"One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again." (Henry Ford)
"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me." (Luke 22:31 to 34)
To say that Peter was over-confident is an under-statement. He was positive he’d be able to stand strong, but he was blind to his weakness. As a matter of fact, in Mark 14:31, we read that he was so sure of himself that he refused to accept what Jesus said about his actions to come. However, pretty much everybody who has even a remedial knowledge of the Word knows that his denial came to pass exactly as Jesus had foretold. The magnitude of this failure can’t be stressed enough; yet, contrary to what we’d have expected, Jesus not only didn’t cut him off, He instead ultimately appointed him as one of the leaders of the Christian church.
Think about it. Peter publicly denied knowing Jesus, not once, but three times. That’s something that would be devastating to any true believer; and we read that “Peter went out, and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62). I’ll guarantee he felt that he had failed Jesus; and he also felt overwhelming shame after everything that he had promised. I’ll also guarantee that we’d experience the same emotions if we were in the same situation.
Can you see what the Lord is trying to tell us? He’s letting us know that what we’re convinced is an irreparable failure in our eyes is actually an opportunity for both Him and us. You know all those times that we had once promised we’d never do it again, but we did anyhow? And it isn’t that we tried as hard as we could to not fall. We just were lazy. In the eyes of the Lord, however, our problem isn’t the falling. It’s the staying down. I’m not saying that He overlooks our falling, but He and the great cloud of witnesses and the holy angels are all pulling for us to get back on our feet and continue to run the race. Remember: we turn a fall into a fail when we take our eyes off the Lord and put them on ourselves; changing the L in “fall” to an I in “fail”.
Now, I’m not advocating for us to not worry about our lazy times. We need to understand that our lazy times are an open door for the enemy to wreak havoc in our lives. Yes, the Lord will protect us during those times; but the more often we fall, the more we have to go through to get to where He wants to get us. You see, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it here again: believe it or not, it’s possible for us to walk sinlessly. Don’t get me wrong; we were born with a sin nature, and it’s alive and well in every person. There is, however, or should be, a major difference between believers and unbelievers. After all, the Holy Spirit dwells within believers for a few reasons. He’s present to teach us, to guide us, to correct us, and to strengthen us. That isn’t all, but it gives you an idea of why He’s so vital to us. With that, I want to explain how I can say that we can walk sinlessly. Think about something. Though Jesus always was and always will be God, the second Person of the Godhead, then He made a conscious decision when He took upon Himself flesh to refrain from using His divinity during His earthly life. The reason He did was to allow us to realize that what He did could really be done by any one of us. In other words, as our pattern, He demonstrated, by depending totally upon the Holy Spirit, that we could do whatever the Father wants us to do by our dependence upon the Holy Spirit as well. But there’s more to that; and it has to do with obedience and our will. Jesus gave His will over to the Father completely, and every single time He chose to obey the Holy Spirit. Consequently, He walked sinlessly. So, since He’s our pattern, then what does that tell us? Very simply, any time we give our will over to the Father and allow the Holy Spirit to have the authority in our lives, then we’ll be walking in obedience. And whenever we walk in obedience, then we won’t be sinning. In other words, we’ll be walking sinlessly during those times. Thus, the more we choose to allow the Holy Spirit to reign in our lives, the more we’ll be walking in obedience and without sin. Our sin nature will always be present within us until such time as the Lord changes that; but we can choose not to submit to it. We’ve been told that by Jesus and Paul and Peter and James and John.
So, getting back to the times when we fall, and even times when we fail, there’s something that we need to realize. Yes: that opens the door for the enemy to get in; but the Holy Spirit within us is there to do battle. Therefore, once He has won that conflict, He then corrects us, teaches us and strengthens us in preparation for other attacks that will most definitely come. The hope, then, is that we’ll learn how to stand a little stronger than previously. Thankfully we’re under grace and the Lord doesn’t give us what we deserve; but, at the same time, we don’t want to abuse it, because, though we really don’t like to face it, He, nonetheless, holds us accountable for our thoughts and words and actions.
That, then, brings me to times of fearing failure. I believe just about every one of us has been there more than once, and it can be nearly as devastating as when we fail. You see, we can move so cautiously in the Lord because we’re afraid of failing that we’ll ultimately do little or nothing. He wants to use us to accomplish His purposes; but if we remain spiritually inanimate, He’ll be unable to do anything through us, and He’ll move on to someone else. The result will be a loss all around. But He’s looking for us to, in a sense, disregard our times of falling and failing, to get back on our feet, and keep walking. In other words, He’s looking for us to start again. So, if we’re willing to allow Him to do whatever He chooses and to take a chance then we’ll see some amazing things happen in our lives and in the lives of others.