fight a question. He said, “Why are you hitting another Hebrew man?”
The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking about killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses became afraid. He thought, “People must have heard about what I did.”
When Pharaoh heard about what had happened, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses escaped from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian. There he sat down by a well.
God’s timing is always perfect and always will be. It is we who get impatient. Sometimes we get the calling from God but he is saying here is the Vision I have for you at the next level and you think he means now so you take off and fail miserably.
So what does all this mean? It means that no matter what is going on in your life, God knows it. God is bigger than any failure you may have. God is stronger than any demon you may have. God is better than anything you can imagine and God’s purpose for your life is more amazing than any dream you may have for your future.
Be sure while you are out there pursuing your dreams that it is God’s desires for you. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own ambition, we forget to ask God if this is God’s desire for our lives. God’s purpose is way better than any purpose you could ever dream up.
As I started this article with, just because there seems to be a gap from where you know God wants you to go to where you are right now does not mean that it is God’s denial. There will always be a gap because he has to help you grow into your purpose. You don’t just wake up one day and poof you are in your purpose. You grow each day and then as you grow God brings forward what he promised you. Sometimes it’s a few years and sometimes many years! The goal is to move forward each day towards your purpose and use failure as a springboard into success because you will fail before you succeed no matter what. Allow God to work on your heart through those times so that you can stay focused where he is leading you.
Here is a great poem I found on Failure:
FAILURE DOESN’T MEAN YOU’RE A FAILURE
Failure doesn’t mean you’re a failure,
it does mean you haven’t succeeded yet.
Failure doesn’t mean you haven’t accomplished something,
it does mean you have learned something.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ve been a fool,
it does mean you have a lot of faith.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ve been disgraced,
it does mean you were willing to try.
Failure doesn’t mean you don’t have it,
it does mean you have to do something in a different way.
Failure doesn’t mean you’re inferior,
it does mean you’re not perfect.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ve wasted your time,
it does mean you have a reason to start fresh.
Failure doesn’t mean you should give up,
it does mean you should try harder.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ll never make it,
it does mean it will take a little longer.
Failure doesn’t mean God has abandoned you,
it does mean he has a better way.
The last line says it all. God may have a better way for you. You have to figure out what God is telling you through your failure. God has an amazing purpose for your life if you will just follow. God will guide you to his promised land not yours.
Ask God to heal your heart from whatever failure you may be going through in life. Ask him to show you the direction he wants you to go. Ask him to replace your heart so that his desires for your life become yours. Ask him to take any self ambition from you and replace them with his ambition for your life. Ask him to give you the courage to follow him from this point no matter where it may lead.
Living a God-Inspired Life!
Chris Benton