DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT MONDAY – A HEART STARTER. #7.

Failure is an event, never a person. - William Brown.

COMING BACK FROM FAILURE #1

This is a series of posts that I did last year at this time, based on John 21:1-25, but have changed some things to bring it up to date. I have become wiser in a year, and I am sure that this series will bless some new readers, as well as encouraging those who read this blog regularly.

General Mark Clark was one of the great heroes of WWII. He led the Salerno invasion that Winston Churchill said was "the most daring amphibious operation we have launched, or which, I think, has ever been launched on a similar scale in war." At the time Clark was promoted to Lt. General, he was the youngest man of that rank in the U.S. Army. He graduated from West Point in 1917.

At the top of his class? Nope. He was 111th from the top in a class of 139! Even if you never earned a college degree, don't worry, you're in good company. Irving Berlin, for instance, only had two years of formal schooling. He never learned how to read music. When he composed his songs, he would hum the melody and a musical secretary would write down the notes. He became one of the greatest songwriters the country has ever known. - Bits & Pieces.

Someone once said... “We grow more through PAIN than through SUCCESS!” This is something that I have found to be true in my own life, and if I dare say, probably most of you! I am constantly encouraged when I read of Peter’s struggle in John 21, where he had failed so badly, yet Jesus was able to encourage him to come back from his failure, and get going again. And that is what Jesus can do for us when we fail. Praise His wonderful Name!

"One of the reasons why mature people stop growing and learning," says John Gardner, "is that they become less and less willing to risk failure." - Tim Hansel.

How did Peter get to the point of failure?

He had left all including home, wife and kids, boat and business, to follow Jesus. Peter had decided to become the best disciple... a born leader! The issue here is not whether Peter can be forgiven... but can he be restored? Can we ever arise from the ashes of failure? Can we ever get back to the point of starting again? If you are called to follow Christ, you will never be happy doing anything else, we know this from the many testimonies of people who have stumbled in their walk with Jesus.

As Peter went fishing.

Was he thinking of all the good times he had when walking with the Master, was he looking around at the places where Jesus had fed the 5000, where the blind man was healed, where his mother-in-law was healed, where the possessed man was set free in the synagogue, was he thinking of how he had failed Jesus? And then, as he heard the voice calling, it must have been déjà vu experience…

Jesus shouted, "Friends, have you caught anything?" "No!" they answered. So he told them, "Let your net down on the right side of your boat, and you will catch some fish." They did, and the net was so full of fish that they could not drag it up into the boat. - John 21:5-6.

The great inventor Charles Kettering suggested that we must learn to fail intelligently. He said, "Once you've failed analyze the problem and find out why, because each failure is one more step leading up to the cathedral of success. The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try." Here are three suggestions for turning failure into success:

1. honestly face defeat; never fake success. 2. Exploit the failure; don't waste it. Learn all you can from it; every bitter experience can teach us something. 3. Never use failure as an excuse for not trying again.

You may not be able to reclaim the loss, undo the damage, or reverse the consequences, but you can make a new start--wiser, more sensitive, renewed by the Holy spirit, and more determined to do right. - Charles Kettering.

A closer look this week at these events in John 21, will let us see how they can help us return from our failures.

Loving Father, I thank you for your word that can bring healing to me. As I read what has happened to other Christians, I am so amazed by your love and mercy. Grant me the revelation through the power of the Holy Spirit. to know that even when I fail, you are there to help me start again. In the wonderful Name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be Encouraged!
GBYAY