Rise Up

"The self talk we engage in after a failure is critical. I remember years ago being in a grocery store. I passed a man in an isle who obviously had some psychological issues. When he reached for something on a shelf, he'd say, 'No you dumb thing, you dumb thing!' He put that item back and reached for another, saying again, 'No, no, you dumb thing, you dumb thing!' While we may be tempted to laugh at my memory from the past, have we not spoken similar demeaning messages to ourselves at our moment of failure? Why not try some of David's words from the Psalms as he cried out to God after his greatest failure? 'Search me and know me. Try my heart. See if there be any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting.'

SO WHAT?
Men and Women, when you fall, get up, brush yourself off, and get back in the race! While rising say, 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!'"

How do we Fail?

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
Sir Winston Churchill
Noted British Statesman and Orator
1874 - 1965


"Oh how we despise failure! We fail at projects; we fail others; and perhaps the most painful of all, we fail God and ourselves. But can I be open with you? My failures have taught me more about myself and life than my successes ever have. Handled properly, they bring us to a new awareness of the fathomless mercy and grace of God. They reveal deficits in our character that we can give attention to and improve. Since Adam blew it in the garden, men have been born with failure in their NATURAL DNA. So, we all have failed, are failing, or will fail. The trick is to learn how to FAIL FORWARD and to not get STUCK on the failure. Man that's hard, isn't it? Let's start looking at failure as a way to begin again more intelligently. We may be flawed heroes, but we're still heroes! Oh, by the way, we also have SUPERNATURAL DNA: 'Christ in us, the hope of glory!'"

Hope in Him

"And so it's been told, that at the end of WWII when allied troops liberated Nazi concentration camps, where unspeakable atrocities had taken place, they found scrawled on the wall of a crude cabin the words of a desperate man reaching for hope:

'I Believe in the sun even when it is not shining...
I believe in love even when I don't feel it...
I believe in God even when He is silent...'

My prayer for you today is that our Father would infuse you with fresh hope. Hope, is more than wishful thinking. It is a powerful force likened to an anchor that sets itself in the very throne room of God. Your hopes of achieving something incredible in your life and your God-dreams are rooted in the very heart and character of God. Hang in there. It WILL come to pass. God bless you hero!

SO WHAT?

Today, hope in God's power to help you conquer your biggest challenges. No matter what they are God is waiting and ready to help you overcome them. Trust and hope in Him.